- Sep 15, 2020
- 2
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After buying an Aerocool Strike-X 1100W PSU for my first build in many years and finding that it really is a rubbish PSU and dies periodically[1] I have now bought a Seasonic Focus GX-650 and the old PSU will be going back.
Currently my PC at worst case uses 400-450 watts with GPU & CPU maxed out more normally 120-150 watts measured by the UPS (including monitors) depending on exactly whats going on so I really did oversize things with the Aerocool. I'm not particularly into gaming / overclocking but I do lots of programming work so it's normally my CPU generating heat.
I'm going to install the Seasonic this weekend and I have two options in my cube style case where the PSU is underneath the motherboard:
a) Fan facing upwards (in which case I can use the silent fan mode)
b) Fan facing downwards through the case which has ventilation holes for this purpose (no silent fan mode).
My own personal thoughts are:
If the fan is facing upwards it's going to suck case air in and generated heat should go out, but in smart mode it's going to heat the CPU when the fan is off as heat escapes out of the PSU and onto the bottom of the motherboard but a failed fan or smart switch in the wrong position won't cause issues.
On the other hand if I put the fan facing downwards this keeps heat out of the main case but if the board in the PSU gets hot (my guess is this is unlikely) then it's going to end up warming the motherboard directly under the CPU and I'll need the fan running constantly.
So does anyone have any thoughts on which way to install?
The Seasonic installation guide just says what's possible and doesn't really give a recommendation when a case has ventilation holes (apart from making sure the fan is in constant on mode). I have a suspicion that both orientations will be fine and I won't hear the fan over the other case/cpu/gpu fans but if anyone has a horror story I'm interested.
Thanks
[1] I'm assuming it's the Aerocool being crap as it seems to die on the smallest power glitch (won't survive the UPS self test) and I had it fail prior to the buying a UPS randomly but I'll only know for sure once I've put the new PSU in. It was fine for the first six weeks or so but now seems to fail every other day.
Currently my PC at worst case uses 400-450 watts with GPU & CPU maxed out more normally 120-150 watts measured by the UPS (including monitors) depending on exactly whats going on so I really did oversize things with the Aerocool. I'm not particularly into gaming / overclocking but I do lots of programming work so it's normally my CPU generating heat.
I'm going to install the Seasonic this weekend and I have two options in my cube style case where the PSU is underneath the motherboard:
a) Fan facing upwards (in which case I can use the silent fan mode)
b) Fan facing downwards through the case which has ventilation holes for this purpose (no silent fan mode).
My own personal thoughts are:
If the fan is facing upwards it's going to suck case air in and generated heat should go out, but in smart mode it's going to heat the CPU when the fan is off as heat escapes out of the PSU and onto the bottom of the motherboard but a failed fan or smart switch in the wrong position won't cause issues.
On the other hand if I put the fan facing downwards this keeps heat out of the main case but if the board in the PSU gets hot (my guess is this is unlikely) then it's going to end up warming the motherboard directly under the CPU and I'll need the fan running constantly.
So does anyone have any thoughts on which way to install?
The Seasonic installation guide just says what's possible and doesn't really give a recommendation when a case has ventilation holes (apart from making sure the fan is in constant on mode). I have a suspicion that both orientations will be fine and I won't hear the fan over the other case/cpu/gpu fans but if anyone has a horror story I'm interested.
Thanks
[1] I'm assuming it's the Aerocool being crap as it seems to die on the smallest power glitch (won't survive the UPS self test) and I had it fail prior to the buying a UPS randomly but I'll only know for sure once I've put the new PSU in. It was fine for the first six weeks or so but now seems to fail every other day.
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