What are your opinions on PSUs with zero-rpm fan features?

[dirtyferret]

And that is with "slight" over-pressure.

personally that's what I use and if anyone asked, that is what I would recommend. That said if anyone used a more negative airflow set up, that's fine as well. As long as the setup is efficient, the differences in every test review I have seen has always been minor.

was to always use a filtered case.

100%

They had high failure rate because OTP was not configured properly.

so that's a design flaw, not a failure rate. The PSU were working as designed. (not arguing just clearing up the opinion from what damric stated)

 

[demirael]

Bottom line is that heat & computer parts are sworn enemies, and have been since the dawn of the electronic age in the 30's....so either chill it or kill it !

"warm to the touch" is way too hot IMHO, so I will gladly tolerate a little touch of fan noise in favor of my 'puters dying an early death & having to be replaced prematurely...

That's not remotely true. Flash for one wants to be hot when written to (but cool for retention if you don't touch the data in a long time), mechanical drives actually survive longer if they are a bit warm so the viscosity of the fluid in the bearings isn't too high and they definitely like steady temps. Most semiconductors don't care as long as you stay within a certain window. What you don't want is heat cycles. Expansion and contraction is worse than stable temps.

 

[bonehead123]

By "heat" I was referring to excessive heat or heat that is not addressed or redirected with proper airflow.... normal/stable "operating" temps are perfectly fine & acceptable, to keep things working like they were designed to do as you said

And yes, cycles and/or extreme variations are bad too !

 

[maxfly]

@maxfly
"You? Well, obviously you are free to do with your rig what ever pleases ya
Clear enough?"

-------------------------

It is well established for years now that all here and everywhere around the world can run their systems they way the want.
No doubt... you dont have to keep saying it. You can though.

OP has asked a specific question.

We are not here hopefully to try to change your opinion about zero rpm function of fans.

What is totally irrelevant IMHO is your comment about the educated engineers who designed the components to operate with a fan 100% of time.
And I can ask again... who do you think programed the zero-rpm function if not the educated engineer who designed the PSU or the whatever else component?

Can you answer this simple question? And maybe make and discussion (not required though) about it?
Or are you going to start diverging the subject to personal preferences? again...

-------------------------------------------------



Fans are designed to take away the excess heat to avoid overheating as we all know. No science here...
But if the temperature is low... why cant the fan be stopped and start when really needed?
Its a simple function.

99.9% the dying had nothing to do with zero-rpm. PSUs are dying within warranty even with their fan operating 100% of time. It happens and you shouldn't be afraid of a PSU that its made with all the safeties to protect the rest of the system on its dying time.

Can I ask what exact model this PSU is? If its HX750i like mine you can monitor all its metrics from iCUE to witness if any high temp is going on in there, or maybe there is away you can just install the Corsair Link driver so you can monitor even more parameters through HWiNFO64, like the screenshot I posted on #28, if you dont want iCUE on your system that is.

If you paid attention to the conversation you wouldn't need that question answered for you. For some reason you've become fixated upon a portion of a conversation that had nothing to do with you. Rather than take it out of context, go back and reread the conversation it was originally responded to. If that doesn't clarify it for you, eh.

 

[ExcuseMeWtf]

so that's a design flaw, not a failure rate. The PSU were working as deIsigned. (not arguing just clearing up the opinion from what damric stated)

It's a design flaw that lead to failure by shutting PSU down in conditions that were inside its specfications, i.e., PSU was supposed to stay operational under those.

Obviously, it's a different failure mode than stated previously, but it is very much a PSU failure nonetheless.

 

[Zach_01]

If you paid attention to the conversation you wouldn't need that question answered for you. For some reason you've become fixated upon a portion of a conversation that had nothing to do with you. Rather than take it out of context, go back and reread the conversation it was originally responded to. If that doesn't clarify it for you, eh.

Of course it had nothing to do with me.. what gave you that idea?
He/she who take such things and/or any random comments personally is making a big mistake.
Case closed… It’s not personal.

You can be as creative as you want to try to avoid answering a simple question referring to a commend of yours that can stand alone and outside of any conversation.

I will no longer ask the same question.
The point is already a moot one.

You said and I quote:
“Power supplies are engineered specifically to be used with a fan by formally educated electrical, computer, and thermal engineers, designers, manufacturers, and software developers.”

—————————

Obviously this whole statement is false by definition because the zero-rpm function is not introduced by anyone else than those who designed and engineered the PSUs.

Fans are stopping and starting, spinning up or down as needed all around us inside or outside a PC system.

Isn’t this clear already?
I want to say it is.

 

[Bill_Bright]

"warm to the touch" is way too hot IMHO

Sorry but that is a bit of a contradiction. "Warm to the touch" is perfectly normal and safe. "Warm", by definition is not "hot".

By "heat" I was referring to excessive heat or heat that is not addressed or redirected with proper airflow.... normal/stable "operating" temps are perfectly fine & acceptable

I agree with that.

heat & computer parts are sworn enemies, and have been since the dawn of the electronic age in the 30's

Wait! What? The dawn of the electronic age was long before that - in the late 1800s. Cities like New Orleans and Cleveland were installing street lights in the 1880s. San Fransico had replaced their arc lights with tungsten by 1920.

Radio Stations were broadcasting music as early as 1909 - voice years before that.

And while "excessive" heat is never good, early electronic computers depended on heat (and more than just "warm") too. Early computers used vacuum tubes (valves) that required a "hot" filament to heat up the cathode and excite the electronics. I recommend you read up on "thermionic emission". Electronics that required timing devices to set frequencies used crystals that sat in crystal ovens that would certainly burn your fingerprints off.

And of course, the first digital, electronic computer was not invented until the 1940s.

 

[damric]

I'm not denying that was the official statement by Corsair, and also by a certain n00b PSU reviewer that went to work for Corsair, but the autopsies in my lab at the time revealed otherwise

 

[Vario]

I've heard of the EVGA 650 P2 dying from eco mode, I've always just left them on all the time. Most power supplies are inaudible. Unfortunately, my Superflower Leadex Platinum SE is quite audible, probably would be loud for most people. I just use it as white noise. Most of the supplied fans inside the power supplies are some of the most reliable fans you can find.

 

[maxfly]

Of course it had nothing to do with me.. what gave you that idea?
He/she who take such things and/or any random comments personally is making a big mistake.
Case closed… It’s not personal.

You can be as creative as you want to try to avoid answering a simple question referring to a commend of yours that can stand alone and outside of any conversation.

I will no longer ask the same question.
The point is already a moot one.

You said and I quote:
“Power supplies are engineered specifically to be used with a fan by formally educated electrical, computer, and thermal engineers, designers, manufacturers, and software developers.”

—————————

Obviously this whole statement is false by definition because the zero-rpm function is not introduced by anyone else than those who designed and engineered the PSUs.

Fans are stopping and starting, spinning up or down as needed all around us inside or outside a PC system.

Isn’t this clear already?
I want to say it is.

Seriously. I have to explain this to you? Your too friggin lazy to simply go back and read the conversation that post was part of? 3...4 times now? You would rather continue to to take my response out of context, not understanding that everything you've asked has been answered.
I'll make this really really, easy for you. So I don't have to repeat myself anymore. K?

Bill's response to my post #39, post #41 the abbreviated portion...

It always amazes me how - almost exclusively with computer hardware and software - some users assume the formally educated electrical, computer, and thermal engineers, designers, manufacturers, and software developers don't know their a$$ from a hole in the ground. I don't see this in any other industry - only computers.

To which I responded in post #48

Power supplies are engineered specifically to be used with a fan by formally educated electrical, computer, and thermal engineers, designers, manufacturers, and software developers. Huh? What? Whodathunk? Blowin minds, it's what I does. Hahaha!

I encourage you to go back. Re-read all of the posts verrrry carefully. I'm positive my stance on the issue will be clarified Zach.

 

[Bill_Bright]

To which I responded in post #48

Power supplies are engineered specifically to be used with a fan... .

Which, as a blanket statement, was and still is incorrect!

As I replied before, there are many PSUs designed to operate without a fan. And they do it just fine. Why? Because contrary to what you seem to believe and want everyone else to believe, the engineers and designers know what they are doing. In fact there is a whole class of fanless PSUs just for computers.

And, as noted multiple times by multiple people in this thread, there are PSUs designed to operate without a spinning fan until a specific demand and/or thermal threshold is crossed. And they do that just fine too. Why? Again, because the engineers and designers know what they are doing. These thresholds are set above the danger level. NO! They are set to kick in before damaging temps are crossed.

BTW, that is exactly how many car radiator fans work too!

 

[Eskimonster]

Firstly, i buy one with 10 years warranty minimum, secondly i prefer the zero-fan option, last to mention is, i prefer Seasoninc´s Platinum rated PSU´s.

 

[Ahhzz]

PEOPLE! Discuss the topic, stop the sideways insults, the sarcasm and the attacks.

 

[Mussels]

I beg to differ

I don't recall ever hearing those units having a "high failure rate" from any viable source.


All you need is airflow in an efficient manner
It is through empirical testing and the implementation of the scientific method that we can finally lay to rest one of the oldest debates in the computing community, at least for this chassis and configuration. While these results are for this specific chassis and configurations we would expect similar results from other cases as well. Whether you use more intake than exhaust, around the same, or more exhaust than intake, so long as all other variables are the same, they will all allow approximately the same amount of dust into the PC case. Whether you normally fight with small particulate house dust, the heavier sawdust, or sand from the arid western United States, the results will all be the same. This myth is busted.

Yeah, no.

I turned my rear exhaust into an intake, and it clogged up the back 1/3 of my radiator hard, everything in the system was coated.
Flipped it back around after hours of cleaning and 6 months later it's all low dust - it really, REALLY matters in dusty environments.

Me? I just live near a forest. When it's dry, we get fine dirt blown around by the wind.

 

[Athlonite]

"Trap it"? No one is trapping the heat. That would be a pretty lousy design if heat was being trapped inside a PSU case, then held stagnant there by zero air movement within the PC case. And if that was the scenario, the builder/assembler did a lousy job of selecting components and configuring their case cooling.

tell that to Silverstone their RV02 case sucks air in from the back and exhausts it out the top for the PSU so no amount of air movement inside the case will affect that so it's a must to turn off any zero fan speed bs

 

[OneMoar]

my psu has a 10 year warranty ?
why would I care
also most units are not zero fan but are hybrid and have a switch to toggle the fan mode
the most pointless thread of the week award goes to this one
go home people

 

[Dr. Dro]

Wow this thread soured fast. Most of the the argumentation probably would be best summed up to personal taste. You know, Coke vs. Pepsi.

High capacity, fully fanless convection cooled PSUs will probably be achievable once there are enough advances in conversion efficiency, until then I personally don't mind turning the fan on a bit. Such models already exist, but they are few and mostly expensive

 

[Night]

Still using the Corsair AX 860 for almost 10 years now. It also features zero rpm mode, can't really tell the difference in acoustics because of the additional airflow though. For me it's always a plus because it saves hours and hours on MTBF of the fan, and I see no apparent reason for the fan to spin at all during light loads.

 

[kambei.7s]

My experience with "fan stop" model of corsair HX-650 was good, I bought it in 2013 and still use it, I changed configuration three times over that years, hardware is always medium-high (radeon 6870/Radeon 7950/GTX 1060/RX 6600), 5 HDD, 2 ODD etc. I broke warranty plombs after 2 years to clean it better. HX650 It was seasonic based PSU, but not all my expience with seasonic is good, I prefer chieftech.
Cooler even if it start it's very quiet, but I lubricate it a little, after 3 years it started making strange noise on start/stop. I do not like passive cooling hardware, on my experience it degrade faster can suddenly dead. All heat must be blow away with some airflow.

 

[Bill_Bright]

tell that to Silverstone their RV02 case sucks air in from the back and exhausts it out the top for the PSU so no amount of air movement inside the case will affect that so it's a must to turn off any zero fan speed bs

So what? You said it yourself, air is still flowing through the PSU and is NOT being trapped. Did you read the manual?

As noted in this Tweaktown review,

with everything installed, you can see the PSU gets good room to breathe, and the rest of the top allows for all the components to use the airflow from the three 180mm fans, while still allowing the overflow of air to sneak out around the components.

Don't like Tweaktown? Fine, Check out GamersNexus where the Silverstone took the top spot in CPU cooling. Don't like GamersNexus? Fine. Check out Techspot where reviewers like its "Great Thermal Properties".

I could go on, but this thread is not about the Silverstone case.

 

[Athlonite]

So what? You said it yourself, air is still flowing through the PSU and is NOT being trapped. Did you read the manual?

As noted in this Tweaktown review,


Don't like Tweaktown? Fine, Check out GamersNexus where the Silverstone took the top spot in CPU cooling. Don't like GamersNexus? Fine. Check out Techspot where reviewers like its "Great Thermal Properties".

I could go on, but this thread is not about the Silverstone case.

I don't need to read those reviews I own an RV02 Bill so I know just how good it's case cooling is and I can tell you now that the amount of heat slowly emanating from out of the PSU when it's idle and fan stop has turned of the fan is quite a bit vs not allowing the fan to stop

 

[Kapone33]

I don't need to read those reviews I own an RV02 Bill so I know just how good it's case cooling is and I can tell you now that the amount of heat slowly emanating from out of the PSU when it's idle and fan stop has turned of the fan is quite a bit vs not allowing the fan to stop

I had the same case and I can attest to that. Those 2 180mm fans on the bottom had no effect on the PSU.

 

[Athlonite]

I had the same case and I can attest to that. Those 2 180mm fans on the bottom had no effect on the PSU.

you mean 3 180mm fans and yes despite the fact they can push 330cfm (if you use the 181AP versions) through the case they do indeed have no effect on the PSU

 

[Bill_Bright]

I don't need to read those reviews I own an RV02 Bill so I know just how good it's case cooling is and I can tell you now that the amount of heat slowly emanating from out of the PSU when it's idle and fan stop has turned of the fan is quite a bit vs not allowing the fan to stop

So all those reviewers, including this one, this one, and this one too are all wrong. Got it.

I had the same case and I can attest to that. Those 2 180mm fans on the bottom had no effect on the PSU.

Not the point. The claim was that the RV02 "traps it" (heat). I posted now, 6 reviews, all extolling the excellent cooling capabilities of that case. Not one reported any issues with heat being "trapped". So if someone has one of these cases where heat is being trapped, it is not the case's fault.

Now I'm moving on and if anyone wants to keep arguing, I suggesting arguing with the review sites, not me.

 

[Kapone33]

Now I'm moving on and if anyone wants to keep arguing, I suggesting arguing with the review sites, not me.

I am not trying to argue with anyone. I was just taking a break from Gaming (Iron Harvest Campaign!!!!!!) and wanted to see what was in the forums. I apologize if I made you feel I was arguing.