Custom AX860i fan mod!

[Enderman]

Welcome to my AX860i mod log!

 

 

Today we will be replacing the stock fan with a nice and quiet Noiseblocker eLoop.

 

NOTE-this is only for PSUs that have a 120 or 140mm fan, the AX1200i (and maybe 1500i?) uses a 135mm fan which cannot be replaced.

 

A known issue with the AXi power supplies from Corsair is that they make a clicking noise when the fan is off, and it sounds like a "leaky faucet" every 5-10 seconds.

This is because the Yate Loon fan in the PSU is still getting a really low PWM signal, but it is stalled and cannot turn.

A solution is to set the PSU fan to minimum speed (40%) but that is still very loud.

 

Here is how you can replace the 120mm fan in an AX760i or AX860i with a better PWM fan.

 

 

 

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Here comes the difficult part:

 

My NB eLoop has a very short connector, but if your PWM fan has a long cable, you should cut it and strip it about 1-2 inches from the fan's frame.

 

 

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THIS IS NOT HOW YOU CONNECT THE WIRES! It took me 3 tries to figure out that the Yate Loon fan does not follow standard PWM colour coding. Yellow should go into yellow, and red should go into green.

The black and blue should be standard on every other PWM fan.

 

You can move the plastic cover from the Yate Loon onto your new fan, but I decided to not do that because it caused more fan noise, and I am ok with a few degrees hotter temps. You can see it in the next pic, but I removed it afterwards. I didn't like it.

 

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Also, the PSU housing only goes on one way. The fan is not in the center, so make sure you orient it correctly or the case wont fit back on!

 

 

 

Now you have a new fan in your PSU!

 

 

 

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Before and after:

 

Now PSU temps look higher because I repositioned my temp sensor to be closer to the components, not right underneath the fan.

The fan is spinning because it does not stall like the Yate Loon fan did, but at 450rpm it is completely inaudible. This removes the "leaky faucet" issue, and it makes your PSU way quieter than the stock fan was at 40%.

 

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any questions.

[RevoltTrain]

It would have been cool if you would have resprayed the PSU while you had it apart. Great work man!

[d33g33]

I like it!

[Enderman]

It would have been cool if you would have resprayed the PSU while you had it apart. Great work man!

Thanks!

 

I would have liked a white PSU in my old 800D, but the NZXT S340 has a PSU cover and nobody would ever see it painted white, so I decided to avoid doing that.

 

 

I like it!

Thank you!

[RevoltTrain]

Thanks!

 

I would have liked a white PSU in my old 800D, but the NZXT S340 has a PSU cover and nobody would ever see it painted white, so I decided to avoid doing that.

Didn't realize it was a S340, makes sense. How do you like the case? Been thinking about picking it up for myself as the Silent Base 800 is just too big for me

[Uwillparish]

Very nice!

[Enderman]

Didn't realize it was a S340, makes sense. How do you like the case? Been thinking about picking it up for myself as the Silent Base 800 is just too big for me

It's a good case. It has its flaws, which I modded to make it the best case for me.

Very minimalistic, clean, and compact for a full ATX build.

Airflow is not too good, but I'm working on a custom "AiO" style loop that will reduce temps even more. If I can get a 280mm rad and some 140mm fans it will be much better.

 

For more info about the case and the mods I did to it, see the build log in my signature

 

Very nice!

Thanks!

[Oberon.Smite]

I wish I was this cool. No seriously, the only mods I've ever done are jerryrigs and 3d printed crap.

[Enderman]

I wish I was this cool. No seriously, the only mods I've ever done are jerryrigs and 3d printed crap.

Thanks

[scaramonga]

Thank you for an excellent guide.

 

I'm just about to do the same process tomorrow, but I'm a little confused as to the wiring.  I take it from the above picture, this shows the incorrect way?

 

I'm thinking this is how I should do it?

 

Black - Black

Yellow - Yellow

Red - Green

Blue - Blue

 

Same fan replacement BTW

 

Many thx!!

[Enderman]

3 hours ago, scaramonga said:

Thank you for an excellent guide.

 

I'm just about to do the same process tomorrow, but I'm a little confused as to the wiring.  I take it from the above picture, this shows the incorrect way?

 

I'm thinking this is how I should do it?

 

Black - Black

Yellow - Yellow

Red - Green

Blue - Blue

 

Same fan replacement BTW

 

Many thx!!

yup!

or yellow-white depending on the fan, i think that was a typo in my post because I only see one yellow wire

[scaramonga]

Many thx for getting back to me buddy.

 

Yup, got fan today, and it is indeed a white wire on NB, lol, so Yellow - White

 

Will let you know how it goes.  Thank you very much for this.

[scaramonga]

Well, all went well, lol, apart from having to cut connector off NB fan, as wires wouldn't stay put, so I ended up soldering them and wrapping in insulating tape.  Was OK though, as finished loom ended up being neater.  Replaced star fittings with cross headed ones also   Warranty fucked of course, but fan is spinning now, and is inaudible.

 

Thank you again for this guide buddy

 

Couple of pics, not great quality on my phone, but gives a view of it running fine.

 

 

[planific]

Very nice mod, but why is the need to cut and strip the wires?

 

Shouldn't this cable be enough to connect the new fan to the PSU?

https://www.amazon.com/Gelid-CA-PWM-02-Adapter-Sleeved-Cooler/dp/B005ZKZEQA

 

By the way, how is the PSU health two years later? Still alive and well?

[Enderman]

44 minutes ago, planific said:

Very nice mod, but why is the need to cut and strip the wires?

 

Shouldn't this cable be enough to connect the new fan to the PSU?

https://www.amazon.com/Gelid-CA-PWM-02-Adapter-Sleeved-Cooler/dp/B005ZKZEQA

 

By the way, how is the PSU health two years later? Still alive and well?

I didn't have an adapter like that, also there isn't a lot of space for extra long cables and adapters, so a cable might touch the fan if you have a fan with a long cable.

The noiseblocker fan I used had a cable only a few cm long.

 

PS- my PSU died due to a defective hard drive about a year ago, and I'm 90% sure it wasn't at all related to the fan mod.

Right now I'm using a Seasonic PSU instead of corsair, but I still think corsair is a great brand.

[Offline Research Kangaroo]

i wanna do this but im scared of killing myself for not knowing how to do this in any way :3

 

[Enderman]

8 hours ago, MoDRun said:

i wanna do this but im scared of killing myself for not knowing how to do this in any way :3

 

Just buy a super quiet power supply then, the seasonic ones are very quiet

[Offline Research Kangaroo]

5 hours ago, Enderman said:

Just buy a super quiet power supply then, the seasonic ones are very quiet

I alredy got the same you got and i dont want to change cos money is going to other hardware atm and i cant change cos its a super custom very specific casemod nothing else fits unless its the same or better watt for the same or shorter psu :3

I will just eventualy have to figure out how to do this or get someone to do it for me i guess.

Btw is it the psu fan i hear when my pc makes a unstable fan noise like it goes whoom whoom whoom every second sort of thing? its not loud but its annoying when its not a constant noise.

Other noisy parts are

all be quiet case fans from dark base 900
dark rock 2 cpu cooler with stock be quiet fan
strix 980ti
 

[Enderman]

6 minutes ago, MoDRun said:

Btw is it the psu fan i hear when my pc makes a unstable fan noise like it goes whoom whoom whoom every second sort of thing? its not loud but its annoying when its not a constant noise.

idk, you will have to listen more closely.

[Offline Research Kangaroo]

Just now, Enderman said:

idk, you will have to listen more closely.

i just tried and for some reason i can only hear it when im 1-2 meters away from the pc but not if i put my ear close to each component so.. :3 but its alright you dont know ill figure it out at some point anyway

[zotai]

I tried with this with a Noctua PWM fan and it did not work. Fan spins, but it seems the PWM RPM signal does not work with the PSU. I had an issue with my PSU where it made a terrible noise every time the fan spun up.

 

I replaced it with a Seasonic 850W Prime after much frustration.

[gabby131]

I am so sorry so revive this thread.

I am planning on replacing the Fan on my 860i as well, but my perform a more slack of a process.

I'd like to just control the fan via commander pro and remove the fan control from the PSU completely.

 

the temp reading should be still working as long as I hook up the temp sensor (the black cable with green bulb on the end?) the same way as on the stock right?  Please confirm.

 

Thank you,

[Enderman]

Yes the temp sensor will still work as normal.

[JakeGwilliam]

And to revive this thread even further. Did the no fan under load feature still work or was the PSU sending a constant power on feed to the new fans?

[Enderman]

4 hours ago, JakeGwilliam said:

And to revive this thread even further. Did the no fan under load feature still work or was the PSU sending a constant power on feed to the new fans?

I can't remember, it was many years ago, but I think it still spun even at no load.

The noiseblockers require far less voltage to start up than the stock fan does, so the PSU probably still sends some voltage or signal when in '0 rpm' mode

The new fan was inaudible though, extremely silent.