PSU blowhole potential easy mod?

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

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PyroKL
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 2:46 pm

PSU blowhole potential easy mod?

Post by PyroKL » Mon Sep 13, 2004 5:25 pm

http://www.crazypc.com/Merchant2/mercha ... _Code=8531

Nice looking psu cover mod, i was thinking of putting it on my Seasonic Tornado. The hole uptop is clearly meant for an 80mm fan but I was thinking about just putting a filter or grill and then cutting an opening on top of my case above it. Heat rises, so I figure a decent amount of heat would given off and I'm hoping this will keep the temps low enough so that the fan would never switch to high speed mode. I plan to only use plain openings w/ grills/filters, no fans as that would negate the whole point of a quiet mod. What do you guys think?

icancam
Posts: 173
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2003 12:24 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ, USA

Post by icancam » Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:40 pm

I'll break this to you as gently as I can. Hopefully, I am not misunderstanding what you envisioned.

I also have a Seasonic Tornado. The 120mm opening for the fan is part of the cover and it looks just like the picture at the link you provided (except that the hole is larger and the cover is made of metal which is also is a barrier to EMI).

Situated at the top inside portion of the PSU (as normally inserted in a tower case) is the circuit board onto which the components are attached. There is minimal space for air movement (a gap of 1-3 mm between the board and the case metal of the PSU) and very little heat is created at the back of a circuit board. The heatsinks themselves are pointing downwards towards the fan as are the other heat producing components. That is why there are basically two types of PSU design with either a fan at the bottom (as with the Tornado) or on the vertical back inside (as with a Super Silencer). Even a fanless design such as the recently reviewed Silverstone has its internal components arranged with the major heat producing components facing downwards (look at the difference between the top and bottom sides of the Silverstone's exterior casing).

The current PSU designs are constricted by the requirement to fit into a standardized format with strict dimensionsal conformity. Otherwise, a PSU could be designed that allows for the fact that heat rises vertically. Perhaps your case would allow you to flip the PSU 180 degrees and then flip the fan 180 degrees so that it blew out of the PSU instead of inwards. The exhaust of the PSU would then become the intake. This would require a lot of modding and you might lose more than you gained in terms of noise since there would be a clear path for it to rise upwards.

I hope that this reply won't in any way discourage you from continuing to think of ways to improve heat dissipation and lower noise. Remember how Thomas Edison conducted 10,000 experiments before he developed a working light bulb.
Last edited by icancam on Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

msm_zgok
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Location: Vancouver, BC

Post by msm_zgok » Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:05 pm

You don't have to worry about the Seasonic ST fan ramping up if your exhaust can get rid of system heat efficiently (provided you don't run too many components off it). Building a CPU exhaust duct would surely help keep case temps down.

icancam
Posts: 173
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2003 12:24 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ, USA

Post by icancam » Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:21 pm

msm_zgok wrote:You don't have to worry about the Seasonic ST fan ramping up if your exhaust can get rid of system heat efficiently (provided you don't run too many components off it). Building a CPU exhaust duct would surely help keep case temps down.
I agree. If you're concerned about the system's heat going directly into your Seasonic then that approach would be so much easier to implement than radical changes with the PSU. There are many threads in the Forums concerning CPU ducting.

PyroKL
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 2:46 pm

Post by PyroKL » Tue Sep 14, 2004 2:51 am

Alright, thanks, it was just a quick thought. I was planning on replacing the cover anyways for aesthetic purposes and I just happenend to notice that they had a version with an 80mm blowhole on the website. I'm not strictly a silent pc enthusiast but I try to keep the noise down when I can.

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