Would it be good to replace PSU fan?

[vlieps]

Hi! My power supply unit is kind of noisy. Otherwise it is OK. There are many ultra-quiet PSU's out there, but all of them cost some money. And I was thinking that the only thing that makes them so super-duper quiet is a high quality fan. Can I just take out my old fan from the PSU and replace it with a quiet one? What do You think guys about this. Would it work? It definitely would be much, much cheaper.

Has someone tried it?

 

[Kipper]

People *have* done it in the past. However, remember that opening up a PS does two things: void your warranty as well as open you up to the possibility of MASSIVE electrical shock. Capacitors inside the PS can hold charge for years after you've unplugged it.

 

[whitelight]

it is possible to replace a psu fan, and it doesn't look too hard because my fans were just soldered to the pcb. so a little heat to liquidfy old solder to remove old fan wires and a little more heat to put in new wires. but as madcow said, capacitators will hold a lot of charge. but someone suggested to turn off your comp. turn the psu switch off and turn comp on again. then let capacitator discharge for at least 4 hrs before playing with the psu. goodluck with whatever you do. keep us posted if it works!

 

[J3anyus]

Yeah, I'm going to be putting a quiet Adda fan in mine pretty soon, and I've read up on it a lot, seems pretty easy. First thing, unplug your power supply from the wall, then hit the power button on the front of your case a few times. This helps drain the capacitors, but definitely won't drain them completely. After this, let your power supply sit for a while (preferably 6 or more hours). Then, just open it up and change the fan. Although you've drained the capacitors a bit, they still hold quite a bit of electricity, so avoid getting your fingers anywhere near them. Just unscrew the old fan, and put the new one in, then hook it up in whatever way works best for you. You can splice the wires to the wires of the old fan, solder the wires down to the PSU circuit board, or, if you're like me, you can just run the fan wire out of the PSU and plug it into a mobo header so you can get RPM monitoring. Good luck, let us know how it works out.

 

[propellerhead]

<< run the fan wire out of the PSU and plug it into a mobo header so you can get RPM monitoring >>



I just built a new PC using the Enlight case, Epox mobo and Athlon XP 1600+. With the OEM HSF and standard case fans, the CPU temp hovered around 50 degrees. I added another case fan and the temp dropped to 42. The PSU fan is kinda weak so I was thinking about replacing it but didn't want to mess with soldering.

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[vlieps]

run the fan wire out of the PSU and plug it into a mobo header so you can get RPM monitoring >>

I agree, this is a brilliant idea, never thought about it, perfect, will give it a try some time.
I was just wondering how strong the PSU fans usually are in terms of airflow (cfm)? Any ideas what to look for?

 

[CTho9305]

regarding cfm... every 80mm fan i've played with has worked, so I doubt it is a real issue. Worst case, the air comes out a little hotter.