Replace psu fan

[livadi]

I recently replaced a fanless psu with Corsair CX 430W, which has an 120mm fan (thermally controlled).

Because fan is noisy for my taste(its the only noise source in my system), I replaced it with a Scythe slipstream 500rpm, which is completely noiseless.

I guess that the new fan push less air than the original one. Could this be a problem? Could it harm the psu or affect its performance?

Another question is,
are there 'exhaust' and 'intake' fans by default, or fans work in any case according the position we mount them?

 

[alienware]

If the fan was noisy then it was because the PSU was running warm. Fitting a quieter fan usually means you are shifting less air which means the PSU may fail due to overheating. It should be OK (though it will mostly depend on the load on the PSU as most of them now don't spin up until they're pretty hot) but I would have been more concerned as to why the fan was working so hard in the first place for it to become audible. I've used a CX430 and never heard the fan.

A fan can be mounted on either intake or exhaust. You usually find that the side with the motor on it and the spokes to hold the frame together is the push side that the air comes out of, though rarely it can be different if the blades are the other way around and the motor spins backward. PSUs usually have the fan to intake and they exhaust the heat out of the back.

 

[livadi]

My friend,
I didn't say that fan was noisy. In fact it was silent. I said 'noisy for my taste' and added--> 'its the only noise source in my system'.
I understand why u never heard it. Before that u had to hear the noise of cpu fan, of vga fan, of case's fans, of hard disks. In my system there was no such matters. My system used to be, and is now, dead silent

The OEM psu's fan is here. As u see works in a scale 24-54cfm (or 21-46 according newer testings).
I replaced it with this fan, which works always in just 24cfm. Because its only 500rpm u hear nothing. Like it does not exist.

What are the effects for a psu which get less air than what supposed to get? Less efficiency maybe?

Now the point is, do I really need 54cfm? I have a low profile system. My psu wont easily get hot, I dont use to play 'heavy' games.
I have a Phenom2 x4 960T(TDP 95W) which most of the time run at 0.9V, a 9800gt green(no extra pin connector), a pci_xpress soundcard, two sticks of DDR3 and I connect just a dvd drive and an SSD.


Another point is the place of psu, up or down.
So far I used a fanless psu in the top. Now with a psu with fan, if is in top then it will receive the hot air from cpu, right? But if its in base then it will receive fresh air from outside?

 

[remember300]

My friend,
I didn't say that fan was noisy. In fact it was silent. I said 'noisy for my taste' and added--> 'its the only noise source in my system'.
I understand why u never heard it. Before that u had to hear the noise of cpu fan, of vga fan, of case's fans, of hard disks. In my system there was no such matters. My system used to be, and is now, dead silent

The OEM psu's fan is here. As u see works in a scale 24-54cfm (or 21-46 according newer testings).
I replaced it with this fan, which works always in just 24cfm. Because its only 500rpm u hear nothing. Like it does not exist.

What are the effects for a psu which get less air than what supposed to get? Less efficiency maybe?

Now the point is, do I really need 54cfm? I have a low profile system. My psu wont easily get hot, I dont use to play 'heavy' games.
I have a Phenom2 x4 960T(TDP 95W) which most of the time run at 0.9V, a 9800gt green(no extra pin connector), a pci_xpress soundcard, two sticks of DDR3 and I connect just a dvd drive and an SSD.


Another point is the place of psu, up or down.
So far I used a fanless psu in the top. Now with a psu with fan, if is in top then it will receive the hot air from cpu, right? But if its in base then it will receive fresh air from outside?

its up to you with fan orientation alot of guys on here have the fan into the case.
and the fan will have a little arrow pointing to its flow direction somewhere on its body.

 

[alienware]

With the fan down (usually ends up outside of the case drawing in air) the psu will run cooler. If you turn it over it will get all of its air from the inside of the case which will be ambient case air which will be warmer.

I don't understand why people put it fan side up, that's always confused me.

 

[remember300]

With the fan down (usually ends up outside of the case drawing in air) the psu will run cooler. If you turn it over it will get all of its air from the inside of the case which will be ambient case air which will be warmer.

I don't understand why people put it fan side up, that's always confused me.

sometimes it to stop dust filling the psu. sometimes its just cos they like the look of it like TTL

 

[livadi]

Newer cases use to have dust filters.

If fan is up in a psu located down, or if psu is located up, this means more heat for the psu, right? Because psu will receive an already warm air.

So looks like its necessary for me to get a case with psu located down and fan down:mellow:

 

[remember300]

my case is well ventilated and only is a few degrees above room temp, so it wont make that much differance

 

[livadi]

Yes but in this thread we r talking about my case, which has no fans at all )

 

[remember300]

ah cool