[SOLVED] Whats the heat sinks for in a power supply?

[raycey345]

Hello i am wondering whats the purpose of the heat sinks in a power supply. I'm looking to see if i can safely extend the heat sinks by individually adding small copper rods to each of them so heat can be transferred to them. I'm doing this to see if this helps extend my psu life span. Please no one come here and tell me opening a power supply is dangerous etc. I know already. I plan to do this when there's no power in it.

 

[k1114]

You should notice psus have an efficiency rating. Some power is lost during conversion and energy is not lost or destroyed, it turns to heat. Psus don't get too hot to need addition cooling above what they already have. Psus also tend to last longer than any component and the parts that fail will wear with use regardless of heat. I don't see a point in wasting time to do this.

 

[B!gMeme]

Heat-sinks will not save your power supply. The current controllers such as capacitors and transistors will die. The heat sinks keep your power supply from melting itself, but they will not keep the capacitors from dying, and once the capacitors die, they may take your pc parts along with them. Also, even when there is no power connected to your power supply, it still holds power inside that is enough to send you to the hospital, so even when opening the power supply without power you are basically asking to get zapped. DO NOT OPEN YOUR POWER SUPPLY. YOU WILL NOT SAVE MONEY. There are qualified technicians who went to school for this type of work, so please, do not try it yourself.

 

[bignastyid]

I doubt beefing up the heatsinks will lengthen the life of the unit as it won't help with capacitor aging. Also even unplugged the capacitors in a PSU contain enough of a charge to kill you.

 

[raycey345]

I know when

I doubt beefing up the heatsinks will lengthen the life of the unit as it won't help with capacitor aging. Also even unplugged the capacitors in a PSU contain enough of a charge to kill you.

I know when its unplugged there's power still in the capacitors...I'm well aware.

 

[USAFRet]

Hello i am wondering whats the purpose of the heat sinks in a power supply. I'm looking to see if i can safely extend the heat sinks by individually adding small copper rods to each of them so heat can be transferred to them. I'm doing this to see if this helps extend my psu life span. Please no one come here and tell me opening a power supply is dangerous etc. I know already. I plan to do this when there's no power in it.

A good quality PSU will last a long time, without any additions.
Adding copper rods to the hot parts will not make a crappy PSU last longer.

 

[B!gMeme]

I know when

I know when its unplugged there's power still in the capacitors...I'm well aware.

Well than, I am not the one to tell you that it will likeley be more trouble than it is worth, and that you risk hospitalization or even death from doing so.

 

[raycey345]

Well than, I am not the one to tell you that it will likeley be more trouble than it is worth, and that you risk hospitalization or even death from doing so.

I doubt it mate the psu i have has been unplugged for a very long time.. lol

 

[B!gMeme]

A good quality PSU will last a long time, without any additions.
Adding copper rods to the hot parts will not make a crappy PSU last longer.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Please, raycey345 if you must go to these lengths to fix your power supply, it is dying and it is time to get a new one. I hate having to get new parts as well and spend money, but in this case it is necessary.

 

[USAFRet]

And of course, we don't know what specific unit we're talking about here.

 

[B!gMeme]

I doubt it mate the psu i have has been unplugged for a very long time.. lol

Those who ask questions without giving all the information necessary for a proper answer are only hurting the accuracy of information that can be provided to them. Why didn't you just tell us that it was unplugged for a long time?

 

[B!gMeme]

I doubt it mate the psu i have has been unplugged for a very long time.. lol

Why has it been unplugged? This is information we need to know. Also, like USAFRet said, what is the model/make?

 

[Zerk2012]

I know when

I know when its unplugged there's power still in the capacitors...I'm well aware.

Their no reason to add anything inside the PSU also when you open it up you void the warranty.

 

[Juular]

PSU heatsinks are under current, don't do that ... You wouldn't save a trash PSU for failing this way and a good PSU already has everything in place to be good to start with. What's your PSU ?

 

[raycey345]

Their no reason to add anything inside the PSU also when you open it up you void the warranty.

chill..It's just a psu.. Oh im so scared i'm about to lose my warranty.. lol

 

[raycey345]

PSU heatsinks are under current, don't do that ... You wouldn't save a trash PSU for failing this way and a good PSU already has everything in place to be good to start with. What's your PSU ?

Mate i am an extreme enthusiast when it comes to PC hardware.. It's a Corsair AX760 Platinum rated. I am only doing this to see if the psu will generate less heat when turned on. The heat sinks are coated in black paint. The only thing i would be doing is gluing copper heat sink rods to each of pait coated psu heat sinks with no contact, no touching any other heat sink or component. I don't care about warranty, i don't care if it makes a huge difference or not.. Also im doing this when the power supply have no power in it , unplugged for DAYS.

 

[Juular]

I am only doing this to see if the psu will generate less heat when turned on.

It wouldn't.

Also im doing this when the power supply have no power in it , unplugged for DAYS.

Heatsinks would be still live when it would be on, with the risk of shorting to something which it isn't supposed to.
Just forget about that.

 

[B!gMeme]

chill..It's just a psu.. Oh im so scared i'm about to lose my warranty.. lol

Correction:
Oh im so scared i'm about to go to the hosptal by opening my psu.. lol
I love the sarcasm.

 

[B!gMeme]

Mate i am an extreme enthusiast when it comes to PC hardware.. It's a Corsair AX760 Platinum rated. I am only doing this to see if the psu will generate less heat when turned on. The heat sinks are coated in black paint. The only thing i would be doing is gluing copper heat sink rods to each of pait coated psu heat sinks with no contact, no touching any other heat sink or component. I don't care about warranty, i don't care if it makes a huge difference or not.. Also im doing this when the power supply have no power in it , unplugged for DAYS.

Buddy... the glue will melt. I don't understand the logic here. If it is a good psu, why damage it? The copper rods will more or less damage the cooling inside. There will be little to no heat conduction between your copper rods and the heatsink because A: they aren't the same metal, B: The proper heatsinks are not painted but powder coated, and powder coats will not conduct to your copper pipes. I do not see why you are doing this it is a perfectly good psu, and people spent a lot of time designing it to give it optimal heat conduction. Your rods will make it run hotter if anything. (supposing you don't break it)

 

[USAFRet]

Mate i am an extreme enthusiast when it comes to PC hardware.. It's a Corsair AX760 Platinum rated. I am only doing this to see if the psu will generate less heat when turned on. The heat sinks are coated in black paint. The only thing i would be doing is gluing copper heat sink rods to each of pait coated psu heat sinks with no contact, no touching any other heat sink or component. I don't care about warranty, i don't care if it makes a huge difference or not.. Also im doing this when the power supply have no power in it , unplugged for DAYS.

" I am only doing this to see if the psu will generate less heat when turned on."

It will generate the same heat, no matter what you glue onto it.

Using glue will probably make the heat dissipation worse.

 

[k1114]

Glue will make the psu hotter. You're insulating it.

 

[jonnyguru]

Mate i am an extreme enthusiast when it comes to PC hardware.. It's a Corsair AX760 Platinum rated. I am only doing this to see if the psu will generate less heat when turned on.

Wait... You're not one of those guys that thinks using Noctua fans will drop your CPU temps below ambient, are you?

The PSU is going to generate the same amount of heat no matter what heatsinks you use. It's the job of the fan to evacuate that heat out the back as much as possible.

All extending or replacing those heatsinks are going to do is spread the same amount of heat out over more surface area, but the fan still has to cool those heatsinks and the thermistor for fan control is not on the heatsink.

And, if anything, adding to a heatsink can cause worse temperatures as they can potentially block air flow. Take, for example, the heatsink modifications Asus did to the Seasonic Prime when they came out with their ROG PSUs. The PSU actually runs HOTTER than a stock Prime.