PSU fan not spinning?!

[Vishvas Sudarshan]

I know that my PSU, Corsair RM450, isn't suppose to turn on the fan until it reaches 40% load, but the problem is that I've never seen it spin, even when I run AIDA64.

Here's what I have -

i5-6500

MSI Armor GTX 1060(3G)

1SSD, 1HDD, 2 120mm Case Fans and stock cooling.

 

I do notice that the PSU it a bit warm when I touch it. So is this setup less than 40% load on my PSU?

And anyway to check PSU temperatures?

 

Thanks!

[NTDaws]

It won't use the fan until it exactly needs it. It depends on the internal temperatures in your case.

[EliteTeamPhoenix]

I have the rm1000 yellow.mine does exactly the same.only kicks in till I reach more than 50%

[Naeaes]

It's 40°C, not 40%. Kudos the airflow-optimized case.

[Vishvas Sudarshan]

3 minutes ago, Naeaes said:

It's 40°C, not 40%. Kudos the airflow-optimized case.

Well, The website says, 40%

[manikyath]

the RM series waits very long until the fan kicks in, my RM750 has been in use for almost two years now, and the fan is yet to spin

 

that said, piece of advice: if your system doesnt draw enough power to make the fan spin up, put the power supply fan side up, that way it can passively vent out the little heat it produces easier.

--

and if someone's gonna complain that that will ruin the graphics card's thermals, that power supply will never kick out more heat than a generous amount of LEDs will, so really it doesnt matter.

[Energycore]

12 minutes ago, Vishvas Sudarshan said:

I know that my PSU, Corsair RM450, isn't suppose to turn on the fan until it reaches 40% load, but the problem is that I've never seen it spin, even when I run AIDA64.

Here's what I have -

i5-6500

MSI Armor GTX 1060(3G)

1SSD, 1HDD, 2 120mm Case Fans and stock cooling.

 

I do notice that the PSU it a bit warm when I touch it. So is this setup less than 40% load on my PSU?

And anyway to check PSU temperatures?

 

Thanks!

That's weird, 40% is 180W and you're probably pulling more than that.

But this is one to ask Corsair themselves about.

[treeroy]

3 minutes ago, manikyath said:

that said, piece of advice: if your system doesnt draw enough power to make the fan spin up, put the power supply fan side up, that way it can passively vent out the little heat it produces easier.

Why would anyone ever not place the power supply facing up? It aint gonna do much facing the ground lol

[manikyath]

Just now, treeroy said:

Why would anyone ever not place the power supply facing up? It aint gonna do much facing the ground lol

a lot of cases these days have a vent with a fan filter right underneath the power supply, which if your psu fan is *actually doing something* allows you to make the power supply "its own seperated thermal zone" if that makes sense.

 

there's also cases with shrouds overtop the power supply, cases where the GPU may be very close to the PSU, where the PSU and GPU fans would be fighting for airflow, etc. -- these days there's actually more reasons to go fan side down than there are fan side up.

[Naeaes]

5 minutes ago, Vishvas Sudarshan said:

Well, The website says, 40%

Huh. The same website says it's thermal-controlled (as opposed to load-controlled). Maybe it's both or neither. Anyway, AIDA64 might not tax the PSU enough. Try Prime95, maybe. I should note that the heat and power consumption caused by Prime95 are a side-product. It's not actually intended for stresstesting/benchmarking and It's got no safeguards built on so keep an eye on it.

Quote

-- when you're pushing it hard, the thermal sensor controls the fan speed --

 

[m0k]

i dont think its going to be an issue

your CPU is rated for 65 watts
your GPU is rated for 120 watts ( i think)

 

your system isnt drawing enough power/load and isnt generating enough heat for the fan to turn on

 

only way to really test if your PSU fan is defective or not is to use it in a more powerful system that consumes power / has higher TDP components

 

[treeroy]

Just now, manikyath said:

a lot of cases these days have a vent with a fan filter right underneath the power supply, which if your psu fan is *actually doing something* allows you to make the power supply "its own seperated thermal zone" if that makes sense.

 

there's also cases with shrouds overtop the power supply, cases where the GPU may be very close to the PSU, where the PSU and GPU fans would be fighting for airflow, etc. -- these days there's actually more reasons to go fan side down than there are fan side up.

My case has a dust filter underneath the PSU. How does that work though? There is so little space there. Maybe a few mm high? So there is no space for it to blow the air surely? Compared to if it blows the heat into the middle of the case where there is space and I assume it gets taken out the back?

 

I don't understand anything about how airflow works but how can that be right? There is so little space...

[Vishvas Sudarshan]

7 minutes ago, treeroy said:

Why would anyone ever not place the power supply facing up? It aint gonna do much facing the ground lol

There's space under me PSU fan vent, its a Master Box 5

[Vishvas Sudarshan]

4 minutes ago, Naeaes said:

Huh. The same website says it's thermal-controlled (as opposed to load-controlled). Maybe it's both or neither. Anyway, AIDA64 might not tax the PSU enough. Try Prime95, maybe. I should note that the heat and power consumption caused by Prime95 are a side-product. It's not actually intended for stresstesting/benchmarking and It's got no safeguards built on so keep an eye on it.

 

By "Keep an Eye on it", what exactly should I monitor closely?

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, treeroy said:

My case has a dust filter underneath the PSU. How does that work though? There is so little space there. Maybe a few mm high? So there is no space for it to blow the air surely? Compared to if it blows the heat into the middle of the case where there is space and I assume it gets taken out the back?

 

I don't understand anything about how airflow works but how can that be right? There is so little space...

the fan sucks air into the power supply, which is then exhausted out the back (or at least thats how most modern, quality power supplies work) and you get the choice to make it face up, essentially acting as a passive or active exhaust from your system (depending on if the fan is spinning or not), or fan side down to make it its own little ecosystem, and for the amount of heat in a power supply those few cm below your case (if your case isnt on carpet that is..) are plenty to give the power supply the airflow it needs.

[Naeaes]

2 minutes ago, Vishvas Sudarshan said:

By "Keep an Eye on it", what exactly should I monitor closely?

CPU and RAM temperatures and CPU voltage. RAM has no sensors and you might not have a laser temperature probe so try lightly touching it. If you can hold it comfortably, it's not overheating. While you're at it, run Furmark on the side to get the GPU to chip in.

[treeroy]

2 minutes ago, manikyath said:

the fan sucks air into the power supply, which is then exhausted out the back (or at least thats how most modern, quality power supplies work) and you get the choice to make it face up, essentially acting as a passive or active exhaust from your system (depending on if the fan is spinning or not), or fan side down to make it its own little ecosystem, and for the amount of heat in a power supply those few cm below your case (if your case isnt on carpet that is..) are plenty to give the power supply the airflow it needs.

OK that is good to know. But surely there is so little air to draw from underneath? There is lots of air in a big open case, why would you choose to take air from a few mm of space underneath?

 

I have a HAF X:

 

The space between the grille there and the ground is not even a few cm but I *think* just a few mm. I mean I do not even think of my PC as being raised up, as far as I was aware it lies flat on the ground, but there is a filter there so I guess that's intended?

 

This is interesting, maybe I will start a thread on it.

 

My PSU is this

So I see what you are saying about the PSU sucking air in and blowing it out the back - I didn't ever really stop to think how it worked.

[Vishvas Sudarshan]

22 minutes ago, Naeaes said:

CPU and RAM temperatures and CPU voltage. RAM has no sensors and you might not have a laser temperature probe so try lightly touching it. If you can hold it comfortably, it's not overheating. While you're at it, run Furmark on the side to get the GPU to chip in.

Ran Prime95, FurMark and turned down the RPM of my case fans to that heat gets accumulated. I stopped after a while when my CPU temp reached 75. The PSU fan didn't move.

[Naeaes]

18 minutes ago, Vishvas Sudarshan said:

Ran Prime95, FurMark and turned down the RPM of my case fans to that heat gets accumulated. I stopped after a while when my CPU temp reached 75. The PSU fan didn't move.

Well, that's a pickle. Either there's more to this like a time limit or it's not getting hot enough or you really do have a bad fan in there. If I were you I'd either not care so long as it's performing fine or contact Corsair for a sure-fire way to test it.

[Vishvas Sudarshan]

2 minutes ago, Naeaes said:

Well, that's a pickle. Either there's more to this like a time limit or it's not getting hot enough or you really do have a bad fan in there. If I were you I'd either not care so long as it's performing fine or contact Corsair for a sure-fire way to test it.

Okay I'll just ask Corsair about it. Also its a Winter night now (With a Cyclone too). and my Room temperature is around 20°C. So that could be the reason. Anyways thanks for the help . I'll update you when Corsair replies!

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 hours ago, Energycore said:

That's weird, 40% is 180W and you're probably pulling more than that.

But this is one to ask Corsair themselves about.

I doubt a 6500 and 1060 3GB are pulling 180W almost ever. I also doubt that if that fan is actually on then it's just super quiet.

[Energycore]

4 hours ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

I doubt a 6500 and 1060 3GB are pulling 180W almost ever. I also doubt that if that fan is actually on then it's just super quiet.

120W for a 1060 and 60 for a 6500? That sounds like maybe they're just below. Damn I never figured.

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 hours ago, Energycore said:

120W for a 1060 and 60 for a 6500? That sounds like maybe they're just below. Damn I never figured.

Under load they're probably hitting about 180W, the two of them, but only barely.

[Vishvas Sudarshan]

@Naeaes 

6 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Under load they're probably hitting about 180W, the two of them, but only barely.

I contacted Corsair, They said it needs to draw 225W from the wall for the fan to spin.

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 hours ago, Vishvas Sudarshan said:

@Naeaes 

I contacted Corsair, They said it needs to draw 225W from the wall for the fan to spin.

Well there ya go, your system would need some overclocks and more hard drives or something to need the fan to spin.