Loud Power Supply fan

RavenPrime

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Dec 31, 2007
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I a have a 300W Athlon approved power supply. The fan is extremely noisy. Does anyone suggest changing the fan only? Will this make a difference or do I need to replace the whole power supply? The noise is annoying.
Thanks.

:cool: James
 
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Guest

Guest
The Enermax 430 watt ps I just bought is REALLY quiet. I would assume the 330 would be even more quiet.

--though it's too quiet = too little case air movement for my taste
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
You can change the fan if you like. They are usually case fans with a different connector. Find a nice quite case fan that puts out good airflow, or remove one from another power supply. They are 12 volt. If they it is not a "smart" fan you can get one from an old AT power supply. Smart fans have three wires instead of two. You can get smart fans as case fans too if you need the third "speed" wire. If you are going to use an old PS fan, "Panaflow" fans (by Matsushita) are usually quite because of good bearing quality and nicely shaped fins. They also have nice output. I use them as case fans, as most case fans are of a poorer design and are either noisy or low flow.
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
Let's see, you could buy one from me, or find one yourself-they are not avialable retail. If you have access to junk computers they came in many OEM AT power supplies. These are my favorites for performance and low noise-but you can only get them out of power supplies. Gat any old junk computers laying around?

Suicide is painless...........
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
I checked Pricewatch by typing "Pan and fan" in the search box and came up with Directron.com, but they cost a lot there, $16-$21 after shipping. Better to just get a few junk computers with good fans and rip them apart.


Suicide is painless...........
 
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Guest

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<A HREF="http://www.caseetc.com" target="_new">http://www.caseetc.com</A> has several of the Panaflo fans among other things. I haven't ordered anything from them personally, but they have a good rating at Resellerratings.com.
 
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Guest

Guest
I wouldn't suggest putting in Panaflo fans, they are made for the case and not a power supply. The fan in your power supply was meant to be in you power supply and is probably loud for a reason (it probably needs a lot of air). The Panaflo L1A and M1A fans probably have too low RPMs for your power supply, and the H1A is probably just as loud. Plus, Panaflo fans are meant to be case fans, they aren't reliable enough to be on a heatsink or power supply.

If you do change the fans, be very careful. Sometimes a charge can be stored up in there that can really do some damage.

If you want a quieter power supply, I would recommend getting a Enermax 330 Watt Whisper series. It is probably the best quality and it has 2 very quiet fans running that you can barely hear. You can get it at directron.com as well as many other places.
 

RavenPrime

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Dec 31, 2007
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I ended up buying a Sunon fan for the powersupply and another one for the processor cooler. Both have high CFM but low dBA. This cut my system's noise in half.

The noname original power supply fan is noisy and does not seem to move any more air than the Sunon fan. The retail Athlon fan that comes with the heatsink and processor also sounded like a minijet engine but still not as bad as the power supply. It is a very thin fan, getting a thicker one that moves the same amount of air and still fits really reduced the noise. The temperatures haven't dropped but they haven't risen either. And hey, I can hear the vacuum cleaner now.

<i>So what if I don't NEED 170fps. Your point is what?</i> :cool: James