How hot can a PSU get ?

[kizoku_95]

I have a Cooler  Master Thunder 500W PSU and I have been noticing that the top part of the power supply casing gets quite toasty after a short gaming session !

I cannot measure how hot it gets but the temperatures are definitely more than what I would expect.

Could someone tell me if this is normal or what I should do as I dont want to blow up my computer due to PSU issues......

My system specs are in the signature...

[officiallyasimulator]

Most psus have a 40-45 degrees celcius operating temperature, so it theoretically should not go over that.

[vorticalbox]

can or should? to very different questions, they can keep getting hotter till they fail.

 

has the fan got clear way to pull in air? dust filter not blocked?

[Guest]

Very.

[kizoku_95]

can or should? to very different questions, they can keep getting hotter till they fail.

 

has the fan got clear way to pull in air? dust filter not blocked?

How hot should a PSU get ?

 

Yes the fan has a clear way to pull air in .... Dust filter is clean

[Fulgrim]

Never known of software being able to monitor the temps, but putting your hand where the air is extracted should give you an indication of if it's overheating.

 

And they can run up to ~50c before it needs to kick the fans up to high speed, but generally they should sit between 40 - 45c when gaming or whatever.

[vorticalbox]

How hot should a PSU get ?

 

Yes the fan has a clear way to pull air in .... Dust filter is clean

 

 

Never known of software being able to monitor the temps, but putting your hand where the air is extracted should give you an indication of if it's overheating.

 

And they can run up to ~50c before it needs to kick the fans up to high speed, but generally they should sit between 40 - 45c when gaming or whatever.

that PSU has a operating temp of 0 ~ 40 so really should go much about that, 40c would feel warm to touch not hot.

[kizoku_95]

that PSU has a operating temp of 0 ~ 40 so really should go much about that, 40c would feel warm to touch not hot.

 

ok...... thank you!

[Nallown]

Well it really depends on the load of course.

 

As you know the PSU transmits the current around the whole system. Depending on how much power your computer may be using the PSU be placed under higher load or lower load not since the resistors would work harder or slower to keep everything nice and consistent and make sure that nothing goes BOOM!

 

If you were to use your computer like possibly right now, you may have your web browser opened with possibly a few IM running in background and also possibly lets say a music player well in that case your computer won't be under much load and won't be needing much power from the PSU so it would be calm and slow in terms of transmitting the current around the computer. The GPU may pretty much not be working and only a few light weight tasks are running on your CPU and they're being transmitted nice and evenly around the system.

 

Since here it won't be under much load and it wouldn't need to have much current running around and the PSU may remain calm and the resistors wouldn't be working their ass off. Just like when let's say if you were to chillex at home on a lazy Saturday afternoon on your computer just doing nothing then you wouldn't be consuming much energy but if you were to let's say play a competitive sports match with your friends then you'd be under much more load and you'd be consuming much more energy and you'd start to burn up and work up and that's when you'd start to boil up and remain like that for possibly a moment since your body would need to start to cool down and find the right spot in terms of power consumption.

You could pretty much think of it the same way the PSU and every other electrical component would work.

 

So basically if you instead were to be running a badass heavy load game and your GPU starts to drain all the power from your PSU just like drinking iced tea on a boiling hot Friday afternoon then it would consume and start to work up the PSU and it would try to remain cool from all that power so that's when you'd have it start running pretty darn hot.

 

So basically it really depends on how well your PSU is build to keep the power running nice and smooth without any sudden current drops or so. The resistors in your PSU may be rubbish and cause many spikes in the current being transmitted and cause the PSU to freak out and warm up or it may be a pretty efficient well trusted brand with good build quality which delivers the required power around the computer without any spikes so the PSU won't start to freak out and will start to be able to manage the power and temperatures correctly.

 

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I'd say if you were to have a well trusted PSU which works pretty efficient and consistent then it would run at 30C and under load around 40C.