I'm considering Solo II for my new build. Here's a quote from the review that caught my attention:

"While we were surprised at first to see the power supply still at the top of the case, the new top panel vent makes it better than a bottom location for a fanless unit. On the case floor, a traditional PSU would certainly have an advantage but a passively cooled model wouldn't be aided by the rear exhaust fan."

I like the idea of having the PSU fan facing outside the case (top grille in this case), but I plan to use a semi-passive power supply, which would benefit from case-fan-induced-airflow when PSU fan is off, but only if fan faces down. Until I get the system operational, I don't know what advantage this might offer, or if it's even necessary.

So my question: any reason why a power supply couldn't be installed in this case with fan facing down? I want to make sure I have that option before pulling the trigger on this case.

thx

Modern PSU fans are intakes. If you face it downward, you are sucking in the warm air from inside the case rather than cold air from outside the case. So, depending on the heat load of your components, you may artificially start the the semi-passive fan at a much lower rpm than if mounted fan up.

Thx for quick reply. So it sounds like there's no reason, physically, that a PSU can't be mounted 'fan down' in that case, right?

As for whether that works best or not, I'll need to test. My thought is with PSU fan pointed up, there's no circulation inside the PSU so fan would start sooner. But with fan pointed down, the rear case exhaust fan would pull cool air through the PSU, thus delaying PSU fan startup. Given my modest computing needs, I'm hoping the PSU fan would rarely turn on. But I agree that once the it does kick in, it would remain on longer since it's pulling in warm air from the computer. Make sense?

I own a solo II and you can put the PSU as you wish, personally i do agree that its an ideal case for a fully passive PSU or semi passive with the fan facing up, as it has its own dedicated intake/outake that should affect very little the case temps, seasonic titanium 600w full passive would be my ideal psu for it, just not available yet for 110V.

Thanks for confirming.

I am running an Intel i7-3770 and an RX480 in my Solo II with a 400 W passive PSU and it works great. I have the impression that people over-estimate how much wattage they need out of a PSU, so maybe a fully passive one can do the trick for you?

I just purchased the EVGA B3 450W. I had been hesitant because it's new and had not been reviewed, but two highly positive reviews just came out. See my comment in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=69685. Looks like this PSU will stay totally passive for my computing needs.

I wasn't able to find a Solo II at a price I'd be willing to pay so I decided to use my existing Evercase 4252 until I see how everything works out with the new build. That case only has CPU facing PSU fan vent, which I still think will work to my advantage by prolonging PSU passive mode (i.e., by allowing rear case fan to pull some external air through the PSU), and that's assuming my apps ever draw enough power to make that an issue.