PSU Fan swap

[Metallus97]

Pretty simple question:
 

I have a HX100i wich I am pushing quite good, also the ambient air is kinda hot. Idd like to switch the fan to a NF - A14. That should fit but my question is about the connection inside the PSU.

Am I right, that those are the same as the "smaller" PWM ones found on GPUs? Then I should be able to buy a GPU fan adapter and connect my new noctua fan inside the PSU?

And yes I know I have to be careful and could die 

[Metallus97]

2 minutes ago, yaboistar said:

check the operating current of the current fan vs the new one before you replace anything

Yeh thanks for the heads up. I did that. The noc uses 60% of the original and also runs on 12V. 

[seon123]

Why do you want to downgrade the fan in the PSU...?

[Metallus97]

5 minutes ago, seon123 said:

Why do you want to downgrade the fan in the PSU...?

downgrade?

I want less noise  

[Spotty]

3 hours ago, Metallus97 said:

I have a HX100i wich I am pushing quite good, also the ambient air is kinda hot. Idd like to switch the fan to a NF - A14. That should fit but my question is about the connection inside the PSU.

Why?
The NR135P inside the HX1000i is actually really good. One of the better fans inside PSUs.

 

Just now, Metallus97 said:

downgrade?

I want less noise  

Are you sure the noise is coming from the power supply?

How do you have the fan mounted? Fan side up or fan side down? Case with a PSU shroud or no shroud? Case on carpet or up off the floor?

 

You should already be under 25dBa. You're never going to hear that over the fans on GPUs or CPU fan.

 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Metallus97 said:

Pretty simple question:
 

I have a HX100i wich I am pushing quite good, also the ambient air is kinda hot. Idd like to switch the fan to a NF - A14. That should fit but my question is about the connection inside the PSU.

Am I right, that those are the same as the "smaller" PWM ones found on GPUs? Then I should be able to buy a GPU fan adapter and connect my new noctua fan inside the PSU?

And yes I know I have to be careful and could die 

So you want to void your warranty and downgrade your fan?

 

The fan is controlled by a fan controller.  Replacing the fan does not change the fan controller.  There is a temperature to RPM ratio programmed into an MCU.  If the new fan doesn't have the same static pressure as the original fan, and an NF-A14 does not, then it's going to spin the fan faster and it's going to be actually louder than the original fan.

 

So why not try to find the cause of the problem instead of guessing what's going to fix it?

 

You say the ambient air is kind of hot.  What ambient air?  The PC's or the PSU (I'm thinking you're looking that up in LINK or iCUE?).  What case is this PSU in and how is the PSU oriented?

 

[Metallus97]

18 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

So you want to void your warranty and downgrade your fan?

 

The fan is controlled by a fan controller.  Replacing the fan does not change the fan controller.  There is a temperature to RPM ratio programmed into an MCU.  If the new fan doesn't have the same static pressure as the original fan, and an NF-A14 does not, then it's going to spin the fan faster and it's going to be actually louder than the original fan.

 

So why not try to find the cause of the problem instead of guessing what's going to fix it?

 

You say the ambient air is kind of hot.  What ambient air?  The PC's or the PSU (I'm thinking you're looking that up in LINK or iCUE?).  What case is this PSU in and how is the PSU oriented?

 

 

21 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Why?
The NR135P inside the HX1000i is actually really good. One of the better fans inside PSUs.

 

Are you sure the noise is coming from the power supply?

How do you have the fan mounted? Fan side up or fan side down? Case with a PSU shroud or no shroud? Case on carpet or up off the floor?

 

You should already be under 25dBa. You're never going to hear that over the fans on GPUs or CPU fan.

i am running Full Open Loop with giant rads. I can’t  hear the system even when pulling close to 900W. I don’t have hard drives because of noise... to underline how silent I want it to be...

The only thing I can hear is the PSU fan. I confirmed that by manually switching it of and on via iCUE. Having it of makes the PSU go relatively hot. I know I could just be like okkkk let it be hot I have warranty but I don’t like that mindset. 
 

the PSU can breathe feresh air but this air is about ~30-35C. It’s mounted with fan down, so it breathes freely. 
 

I know that’s a extreme Situation  and what i want in terms of noise is also extreme.

 

but I have compared a NF -A14  fan with the PSU fan and the NF stays inaudible at Same  RPM while I can hear the build in one at that RMP.

 

yes I know I am crazy about noise. But my goal is 100%  inaudible while pushing hard for BOINC/F@H. 
 

 

and BTW: this is nothing against the HXi 

i love it! Efficient, super stable etc 

awesome for OCing!

and yes it is verry  silent For a 1000W! But I am crazy about noise  

 

 

EDIT: so is there an other fan with higher/the same static pressure wich can be spun slower?

[seon123]

25 minutes ago, Metallus97 said:

Having it of makes the PSU go relatively hot. I know I could just be like okkkk let it be hot I have warranty but I don’t like that mindset. 
 

the PSU can breathe feresh air but this air is about ~30-35C. It’s mounted with fan down, so it breathes freely. 

The PSU is rated for full power at 40°C ambient. Why do you think running it within what it was designed for would be an issue...?

[Metallus97]

11 minutes ago, seon123 said:

The PSU is rated for full power at 40°C ambient. Why do you think running it within what it was designed for would be an issue...?

It sure is

but I don’t think it’s rated to run at those temps without it’s fan spinning 

[seon123]

17 minutes ago, Metallus97 said:

It sure is

but I don’t think it’s rated to run at those temps without it’s fan spinning 

The fan speed depends on the internal temperature. The PSU spins the fan with the necessary speed. If it decides the fan doesn't need to spin, the fan won't spin. 

[Spotty]

31 minutes ago, seon123 said:

The PSU is rated for full power at 40°C ambient. Why do you think running it within what it was designed for would be an issue...?

He's talking about turning the fan off via iCue so that when the system is pulling 900W+ the fan isn't spinning at all. See:

58 minutes ago, Metallus97 said:

The only thing I can hear is the PSU fan. I confirmed that by manually switching it of and on via iCUE. Having it of makes the PSU go relatively hot.

Which sounds like a bad idea for obvious reasons. If that's possible to do within iCue then I would hope that there's some built in failsafe that will ignore user settings and turn the fan on if it reaches a certain temperature, before it trips OTP and shuts off.

[Metallus97]

2 minutes ago, Spotty said:

He's talking about turning the fan off via iCue so that when the system is pulling 900W+ the fan isn't spinning at all. See:

Which sounds like a bad idea for obvious reasons. If that's possible to do within iCue then I would hope that there's some built in failsafe that will ignore user settings and turn the fan on if it reaches a certain temperature, before it trips OTP and shuts off.

Yes there is! Not in iCUE but in the PSU itself. When over I forgot how much C the Standard fan curve will override what’s coming from iCUE. 
 

But here lies my „problem“:

fan of: not an option

fan on: I can hear the fan.

 

might there be an other way/ fan that would do the job better? I know the fan in the HX is nice, but a NFA14 is more silent.  
I would not have thought that a PSU needs a fan with much static pressure, that’s why I wanted to get an A14

[seon123]

7 minutes ago, Spotty said:

He's talking about turning the fan off via iCue so that when the system is pulling 900W+ the fan isn't spinning at all. See:

Which sounds like a bad idea for obvious reasons. If that's possible to do within iCue then I would hope that there's some built in failsafe that will ignore user settings and turn the fan on if it reaches a certain temperature, before it trips OTP and shuts off.

I just kind of assumed that the PSU would have a minimum RPM that it's willing to run at at any moment, and that the user could effectively just pick a fan speed above that. 

@Corsair Nick @jonnyGURU Is this the case, or how much control does it give the user?

 

[Metallus97]

3 minutes ago, seon123 said:

I just kind of assumed that the PSU would have a minimum RPM that it's willing to run at at any moment, and that the user could effectively just pick a fan speed above that. 

@Corsair Nick @jonnyGURU Is this the case, or how much control does it give the user?

 

It has zero RPM mode. Fan can be disabled but will kick in anyways at certain temp(/load also?) as explained above 

[LogicWeasel]

13 minutes ago, Metallus97 said:

But here lies my „problem“:

fan of: not an option

fan on: I can hear the fan.

Solution: Headphones

[Guest]

43 minutes ago, seon123 said:

I just kind of assumed that the PSU would have a minimum RPM that it's willing to run at at any moment, and that the user could effectively just pick a fan speed above that. 

@Corsair Nick @jonnyGURU Is this the case, or how much control does it give the user?

The PSU temperature will override the Zero RPM mode. 

 

48 minutes ago, Metallus97 said:

fan off: not an option

Why is it not an option?

 

1 hour ago, Metallus97 said:

the PSU can breathe feresh air but this air is about ~30-35C. It’s mounted with fan down, so it breathes freely. 

The PSU isn't beathing any air if the fan's not spinning, so turn the PSU around so the fan is pointing up.  Then the heat will rise away from the PSU's PCB.

 

[Metallus97]

13 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

The PSU temperature will override the Zero RPM mode. 

 

Why is it not an option?

 

The PSU isn't beathing any air if the fan's not spinning, so turn the PSU around so the fan is pointing up.  Then the heat will rise away from the PSU's PCB.

 

Right and you say that’s enough cooling then for a 90% load?

[Metallus97]

13 hours ago, LogicWeasel said:

Solution: Headphones

LOL no

[Mick Naughty]

Just do it and see. 

Move never swapped fans on a fancy psu with more than a two wire setup. Sure it isn’t too difficult. 

[Guest]

11 hours ago, Metallus97 said:

Right and you say that’s enough cooling then for a 90% load?

The MCU used in the HXi is programmed with a pretty complex algorithm.  It gets data points from multiple thermistors inside the PSU as well as knowing what the PSU load is. 

 

This is unique to the Corsair RMx, RMi, HX, HXi and AXi (not AX) and no other PSU has an MCU for a fan controller.  Typically they just have a thermistor that controls a varistor that changes speed based only on temperature alone.

 

My suggestion to flip the PSU so the fan is pointing up simply allows the hot air to rise away from the PCB.  The venturi effect should evacuate most of that air.  This will cause the fan to kick in less often.  And when it does kick in, most of that air will evacuate out the back of the PSU, even if it's sucking in air off your graphics card in excess of 50°C.

 

 

[Metallus97]

1 hour ago, jonnyGURU said:

The MCU used in the HXi is programmed with a pretty complex algorithm.  It gets data points from multiple thermistors inside the PSU as well as knowing what the PSU load is. 

 

This is unique to the Corsair RMx, RMi, HX, HXi and AXi (not AX) and no other PSU has an MCU for a fan controller.  Typically they just have a thermistor that controls a varistor that changes speed based only on temperature alone.

 

My suggestion to flip the PSU so the fan is pointing up simply allows the hot air to rise away from the PCB.  The venturi effect should evacuate most of that air.  This will cause the fan to kick in less often.  And when it does kick in, most of that air will evacuate out the back of the PSU, even if it's sucking in air off your graphics card in excess of 50°C.

 

 

Done. Will see how that goes. Thanks for the information on how the MCU works!