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Silverstone Zeus fan replacement

J

Jinto

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 10, 2006
Messages
1,844
Swapped out all the fans from of my case to try to lessen the noise...and I found the PSU was the culprit :rolleyes:

Anyway the Zeus 750w has a 42CFM fan inside. I am looking to replace it with a Scythe S-FLEX SFF80C which is a 28CFM fan. I have a Lian Li V1000 case with an 120mm intake on the bottom. How much difference would the lack of CFM make and what would happen if the PSU overheated? Thanks.
 
How much difference would the lack of CFM make and what would happen if the PSU overheated?
Click to expand...

Short answer: It would run with a higher internal temperature. Component life could be severely reduced leading to premature failure. The fan you propose almost cuts the airflow by a third.

Long answer: A lot depends on if the factory supplied fan was overkill or if (as is fairly common) the fan speed control (assuming it has that feature) circuity that is supposed to vary the fan speed vs temp was decently designed/working properly. This was the best I could find on your power supply and I am not certain it is exact as apparently a couple of versions where made. It is reviewed as having a fairly quiet fan.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=25

That supply has just an 80mm fan cooling a 750 watt supply with a very "stuffed" chassis. not a lot of extra room in there. I would not reduce the fan cfm by much if at all and if it where me and I just could not stand the noise of the existing 80mm I would be looking for something at about the same cfm but rated quieter (you will not find a fan a lot quieter with the same cfm but perhaps something not quite as loud is out there. Actually if it where me, I would put a zalman fanmate 2 on the existing fan (will have to splice wires and solder or use small wire nuts) and add a low speed 90mm fan hanging off the grill in the back of the power supply.

I would fire up something like prime or other tool or my favorite game and run the machine as hard as I could for at least an hour and measure the temp of the PS exhaust. Then I would see how low I could adjust the two fans with the machine under heavy load and not have the exhaust temp rise more than 5C.

From what I see of the pictures in that review you really do not have a lot of options and that is reviewed as a really nice supply that should give you years and years of service. Reducing the CFM will hurt that life and could lead to a quick failure if you really deprive it of cooling.

On the other hand a more "normal" supply which uses the big bottom mount fan would be your best option even if you had to mount it upside down, trouble is I do not know if that is possible in your case. I think so but do not know for sure. (They make a bracket that might help with that, http://lian-li.com/v2/tw/product/upload/image/1000z/v1000zt5.jpg 0 ) Point is, if you could put a Corsair 750W unit in for $100ish (look for a sale) by the time you find a different fan for your existing supply and spend an afternoon swapping fans and maybe adding another fan the $100 does not look so bad.

I would not recommend just reducing the cfm of your existing fan by more than 5-10%. On the other hand it appears from your sig you are likely not using more than 500W if even that so if the exhaust temps at full load are low, maybe you could get away with it but later if you add another video card etc. the game changes. So its a bad idea to reduce the cfm but it is possible you could get away with some reduction depending on how hard you use the supply but the simple general rule is that the cooler the electronics runs the longer it will last. It is also possible the fan speed control in the supply, assuming again it has one, will end up spinning your lower CFM fan close to or at full speed all the time.

So lots of blab but no solid answer but in general it is pretty easy to advise against what you propose.
 
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I'd leave the fan alone, sell the Zeus, and grab a Seasonic M12D. The design of the Zeus won't like reduced airflow.
 
I was thinking of hanging a 120mm fan on the back as I have a bunch of spare Scythe S-Flex. But looked at the Jonnyguru pictures last night too and I am not feeling like risking it.

Anyway, the Corsair TX750 is $80 right now on ZZF after rebate/cashback so I got one. How much worse is the TX750 compared to the Zeus? I see the TX750 suggested as a quiet PSU, at least at idle.
 
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The TX750 will have better efficiency than the Zeus, and will certainly be quieter. Ripple suppression will not be as good, but that doesn't matter at the loads you'll be running.
 
How would a HX620 compared to the TX750 noise wise? If the noise is comparable Ill go for the 750 but some people say the 750 is quiet others say its loud but most everyone say the 620 is quiet :S. Thanks again.
 
The HX620 is quieter, but it probably won't be noticeable if you aren't loading the PSU that much.
 
Ok thanks. I think Ill stick to the TX750. One way or another it is quieter lol.
 
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