Swapping the fan in my PCP&C PSU, any advice?

[Ender17]

I'm putting my new system together and I'm gonna replace the Delta EFB0812EH in my PCP&C 510W PCI-E with a Panaflo M1A.

The case I'm using is an Antec P180. You can see the PSU is in the bottom of the case, in its own chamber.



The stock Delta fan is rated at 52 CFM.
My Panaflo M1A only puts out 32.1 CFM.
The fan you see in the bottom chamber of the P180 is a 120 x 120 x 38 mm Antec TriCool rated at 48 CFM on the Medium setting.

After reading this site, I feel that my setup should be more than adequate since he used 2 Panaflo L1A, which are only rated at 24 CFM and his temps actually went down.
My setup keeps the PSU isolated from hot air from the CPU and videocard, has a more powerful fan in the PSU itself, and a much more powerful fan pushing air into the back of the PSU. Also, my push fan is 120 mm instead of 80 mm, so not only does it push more air, but the airflow should encompass the entire PSU.

On the negative side, I will have the front HDD cage full with 4 x WD3200JD drives, but they run pretty cool.
And my 510W PCI-E model undoubtly runs somewhat hotter then the much older Turbo-Cool 425W Lee used.

Also, I was planning on using a couple of these to reduce fan vibration. Any reason I wouldn't want to put these in my PSU?

And any suggestions on how I can monitor temps?

[perplex]

[H] guys didn't help you out ?

if you contact PCP&C they'll strongly advise you Not to replace the fan. the PCP&C PSUs run very hot. they dont put a 50dB fan in there for show

[Ender17]

[H] guys didn't help you out ?

if you contact PCP&C they'll strongly advise you Not to replace the fan. the PCP&C PSUs run very hot. they dont put a 50dB fan in there for show

No, not really. It didn't seem anyone over there was taking into account I've got a 120 mm fan that will push more air into the PSU than the one I'm taking out. Yes, the Delta is rated at 52 CFM, versus 48 CFM on the Antec, but the Delta doesn't run full blast all the time, that's it's maximum CFM, and it's crammed into the PSU with no room between the center of the fan and the components, which limits the amount of air it can pull.

Also, the air coming into my PSU will be pretty cool since it is isolated from the CPU and other hot components.

[MikeC]

You might consider removing the fan altogether, not replacing it. The 120mm fan in the PSU chamber will push a lot of air through the PSU.

[Ender17]

You might consider removing the fan altogether, not replacing it. The 120mm fan in the PSU chamber will push a lot of air through the PSU.

seriously?
I can live with a little noise

[MikeC]

seriously?
I can live with a little noise

Seriously. The 510 is ~78% efficient, which is far more efficient than the one Lee modded. Even with a higher load, it would probably generate less heat. And the 4 HDDs in front will generate no more than 40W in normal use, which is not much to cool over such a big cooling surface area as a HDD. The PSU tunnel is a highly efficient cooling feature. You might as well experiment and see how much you can get away with.

The 120x38mm tricool fan that's in there, btw, is a high pressure fan. I'd say even at the low setting, it would be enough to keep everything (inlcuding your PSU w/o fan) cool enough. Kind of depends on what else you are running. Do you want to tell us?

[Ender17]

seriously?
I can live with a little noise

Seriously. The 510 is ~78% efficient, which is far more efficient than the one Lee modded. Even with a higher load, it would probably generate less heat. And the 4 HDDs in front will generate no more than 40W in normal use, which is not much to cool over such a big cooling surface area as a HDD. The PSU tunnel is a highly efficient cooling feature. You might as well experiment and see how much you can get away with.

The 120x38mm tricool fan that's in there, btw, is a high pressure fan. I'd say even at the low setting, it would be enough to keep everything (inlcuding your PSU w/o fan) cool enough. Kind of depends on what else you are running. Do you want to tell us?

Sure. Here is a complete list of my current specs:

PCP&C 510 Watt PCI-E
Antec P180
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
AMD X2 4400+
2 x 512MB Corsair BH-5 (soon to be 2 x 1GB Ballistix)
ATI X300 (soon to be a single 7800)
Audigy ZS
LSI MegaRAID SATA 150-4
4 x WD2500JD (soon to be 4 x WD3200JD)
WD Raptor for boot
NEC-3520A
Samsung SM352


I just installed everything about an hour ago. I haven't done anything to the PSU yet, but I really want to now, because I can tell it is the source of most of the noise.
I've got a XP-120 on the CPU right now, with a Panaflo 120 mm M1A. Quiet a bit louder than my Yate Loon D12SL, but I decided to put it on there for right now, since I want to see how high I can OC this thing.

[MikeC]

Ender17 -- I think it's worth a try with the tricool at the low setting. if there is instability or the exhaust air at the back seems really hot, just increase the speed to med. You can also replace the 120x38mm tricool with a quieter fan. I think a Nexus 120 at 12V will probably be plenty enough airflow and it's only ~22 dBA./1m -- main issue will be air turbulence noise, maybe.

[Ender17]

Ender17 -- I think it's worth a try with the tricool at the low setting. if there is instability or the exhaust air at the back seems really hot, just increase the speed to med. You can also replace the 120x38mm tricool with a quieter fan. I think a Nexus 120 at 12V will probably be plenty enough airflow and it's only ~22 dBA./1m -- main issue will be air turbulence noise, maybe.

Thanks for the advice. I really don't mind a little air noise. Stability and preserving the life of my PSU are my top concerns.
I would just leave it as is, but this stock fan makes an irratating whine.
I am in the process of either sending my PSU back to get it customized or selling it and buying a custom one, so the fan swap will have to wait.
I will probably stick with the 80 mm M1A in the PSU, and the TriCool on medium, just to be on the safe side.

I've also got a bunch of Panaflo L1A 80 mm and Yate Loon D12SL 120 mm (pretty close to Nexus), that I can swap in later if I'm unhappy with the noise.

Thanks again.

[Devonavar]

Also, I was planning on using a couple of these to reduce fan vibration. Any reason I wouldn't want to put these in my PSU?

No reason not to use them in the PSU, but I would bet they're completely unnecessary in the P180. The 3-ply construction of the side panels is very effective for minimizing vibration resonance.

[Ender17]

Also, I was planning on using a couple of these to reduce fan vibration. Any reason I wouldn't want to put these in my PSU?

No reason not to use them in the PSU, but I would bet they're completely unnecessary in the P180. The 3-ply construction of the side panels is very effective for minimizing vibration resonance.

yeah, I just defraged my Raptor and I could barely hear it

[MikeDeuce]

Anything ever happen with this?

I'm currently experiencing stability issues and suspecting that my Antec Phantom 500 is not happy providing power for my system. The #s from the turbo cool 510 express/SLI are making it a very tempting buy, but I don't know if I can tolerate the noise.

Since my case is not as airflow-friendly as the P180, I was thinking about one of these: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/ ... ts_id=2808 with a Nexus 120mm on top, and replacing the 80mm with a Nexus as well.