water cooling power supply?

Is this possible? Has anyone done this?

Here's my situation: I'm in college, in a 12x12 dorm room, and computer noise is driving me insane when I'm studying, and especially sleeping. I'd like to leave my computer on all night, but I can't right now.

Most of the noise seems like its being generated by the fan on the power supply and the processor fan. Water cooling the processor is going to be easy. Any idea if I can water cool the power supply too? I'd be doing this exclusively for noise reduction.

Thanks.

It can be done. The Koolance PC1 their first attampt at a watercooling case did it successfuly. Though the cooling performance was crap it still got the job done. I wouldnt recommend it myself because of the cooling performance issue though. But it is still an extreamily quiet case.
AREA_51

yes, ive seen it done, but its tricky and really voids you warantee.

Maybe you hsould get a whisper PSU?

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What kind of PSU do you have is it a high end silent type (sounds like no) or a cheep generic supply that came with the case (or computer). If it's the cheep kind here's a few things you can do.
First off, this is a list of things I have successfully done, it voids the PSU warrantee but hey it's cheap. Use your own discression here, I didn't electrocute myself, maybe you will, maybe you wont. )

1. if it has a stamped sheetmetal grille on the back cut it out, if you really feel the need for a grille replace it with one of the wire ring type (about $1.50) this will cut the noise down quite a bit.

2. find the wires running to the fan and put a resistor inline to drop the fans voltage or you could also wire in a zalman fanmate and make the fan speed adjustable. just be sure there is enough air flowing so as not to melt down the PSU (almost any movement will do).

The PSU's I have done this to have been working without a problem for years now (running 24/7). In my opinion these mods are easy and low risk and should take no more than 30 min from start to finish.
Hope this helps

If you cut holes in the supply covers and leave them open, it is a shock hazard for anyone that might touch it. Yes, YOU know about it, but be careful if it's accessible to anyone else. Be sure no one else can get in there and touch the electronics inside, such as little kids, the cat, etc.

Bare metal heatsinks inside power supplies are often NOT safe to touch with the power cord plugged in. The heatsinks can carry full line voltage and give you a hell of a shock. This is why supplies are always inside closed boxes in the first place.

Trying to cool a power supply by directly attaching a waterblock to one of these potentially "live" heatsinks can create an electrical short through the water, and possibly damage the power supply, computer, or you.

Some manufacturers will print warnings about live heatsinks on their circuit boards, but not every manufacturer does that so you can never be too sure.


Even unplugged, power supplies can be hazardous. Notice how the computer remains on for a second or two after it is unplugged?

That's because the power supply has capacitors inside (those big cylinders) which can hold a lot of energy for a long time. They can hold dangerous amounts of energy even after being unplugged for several hours, and so are nothing to be playing with if you do not know anything about electronics.

Accidently touching the power supply's circuit traces could shock or burn you if one of the power capacitors is still holding a large charge.


Please be careful. That thick metal shell and the warning stickers are there for a reason.

Instead of cutting up the case for your power supply, why not just remove the cover altogether? It's only there incase you are stupid enough to stick your hand on the primary side it while it's running. The power supply itself doesn't know or care about the cover.

Resistor wise, I do this one too... a 10 ohm 5 watt in the power lead usually knocks most fans down to bearable noise limits without sacrificing too much cooling.

--->It ain't better if it don't work<---