Externally-mounted 120mm Silverstone PSU Mod

[DarkenReaper57]

Hello everyone,

I have a Silverstone Zeus ST65ZF 650W PSU. It only has an 80mm fan for cooling, which can get to be quite loud. I actually replaced the stock 80mm fan with a Panaflo M1A, but this fan is still the loudest in my system.

I was thinking of modding the PSU and install an externally-mounted 120mm fan on the top. While an internal solution would be ideal, it simply wouldn't fit, as can be seen here: http://insanetek.com/content/view/223/27/1/3/. The aluminum heatsinks are just too tall.

Has anyone ever done this? The idea is to reduce noise and not spend a ton of money on a new PSU. If anyone can recommend a good replacement for this PSU at under $120, I might be up for that. This PSU is rather old as SLI-certified units go, and the number of amps on each of the 4 rails isn't ideal.

 

[setscrew]

The HX-620 has superior amperage and is semi-modular. It is also extremely quiet.

If you would like to attempt another fan change, this 80mm is very quiet (at least in my case).

 

[MisterSparkle]

The heatsinks are designed for air to flow through the PSU and not forced down into the PSU unfortunately.

You could try replacing the 80mm fan it's currently using and install a second 80mm on the back of the PSU mounted over the back intake holes.

 

[Apallohadas]

I added a 120 fan to the outside of my case because the stock fan on the proXstream 1000w units sounds like a clothes dryer.

My case is nearly silent now btw, and that's with (2) 8800 GTXs, only on load to the fans on those begin to kick up, and that's probably because I'm gaming.

Anyway, here's a copy from what I posted in the Ghetto Mod section:

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I figured I may not be the only person with a 1 kilowatt proXstream PSU. For those unaware, the thing is as loud as a bag of hammers in a clothes dryer.

Since I don't mind invalidating my warranty, I figured I'd share with everyone yay!

Here we have my handy 2 year old assistant eying up the Coolermaster Evo and the 80 mm to 120 mm adapter.

Yes Pinky, this will help us in our next plan...

This 120 mm pushes 110 CFM with all of 38 db or so. Obviously this will be mounted outside the PSU (and case).

This 80 mm will be VELCRO'd to the opposite end of the psu. The lovely rear of the unit (heh, I said unit) has plenty of slots for air to be pushed through to the 120.

This is the old 80 mm fan that was inside the unit. God bless ya if you can find exact numbers on it, because I couldn't. Nearest specs I could find said it pushed 64 CFM with 53 db of ear banging noise.

As you can see, I've snipped it from the shell so that I'll have a funnel for the air to leave the psu.

Inside the noisy beast. Other than the insane fan in the box, my only other complaint would be the sleeving on the cords. It doesn't quite extend into the case.

Once I started snipping and splicing with electrical tape (and heatshrink) for some reason, the 120 just wouldn't run using the line from the psu. Fan would budge at start up, then sit still. Same with another 80mm that I tried. On the other hand, everything ELSE would keep running.

So I decided to run the 120 from a lead inside the case.

(Note: Velcro is an amazing thing.)

And the last shot!

Everything is up and running. No temp readings on the PSU, because I didn't take any ahead of time.

I can say for sure that there's more airflow going through it now, with the 120 pulling and the 80 on the other end pushing, rather than a single NOISY 80 trying to do all the work.

My PC is very quiet now as well. There was a slight rattle around the PSU before, but that's gone also.

 

[DarkenReaper57]

Hmm, it looks like I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and get a new PSU. I don't want a fan sticking out the back of my case, lol.