Old PCB in new 12cm case

[Behemot]

Since I decided to disassemble my Seasonic SS-500ET-F3 cause I doubt I'll find replacement transformer, I now have spare case with 12cm Adda fan. I play with idea of putting PCB from some older 8cm PSU (like some 300W Fortron I have here) into that case.

Only problem I see is with heatsink height, but I can still mount the fan from outside. What do you think? These older PSU's have less room insude, but bigger fan should still make enough airflow to cool it down and be more silent at the same time…

[stj]

Re: Old PCB in new 12cm case

if your case has the clearance without an external fan hitting the cpu then go for it.
it should be better because you will have both big fan, and big heatsinks.

[robert]

Re: Old PCB in new 12cm case

Did that with a old Enermax 460W unit (first or second active-PFC series, these with that rigid silver-screened ATX cable).
The fan was getting even louder then it already was, so i needed to replace it anyway.
At the same time, i had a "550W" LC-Power (iirc), that exploded upon plugging it in the first time (no wonder with the main filter caps installed backwards!), that had a fairly strong case with good ventillation and space for a 12cm fan.
Transplanting the enermax board (and its line filter module) into this case war fairly simple, had no problems with clearance for the 12cm EBM/Papst fan (4412N/2GLL) as the enermax had a 9cm fan on the top to begin with.

Papst fan is powered by the fan controller with a series zener diode to reduce speed some more, exhaust air is about 45°C in normal use, and noise is close to non-existant.
Runs well this way for about 3 years now with 10hrs daily use (and another 3 years before fan/case replacement), and that with the original jP caps in the enermax! First 3 years were in an 2.66 (later 3.2Ghz) PIV, then athlon 64 X2 4200, both with mid-end video card. The athlon system runs quite hot (also surprised the KZG on that Gigabyte board are still ok), the PIV was fairly cool due to being watercooled.

Still planning on recapping the Enermax for good measure and to prevent any future trouble, i have suitable replacement caps around (wasnt easy to find 4700u/16V in 12.5mm).

[370forlife]

Re: Old PCB in new 12cm case

I did this with a Astec 330W and a logisys 480W. The logisys had a 120mm fan and the Astec was just the right height. Fit like a glove and replaced the old off brand Ban-Di Kai 120mm fan with a HEC branded Young Lin and it's as quiet as a mouse.

Only problem is the logisys case pretty thin but that dosen't really bother me much as I tend not to sit on my psu's.

As for mounting the fan on the outside of the case, it should work fine as long as the fan isn't bumping into anything that is outside the psu.

[Behemot]

Re: Old PCB in new 12cm case

Thanks for your replies. One Fortron of mine stopped working so I dismounted it just to find it is working fine and there was bad cable contact…but anyway, I measured the heatsinks and they're too high to fit 12cm fan insdie. If i mounted it from outside, the whole PSU won't get into case because of CNPS9000 on MoBo. I'll probably do this mod later together with modding one bigtower I have here, than everything should fit fine.