Power Supply Fan Speed

[Master_Platinum]

Hello!

I have on my power supply a control button for the speed of the fans...

What speed i should make? I don't whant to over heat my power supply but i whant to reduce noise.

My Conf

Power Supply Enermax 450Watts
Windows Xp pro SP2 (I was Vista but i downgrade Suck's too much)
3Go Ram
AMD Athlon 3800+ X2 Dual Core at 2.1GHZ
Nvidia Gforce 8600GT
Floopy Drive
Universal Card Reader
DVD Writer - + DL
8 USB Ports (5 Free)

Thx!!!

[jaketo]

The manufacturer shouldn't have allowed you to turn down the fan so low that it damges the PSU, so in theory, you should be able to take it down quite low.

My rule of thumb would be to have it as fast as possible without the noise becoming annoying.

And get some temperature monitoring in there. And some bigger fans :)

Which Enermax PSU is it just out of interest?

[vengefuldeath87]

my old cpu cooler you could turn the fan down so low the bios warning went off :p

[Master_Platinum]

I have this one one my computer, Ignore the Chinese language install... I don't know wy the site ask this... There is no chinese caracters...

http://www.enermax.com.tw/english/product_Display1.asp?PrID=28

[jaketo]

my old cpu cooler you could turn the fan down so low the bios warning went off :p

Ah, but that wouldn't've been an integrated controller, so that would be possible! ;)

I have this one one my computer, Ignore the Chinese language install... I don't know wy the site ask this... There is no chinese caracters...

http://www.enermax.com.tw/english/product_Display1.asp?PrID=28

MP, frankly it's impossible to tell, just set it about half way to begin with and tune it as necessary. If it seems too hot or starts to smell of electrical burning, turn it up a bit.

[Master_Platinum]

Thx for your help guys, i will try this :)

[AstinRak]

MP, there is really no set rule for this. You can turn the fans down until the following PROBLEMS become noticable, and then you know they cannot be that low. First is most evident, you get a CPU or BIOS alarm. All newer computers have thermocouples that measure the temperture inside the box, so if it gets too high, it either speeds the fans up, or shuts the CPU down. Secondly, if you 'feel' and noticable drop in performance, it is because the CPU is limiting its throughput. Espcially AMD chips are good for not allowing it to overheat. I have several AMD chips in desktops and laptops and love them all.

So, if you are not shutting the computer down and not noticing a decrease in performance you will do doing just fine.

[Master_Platinum]

On Winter, i set it low like 10% of mininum, Summer, i set like 90% and MAX when there is on very hot times

[Nemesis-]

When my computer is idle or if I'm just browsing the net and listening to music I run my fans at a low speed, but if I play a game I run them at max speed to get the max cooling.

[Master_Platinum]

Playing games need more cooling on the Power Supply?

I think there is more stuff need more electricity lol

[jaketo]

Playing games need more cooling on the Power Supply?

I think there is more stuff need more electricity lol

If it has a good fan in it, the PSU will act as an extract fan for the whole system per se, as well as for itself.

Modern games place a heavy load in the system i.e. CPU, memory and graphics card which in turn produce more heat, so more airflow is beneficial to the system whilst playing such games.