Flex PSU with not so noisy fan?

[Aristotle2019]

I saw the Silverstone Flex 350W ATX PSU being used in the Velka 3 case. I saw another flex PSU used in the same case. But damn, their fans are noisy. Is it possible to avoid that, or is just better to use a Velka 5 with a (much) more silent SFX PSU ?

[Faisal A]

 It is better to get a quieter PSU. Noisier PSUs require the extra cooling and changing the fans can be fatal

[LukeSavenije]

you could fit an sfx-l in there, which should be more quiet if you have some breathing room

 

examples of this would be the seasonic sgx and be quiet sfx-l

[RollinLower]

you could also try swapping the noisy PSU fan out with like a tiny 40mm from noctua.

they won;t make them completely quiet, but it definitely would help. (i use them in my 1U NAS)

[Aristotle2019]

45 minutes ago, RollinLower said:

you could also try swapping the noisy PSU fan out with like a tiny 40mm from noctua.

they won;t make them completely quiet, but it definitely would help. (i use them in my 1U NAS)

But I always hear it can kill u and it's a first time for me 

[Aristotle2019]

53 minutes ago, Faisal A said:

 It is better to get a quieter PSU. Noisier PSUs require the extra cooling and changing the fans can be fatal

So I'll just opt for a larger case. 

[Aristotle2019]

49 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

you could fit an sfx-l in there, which should be more quiet if you have some breathing room

 

examples of this would be the seasonic sgx and be quiet sfx-l

Isn't SFX-L the larger variant ? And this Velka 3 can't even house a small SFX so .. how does that fit in? 

Or maybe u were talking about the Velka 5 but I cud just opt for a good capacity SFX and have some leg room 

[RollinLower]

1 minute ago, Aristotle2019 said:

But I always hear it can kill u and it's a first time for me 

PSU's are only dangerous when you have had them hooked up to power and then open them up.

if you have a PSU, and you disconnect it from everything, then let the caps drain, it is perfectly safe to touch. you just have to make sure the caps are drained.

 

i work with welding machines for a living, and those are basically PSU's on steroids. you just have to make sure the power is off and the caps are drained.

[Kilrah]

The accepted solution is to replace the crappy fan with a noctua one, they make 40mm ones that fit.

I'm about to do that on my Athena 500W, will report. Fan's supposed to arrive on Tuesday.

[Aristotle2019]

Just now, RollinLower said:

PSU's are only dangerous when you have had them hooked up to power and then open them up.

if you have a PSU, and you disconnect it from everything, then let the caps drain, it is perfectly safe to touch. you just have to make sure the caps are drained.

 

i work with welding machines for a living, and those are basically PSU's on steroids. you just have to make sure the power is off and the caps are drained.

Ok... What are these caps and do I have to refill them? Or is there a YouTube tutorial u can link me to?

 

Thanks though. 

[Aristotle2019]

Just now, Kilrah said:

The accepted solution is to replace the crappy fan with a noctua one, they make 40mm ones that fit.

I'm about to do that on my Athena 500W, will report. Fan's supposed to arrive on Tuesday.

Oh okkk

Thanks 

Be sure to give an update!

[Kilrah]

1 minute ago, Aristotle2019 said:

Ok... What are these caps and do I have to refill them?

 

Lol.. they're components that store energy. Just need to wait half an hour after disconnecting the PSU from mains to be sure they get time to discharge themselves so touching their connections won't shock you.

 

[RollinLower]

2 minutes ago, Aristotle2019 said:

Ok... What are these caps and do I have to refill them? Or is there a YouTube tutorial u can link me to?

 

Thanks though. 

caps (capacitors) are the round barrel shaped components in the PSU. 

you can basically compare them to batteries. they hold on to power even when the PSU is disconnected from the wall. that's why opening up a PSU can be dangerous.

 

these capacitors let the power out over a small period of time tough. so you don;t have to do anything to let the caps drain. just disconnect everything and let the PSU sit for a while.

after that it is powerless, and perfectly safe to work on.

[Aristotle2019]

Just now, RollinLower said:

caps (capacitors) are the round barel shaped components in the PSU. 

you can basically compare them to batteries. they hold on to power even when the PSU is disconnected from the wall. that's why opening up a PSU can be dangerous.

 

these capacitors let the power out over a small period of time tough. so you don;t have to do anything to let the caps drain. just disconnect everything and let the PSU sit for a while.

after that it is powerless, and perfectly safe to work on.

Oh wow ok.. thanks for the information 

I suppose replacing the fan will be a matter of screws ?

 

[RollinLower]

Just now, Aristotle2019 said:

Oh wow ok.. thanks for the information 

I suppose replacing the fan will be a matter of screws ?

 

that depends on the model of PSU. usually it is just screws, but sometimes they are held in place with rubber anti vibration stuff.

screws are more common tough.

[Kilrah]

Will likely have to cut and splice/solder wires to connect the new fan though. These PSUs tend not to have standard fan connections, if any at all. On mine the fan wires are directly soldered to the board.

 

Other option might be to connect the new fan to a mobo header. I might do that since the PSU seems to always spin the fan rather fast.

[RollinLower]

1 minute ago, Kilrah said:

Other option might be to connect the new fan to a mobo header.

this is what i would recommend. this way you have control over the PSU fan speed.

if you connect it to the PSU internally the fan will likely just spin at 100% all the time.

[Aristotle2019]

Thank you, @Kilrah and @RollinLower for all your help.

The information provided is extremely valuable 

[Kilrah]

11 minutes ago, RollinLower said:

if you connect it to the PSU internally the fan will likely just spin at 100% all the time.

Mine's supposed to have temp fan control but it looks to be really poor, at least the stock fan runs fast and noisy even at idle and I didn't get to spin up faster under load yet so it might be BS...

[LukeSavenije]

2 hours ago, Aristotle2019 said:

maybe u were talking about the Velka 5

i was, hence my idea for a sfx-l