Power Supply, facing up or down?

[darkstar845]

I would like to ask what is the proper position of my power supply because I noticed that I do not see it's fan.

Here is the picture:

I am not the builder of the computer, the people at the computer store where I bought the parts built it for me because I have no experience in building computers.

My Case is Antec 902 and have been using the computer with this configuration for more than one week without noticing any problems.

 

[Niklas_13]

If your case has bottom vents for the PSU to vent its fine to mount it with the fan at the bottom, if not i would face the fan up.

 

[jsc]

The 902 does not have a vent hole on the bottom. I also would rotate the PSU so the PSU fan points toward the case.

I have three Antec 900's, all modded for better cable management. I chose not to cut another hole in the bottom.

 

[Indecisive_man]

I don't want to pirate the original poster's thread but this is related so I figured I'd ask. I've noticed that some cases do have the vents for the PSU on the bottom of the case but with the case sitting on the floor, and potentially carpet, wouldn't this prevent the power supply from venting fully?

 

[Ubrales]

The way it is mounted now is fine - the installation has adequate venting.

 

[Niklas_13]

The way it is mounted now is fine - the installation has adequate venting.

If the case does not have a space between the fan and the bottom of the case, the hot air will circulate around the PSU and shorten the life span of the PSU or cause failure.

So i would say that its incorrect to say that its fine how it sits now.

 

[janxta]

The fan facing down is an intake fan and therefore is negated by improper installation. Just rotate your psu 180 degrees and you will be fine. It will attempt to extract warm air out the bottom back of the case. It will also relieve added stress to the power supplies cooling system. Good luck with your new PC.

 

[darkstar845]

The 902 does not have a vent hole on the bottom. I also would rotate the PSU so the PSU fan points toward the case.

I have three Antec 900's, all modded for better cable management. I chose not to cut another hole in the bottom.

What do you mean by rotating the PSU so the PSU fan points towards the case? What part of the case, the side cover or the back of the case?

 

[darkstar845]

If I flip the PSU so the SPU fan would point upwards, won't the PSU Instake fan interfere with the intake fan of my video card?
because both of the intake fans of the video card and the PSU would face each other

 

[505090]

first off you can't just flip the psu unless you wanna drill new mounting holes, not really a big deal but why waste your time

secondly antec is one of the top case manufacturers out there, with that in mind maybe we should think about what we are doing before second guessing the engineers who designed it

Now if we look at the picture there is what appears to be about a 1 inch gap under the psu. Will that gap reduce airflow compared to the standard install in the top of a case, maybe to a negligible degree. So we may have a negligible difference there, but if we keep thinking we realize that this is an atx power supply. And atx power supplies are designed to remove the hot air generated by the cpu and gpu from the top of the case. So seeing as it only has to pull cold air form the bottom instead of removing most the heat from the case, i think it is safe to say that possible tiny reduction in airflow will not hurt it one bit.

 

[terr281]

I would say that the PSU needs to be flipped over. 505090's information is correct, but on Antec 300's (similar case design, bottom mounted PSUs) I always flip the PSU so the fan is facing up. Why?

1. I always mount an intake fan in the side panel blowing toward the MB expansion slots (graphics cards). As a result, the video cards and PSU are not starved for air... if they could even be. (With the space between your graphics card and PSU, there wouldn't be an issue.)

2. As the system ages, unless you are regularly going to open the case, dust is going to settle inside. Where does a marjority of dust, animal hair (pets), etc. reside?... horizontal flat surfaces. The PSU will be sucking the dust from the bottom of the case directly into it and attempting to blow it out. And, you don't want a blown PSU because of this in the long run.

3. As others have stated, increasing the front to rear air flow in the case is a good thing, especially since the PSU's fan will not be pulling "that much" air through it since it is, basically, only heating itself. (That is the beauty of bottom mounted PSU's. Top mounted PSU's end up pulling the heat from the entire system.

 

[darkstar845]

first off you can't just flip the psu unless you wanna drill new mounting holes, not really a big deal but why waste your time

secondly antec is one of the top case manufacturers out there, with that in mind maybe we should think about what we are doing before second guessing the engineers who designed it

Now if we look at the picture there is what appears to be about a 1 inch gap under the psu. Will that gap reduce airflow compared to the standard install in the top of a case, maybe to a negligible degree. So we may have a negligible difference there, but if we keep thinking we realize that this is an atx power supply. And atx power supplies are designed to remove the hot air generated by the cpu and gpu from the top of the case. So seeing as it only has to pull cold air form the bottom instead of removing most the heat from the case, i think it is safe to say that possible tiny reduction in airflow will not hurt it one bit.

I checked the space under the PSU and noticed that the gap was only about a quarter of an inch, I think it is very small.

 

[Ubrales]

Multiply that 1/4" by the perimeter of the base of the PSU - now you get a fairly large area for air flow.

 

[505090]

I checked the space under the PSU and noticed that the gap was only about a quarter of an inch, I think it is very small.

I stand corrected but it really makes no difference to my last post

 

[darkstar845]

Thank you to all your advice and suggestions.