How Important are the Amps for FANs ?

[Meteorix]

I have an EVGA SuperNova 1300 and I mean that think is great, looks great, works great BUT the fan is kind of loud.

Anyway, I have read about the fan that comes with it on Reviews and I know that has a 12V - 0.60A fan for 2200RPM
(kind of Delta Industrial type)




Most of the time the PSU is relaxed and silent but near about the 300W charge the fan starts to sound and it is very noticeable.

I want to replace the fan with a Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC that is 2000RPM, 12V - 0.18A 
Noctua Fan <---------

Can this damage my PSU in some aspect since the Amps are diferent ?

I have seen many tutorials about how to change the fan on a PSU but so far noone has mention how this spec can affect or not the PSU
I have seen that ALL the fans have different Amps specs, the more RPM or LED the more Amps needed.
Is this Amp Spec important or is just an information and the real important is that the Fan is 12V ?

Of course that I know that I will avoid my warranty but I if it works I think I will have a perfect PC Gamer and it will be worthy.

[thekeemo]

1. Why the industrial and not the normal ones?

2. Just plug it into the motherboard

[DevilishBooster]

As it was explained to me a looooong time ago think of Amps at torque/"umph"/pressure for getting power through the system. As long as the replacement fan requires fewer amps than the stock fan you should be ok because the PSU will still be supplying more than enough amps. It's matching the voltage that is important. Since most PC fans require 12V, you should be ok. Its having too much voltage that will burn out a motor/circuit.

[Frankie]

2 minutes ago, DevilishBooster said:

As it was explained to me a looooong time ago think of Amps at torque/"umph"/pressure for getting power through the system. As long as the replacement fan requires fewer amps than the stock fan you should be ok because the PSU will still be supplying more than enough amps. It's matching the voltage that is important. Since most PC fans require 12V, you should be ok. Its having too much voltage that will burn out a motor/circuit.

^^^

 

What DevilishBooster said. If you want to sum it up easily = you can go under, never go over, for voltage and amps likewise.

[DevilishBooster]

1 minute ago, Frankie said:

^^^

 

What DevilishBooster said. If you want to sum it up easily = you can go under, never go over, for voltage and amps likewise.

Well, to be fair, you could use parts that require more V/A, but it would make the power delivery be at 100%, 100% of the time (if it didn't instantly blow the circuit) which will cause it to burn out and could lead to damaged components. 

So yeah, you should never go over the rated capacity, but under is (almost) always fine (all depending on the ratio of over/under). Lol

[Torn]

There's a chance that using this fan would be fine, but since it's more than double the original current needed I wouldn't use it. Find yourself a lower power rated fan cooling a PSU with a NFA14PPC is a stupendous amount of overkill. If you want to stick with noctua get one of their NFA14 ULN rated at 0.04 Amps otherwise any 140mm that draws 0.06 or less.

[Mcmole]

14 minutes ago, thekeemo said:

1. Why the industrial and not the normal ones?

2. Just plug it into the motherboard

1. Because black is a thing people like to see.

2. Then it wouldn't be controlled through the PSU even turning off when under 30% load.

[thekeemo]

Just now, Mcmole said:

1. Because black is a thing people like to see.

2. Then it wouldn't be controlled though the PSU even turning off when under 30% load.

1. Why not silent wings?

2. The G2 doesnt have an eco mode so it never turns off. You can set a fan curve with the mobo software to emulate psu usage.

[Frankie]

1 minute ago, DevilishBooster said:

Well, to be fair, you could use parts that require more V/A, but it would make the power delivery be at 100%, 100% of the time (if it didn't instantly blow the circuit) which will cause it to burn out and could lead to damaged components. 

So yeah, you should never go over the rated capacity, but under is (almost) always fine (all depending on the ratio of over/under). Lol

Yeah, electricity meaning volts, amps, all that jazz have this ''awesome'' trait of being confusing. There is a big difference between, should work in theory and practical implementation.  

[mariushm]

The value written on the fan is the average current consumption of the fan at top speed. When the fan starts working, for a second or, it will use a bit more than the value written on the label.

 

The current value listed on the fan is only important sometimes when you plug such fans onto the motherboard. Some motherboards can only supply up to 2A or so on each fan connectors, So, for example, you wouldn't want to connect more than 2 such fans on a single motherboard fan connector (using an adapter cable). If you go overboard connecting way too many fans on one particular connector, you may blow a fuse and damage that connector permanently.

 

The amount of current a fan uses varies with the type of motor the fan uses and how the fan blades are designed - some fans have blades optimized more for moving lots of air but with little pressure (good for mounting on computer case), other fans are more optimized for pressure, to push air between heatsink fins.

Power supplies don't really have heatsink fins like the cpu coolers, the holes on top of psu case and sides are wide enough that they don't really block the airflow, so really any kind of fan would work to replace existing fan but ideally you would want to replace your old fan with one that's optimized to move air (computer case fan style)

 

My only advice would be to replace existing fan with one that's capable of achieving the same rpm and push around the same amount of air through the case (look up the CFM values or whatever term is used for amount of air moved around, try to match it or exceed the values)

 

Most modern power supplies will adjust the rpm anyway depending on the temperate of the inside heatsinks and components, so the current value won't matter much. The fans are usually powered straight from the 12v output anyway (so you have tens of amps available).

 

[mariushm]

To add

 

The specifications of your fan are as follows:

 

型番	RL4Z B1402512EH
JAN	4562123911732
サイズ	140x140x25mm
定格電圧	12V
回転数	2000rpm±10%
騒音	39.5ｄBA
最大風量	153.47CFM
期待寿命	70,000ｈ　（40℃）
ケーブル長	500 mm
ベアリング	2ボールベアリング
	パルスセンサー付
	リブあり　フレーム

 

so you should replace the fan with one that's capable of some airflow close to your original one, around 153 CFM , and about 2000 rpm

The existing one is ball bearing, which is noisy at high speeds, but better ones may be too expensive.

Newegg has a huge amount of 140mm fans and a huge selection of bearing types, i honestly don't know what some of those compare to standard sleeve or 2 ball bearing or sso bearings.

Based on all of the above, I think Newegg pretty much has only this to offer

 

1. Fractal Design Venturi High Flow Series 140mm Fan : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835352023&ignorebbr=1

 

FD-FAN-VENT-HF14-BK  : max 1200 rpm , 118 CFM, Fluid Dynamic bearing, 26.5dB , 12v @ 0.3A  

It's a bit on the low side on the CFM but it should work .

If you can find the PWM version of this fan (this one is with 3 pin connector), that one has 1500 rpm max speed and advertises 132.7 CFM at 30 dB which is much better, closer to your needs.  The PWM version is HP-14 , this one is HF-14

 

later edit : Here's an Amazon link for the HP-14 version : http://www.amazon.com/Fractal-Design-Venturi-HP-14-FD-FAN-VENT-HP14-PWM-BK/dp/B00VYEI17U/

 

You can leave the PWM wire and the rpm sensor wires unconnected inside the psu case anyway, and the fan should run just fine at up to maximum speed.

 

2. BitFenix Spectre Pro BFF-SPRO-P14025KK-RP 140mm PWM Case Fan : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835345069

 

BFF-SPRO-P14025KK-RP : 500-1800rpm , 122 CFM @ 29 dB , black , Fluid Dynamic Bearings (FDB)

 

There's also a white model here: BFF-SPRO-P14025WW-RP  : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835345070

 

Edited May 12, 2016 by mariushm
added amazon link for HP-14 fan