Power Supply Location

[Guest]

Hi, can someone help me understand why in the hell you would want a power supply installed at the bottom of the case if it's going to exhaust heat? Shouldn't it be installed at the top because heat rises? On that point because the intake should be at the bottom because that's where cold air is? 

[Tedster]

As long as you have proper airflow, heat rising has very little effect on computer cooling in general.

 

It really doesn't make much difference in overall cooling...
BUT if you're going to have your power supply on the bottom, you're going to want to make sure that it can 'breathe', so elevate it if it's going to be on a carpet etcetera...or have it draw air from the inside of the system.

[JeffreyEagan]

Well, for one, it puts more weight at the bottom, making it less top-heavy, two, you can install it either with the fan up or down, and thirdly, most cases have exhaust at the top and rear.

[TBNRunity]

Well, the psu is located on bottom as that is a more managable location than the top and there would be no performance difference. Heat is generally exhausted out the top of a case by two fans. And the psu doesn't exhaust nearly as much heat as a fan does. 

[WoodenMarker]

The psu isn't always used to exhaust heat. It's often flipped to take in and exhaust it's own air supply.

Heat rising doesn't make a difference inside of a case where there's active cooling.

[Oberon.Smite]

Its not really anything you should worry about. Bottom mounted, however, tend to have filter at the bottom for the PSU so it doesn't get dusty and lasts longer. Putting it on the top, to be honest, cools down your other parts, but just makes the PSU cool itself down with already hot air.

[W-L]

Hi, can someone help me understand why in the hell you would want a power supply installed at the bottom of the case if it's going to exhaust heat? Shouldn't it be installed at the top because heat rises? On that point because the intake should be at the bottom because that's where cold air is? 

 

It just depends on the case design but you can intake cold air from the bottom and exhaust out the rear or if you want turn it around so the fan faces up so it helps with taking any hot air out of the case which is the same as top mounted PSU's which helps with exhaust for the case.

 

I personally have mine face up on the bottom since I run it with a hybrid mode it helps heat escape better than face down.

[zlolslavez]

Ultimately, the fact that "hot air rises" doesn't affect tempature THAT much (maybe like 5 degrees max) but, some cases can't support the weight.

[Laputacake]

The psu isn't always used to exhaust heat. It's often flipped to take in and exhaust it's own air supply.

Heat rising doesn't make a difference inside of a case where there's active cooling.

What is "Playground Accessory" about?

[WoodenMarker]

What is "Playground Accessory" about?

It's a hint to what my name means. 

[mark201200]

Hi, can someone help me understand why in the hell you would want a power supply installed at the bottom of the case if it's going to exhaust heat? Shouldn't it be installed at the top because heat rises? On that point because the intake should be at the bottom because that's where cold air is? 

when it's at the bottom of the case, usually it has its own intake, so it exhausts air  from the back of the case

[Laputacake]

It's a hint to what my name means.

That confuses me even more  :wacko:

[SteveGrabowski]

I like the PSU at the bottom so it's not taking in hot air exhausted into the case by the CPU and GPU. It seems like it would be better for the PSU's lifetime to have no role in cooling by having it bottom mounted and letting your top exhaust fans take the place of exhausting hot air from the case.