SPCR

How difficult would it be to silence the power supply of the SLK3700BQE? I remember reading something on here about replacing the fan about a year ago but now I can't find the post. Which fan do I need and what is the procedure to replace it? Also, would the replacement make the psu as quiet as the silent-psu's like the Coolmax, etc.

thank you

I am also wondering the same thing, for the same PSU. Any fan recommendations? I don't know how much CFM the current fan pushes, but I'd like to get pretty close.

I replaced the fan in mine with a Panaflo L1A and enlarged the intake vents with a needle-nosed plier.

There are threads about this if you search.

It's silent when first turned on but unfortunately, the PSU fan ramps up to full speed after a while. I think you need a PSU duct to really keep this thing quiet all the time. It just runs too hot.

Just a note....Directron will sell you this case without the power supply. So you can put any power supply in it.

Of course, that doesn't help if you already have the power supply.

I believe the PSU in the BQE is the single fan version of the SmartPower 350W. If it really is the same PSU with the bottom 92mm taken out and the bottom sealed, then it means it's got tiny heatsinks inside that'll need a lot of airflow to cool. Silencing it AND keeping it reliable and with long operating life might be a tough proposition.

Sell your current psu and get a quieter one.

Yeah there is no bottom fan on this 3700bqe PSU, I think just an 80 mm in the rear. Thanks for the input.

burcakb wrote:I believe the PSU in the BQE is the single fan version of the SmartPower 350W. If it really is the same PSU with the bottom 92mm taken out and the bottom sealed, then it means it's got tiny heatsinks inside that'll need a lot of airflow to cool. Silencing it AND keeping it reliable and with long operating life might be a tough proposition.

Agreed. There's a lot of empty space inside this PSU's enclosure. It looks like they took out the fan and changed nothing else. I was expecting at least some larger heatsinks...

i did two easy mods to mine and it's been running solid for almost a year now

1) bend intake grill slats with pliers, as soujir0u said:



2) replace fan with a panaflo 80L, and remove the rear grill altogether:



the fan is hardwired to 7v.

Sorry to drag up an old post, but thought id add to it so my 'mod' is in the same place.

I too have a 3700BQE and have kept the 350w psu that comes with it.

My mods were to cut off the grill from the case's 120mm fan like shown above, i also did the same with the grill at the front of the case.

re the psu, i removed the grill from that as well, ive kept the stock fan but turned it around so the PSU fan is now an intake fan!

the 120mm fan on the back is a silenx with the resistor to slow it down some more, it too is an intake.

The fan on the front is not running at the mo, i only use it in the summer to cool the hdd's a little.

Right now my case is 26, socket 34 and diode44 Degrees C

During/After playing Unreal 2004 it no longer turns into a tornado and still stays cool!

During unreal the diode hovers around 50C and the psu only ramps up a very small amount! I was worried that making the PSU an intake would put its heat inside the case but its still staying cool

The only out-take fan i have is on the VGA Silencer.


Inside the case:
Mobo: A7n8x Deluxe Rev2
AthlonXP 3200 (Barton)
Radeon 9800 Pro + VGA Silencer
NEC 2510 DVD Writer
Pioneer 105 DVD Writer

Seagate Baraccuda 200GB 7200.7 16mb cache SATA HDD (this is the quietest hdd ive ever heard!, thought it was broken at first!)

Maxtor 200GB 6Y200MO SATA HDD (liquid bearings jobby)

Just thought maybe other people might like to try this free mod and see if it helps them!

crunchie wrote:Sorry to drag up an old post, but thought id add to it so my 'mod' is in the same place.

I too have a 3700BQE and have kept the 350w psu that comes with it.

My mods were to cut off the grill from the case's 120mm fan like shown above, i also did the same with the grill at the front of the case.

re the psu, i removed the grill from that as well, ive kept the stock fan but turned it around so the PSU fan is now an intake fan!

the 120mm fan on the back is a silenx with the resistor to slow it down some more, it too is an intake.

The fan on the front is not running at the mo, i only use it in the summer to cool the hdd's a little.

Right now my case is 26, socket 34 and diode44 Degrees C

During/After playing Unreal 2004 it no longer turns into a tornado and still stays cool!

During unreal the diode hovers around 50C and the psu only ramps up a very small amount! I was worried that making the PSU an intake would put its heat inside the case but its still staying cool

The only out-take fan i have is on the VGA Silencer.

I'm sorry too to drag this old thread up.. but i'm the owner of such a nasty smartpower as well, which i'd love to silence too

Interesting mod.. you've made both the case+psy fan intake and are basically turning the airflow within the case around.

How did you measure the temperature on your psu? And when you stress the cpu, up to what level of rpm does the psu go?