Using PSU as Pull Fan?

[flopticalcube]

I am thinking about building a compact gaming rig for my daughter (to replace her iMac) and was considering a Rosewill V3+ case. Its a cube design with the PSU sitting over the CPU and giving only 80mm of cooler height. If I use the PSU intake fan as a pull fan I have (just) enough room to add a 27-40mm AIO radiator underneath. I was thinking of replacing the PSU fan with a 4 pin PWM and letting the motherboard header or AIO control it. Depending on the model I could probably fit a 140mm rad in there. Has anyone got experience with a setup like this? Any thoughts on this at all are welcome. This will be a long term (1yr probably) build.

 

[techtechie]

neat idea if nothing else never figured going like that. will definately keep an eye this thread

 

[Bluesun311]

It works fine if the PSU is overrated. I used my Seasonic as an exhaust for a while because I did not have enough fan mounts in the Rosewill Challenger I was using.

 

[flopticalcube]

It works fine if the PSU is overrated. I used my Seasonic as an exhaust for a while because I did not have enough fan mounts in the Rosewill Challenger I was using.

Thanks for the reply Bluesun311. Glad to see it works in practice. Since it will be an ITX unit with probably a 750ti-type GPU and a non-OC'd, sub-70W CPU, I think just about any PSU above 300W could be considered overrated. I would likely be looking for a modular 80+ Gold unit.

 

[Arcygenical]

I personally would not raise the PSU intake temperature, and remove the PSU's ability to control fan speed.

Perhaps using a constant speed, say, 1600rpm 120mm fan - or 1800 140mm fan would suffice, though. Larger fans often have lower static pressures, so faster is better for the 140mm. And for a <70w CPU, I'd go with whichever size AIO matches your PSU's fan speed, and use some form of seal between the two (to ensure a proper pull).