Replacing Enermax fans with no modifications what so ever?

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Nov 06, 2002 12:06 am

hkgolden, I think you summed it up nicely.

OK here's a wrench in the works: I'm considering taking the Enermax off the recom list altogether. Why?

1) None are quiet in stock form - they're downright noisy.
2) Quieting them takes a lot of somewhat dangerous work
3) When run with low airflow (at higher than normal temps) they don't seem to last long.
4) Considering all the above, they're not very good value, really.

I burned out 2 in the last ~2.5 years. First one to sheer carelessness, mutiple shorts across all the rails, etc. Eventually croaked. Second one died a "natural"death after a year of low airflow from a single 5V fan. I could hear the coils whining for a few weeks & decided it was time to pull it. Right after I did that, I hooked it up to another system temporarily & it died (without fireworks).

gksam · Post by **gksam** » Wed Nov 06, 2002 1:14 pm

I was kind of worried about running a single 5V fan in a powersupply (I am using an SH powersupply). So, instead, I 7V the stock fan that comes with it that is at the bottom (since it is a low profile one and the panaflo won't fit).. then I put a 7V panaflo as exhaust. Its fairly quiet. Not really "silent", but... I think it would last longer? Since the bottom fan will blow air across the heatsinks and the one at the back will take the air out of the case. Any comments?

hkgolden · Post by **hkgolden** » Wed Nov 06, 2002 3:44 pm

gksam wrote:I was kind of worried about running a single 5V fan in a powersupply (I am using an SH powersupply). So, instead, I 7V the stock fan that comes with it that is at the bottom (since it is a low profile one and the panaflo won't fit).. then I put a 7V panaflo as exhaust. Its fairly quiet. Not really "silent", but... I think it would last longer? Since the bottom fan will blow air across the heatsinks and the one at the back will take the air out of the case. Any comments?

yeah i'm thinking the same thing, but i think i would use 5v instead of 7v on the bottom and front fans. and change stock fan to Panaflo fans

what temp for a PSU is consider danger ??

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Nov 06, 2002 5:52 pm

what temp for a PSU is consider danger ??

This a is good question that I have been grappling with. In fact, it is interesting enough that I think it deserves its own thread. Will post link to it here after I start it.

Here's the new thread: http://forums.silentpcreview.com/forums ... php?t=2301

gksam · Post by **gksam** » Wed Nov 06, 2002 6:12 pm

Good idea MikeC.

I think then we could also solicit responses from people to see how long they've had their undervolted fan'd powersupplies running for.

substance12 · Post by **substance12** » Wed Nov 13, 2002 1:12 pm

I'm unfamiliar with modding PS's. The 80mm is the exhaust fan and the 92mm fan is the intake fan (on Enermax), correct?

If you leave the 92mm fan, block that hole, also block other holes... will the exhaust of the PS heat be effective? You're basically allowing the natural flow of air to exhaust the heat, is that correct? I'm not sure if I'm interpreting this correctly, but are some saying this configuration is more effective?

Are the fans inside the Enermax plug and play? I would prefer not to do any soldering with such a sensitive unit.

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Nov 13, 2002 2:06 pm

also block other holes.

No, don't block any other holes, the 80mm fan won't exhaust the heat properly. Check PSU articles on main site and peruse the thread here some more.

Post by **Rusty075** » Thu Nov 14, 2002 7:00 am

I'm considering taking the Enermax off the recom list altogether.

I think that may be a good idea Mike. The Enermax's "were" quiet power supplies, and still are in comparison to normal ones. But when compared to the newer arrivals from the likes of Zalman, Q-tech and Seasonic they're not even close.

I see the Enermax's as occupying a middle ground between "stock" PSU's and the truly quiet ones now available. Overall this is a good thing. It shows that there is becoming more of a market for quiet components.

substance12 · Post by **substance12** » Fri Nov 15, 2002 1:09 pm

MikeC wrote:
also block other holes.
No, don't block any other holes, the 80mm fan won't exhaust the heat properly. Check PSU articles on main site and peruse the thread here some more.

What I meant was if you remove the 80mm exhaust fan and leave the 92mm one in... then do you block the other holes? If you are relying on the natural flow of air to flow out the back hole, then it would make sense to block the other holes.

If you leave the 80mm in and remove the 92mm, the article on the main page doesn't say anything about blocking the 92mm hole... but the posts here say to block it.

I'm thinking of doing this mod with the 92 at 5v and the 80mm at the standard 12v but replacing it with a panaflo.

shunx · Post by **shunx** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 2:08 am

MikeC wrote:hkgolden, I think you summed it up nicely.

OK here's a wrench in the works: I'm considering taking the Enermax off the recom list altogether. Why?

1) None are quiet in stock form - they're downright noisy.
2) Quieting them takes a lot of somewhat dangerous work
3) When run with low airflow (at higher than normal temps) they don't seem to last long.
4) Considering all the above, they're not very good value, really.

I burned out 2 in the last ~2.5 years. First one to sheer carelessness, mutiple shorts across all the rails, etc. Eventually croaked. Second one died a "natural"death after a year of low airflow from a single 5V fan. I could hear the coils whining for a few weeks & decided it was time to pull it. Right after I did that, I hooked it up to another system temporarily & it died (without fireworks).

Mm, I destroyed an Enermax out of sheer stupidity (forgot to unplug). I can hear the whining on my 2nd Enermax. I don't think there will be a third...

counterpt · Post by **counterpt** » Sat May 03, 2003 4:37 pm

I'm just coming in to this discussion and I have a question.
I have the Enermax PS and I mdded it like most. I removed the 80-mm fan and replaced the 92-mm with a queter one. The 92-mm has the 3-pin wire and I just used a fanmate (lowest setting) and a 3-4 pin adapter. (I'm too lazy to put a 2-pin lead and plug it where the original 92-mm fan went. I taped the font holes.
This works much better, but it's still the loudest component.

Ok my question:
Do you think it's a bad idea to screw the fan from the outside of the 92-mm hole instead of from the inside like the original was?
I got this idea as I was looking at it from the 80-mm hole in the back and I noticed how close the componets are to the fan. I think that's what's making most of the noise.

Thanks.

falloutboy20 · Post by **falloutboy20** » Sat May 03, 2003 4:43 pm

I found that modding the Enermax turned out to be nowhere near as good as buying a Nexus power supply. In the end, after all the work- that PS mopped the floor with it right out of the box...

http://www.siliconacoustics.com/nexusnx4000.html

counterpt · Post by **counterpt** » Sat May 03, 2003 5:37 pm

falloutboy20 wrote:I found that modding the Enermax turned out to be nowhere near as good as buying a Nexus power supply. In the end, after all the work- that PS mopped the floor with it right out of the box...

http://www.siliconacoustics.com/nexusnx4000.html

I agree with you

I won't buy another enermax again (actaully I was debating with your suggestion or a silenx for my next copmuter). However I have 2 of these (which I hate to waste since they work well), one of which is in a small desktop case with 1 intake fan and the PSU being the only exhaust, and I like that the 92-mm fan draws hot air from around the CPU.
Thanks.