Antec True Power PS fan noise

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Ken Long wrote:
> I have two new PCs, both with Antec True Power TPII-430 PSUs. One has
> a nice quiet fan but the fan in the other unit seems to be running at
> full speed as it's much louder than the first unit. Both units are
> plugged into the proper connector on the mainboard and the MB manual
> says that the connector supports the sense lead. I unplugged the PS
> fan sense cable from the main boards and neither fan changed speeds
> one way or the other.
>
> Any thoughts as to how I can get the louder unit to quiet down? It
> doesn't sound defective. It just sounds like it running at full speed.
>
> Oh, the two PCs have different mainboards. The quiet one is an Intel
> board and the loud one is a GigaByte board.
>
> Tia,
> Ken Long
> Albuquerque
> (Reply address works as is.)

The fans in these powersupply are not controlled by the motherboard. The
fan speed is controlled and powered internal to the supply and the lead
that plugs into the MB is just there to allow sensing of the fan's
speed. I have one in my latest system and I've got to say that I'm less
than happy with its noise level.

If your two system are more-or-less equal in power consumption it could
be that the fan control circuit in the noisier PS is defective. On the
other hand if the one system is drawing more power than the other then
the extra noise might be justified by the extra power dissipation.

What I'm going to do is to simply pull the Antec supply and put it on
the shelf as a spare and install a really quiet supply like a Seasonic
S12-430 which has a single 120mm fan.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 14:01:09 -0400, John McGaw <nobody@nowh.ere>
wrote:

>The fans in these powersupply are not controlled by the motherboard. The
>fan speed is controlled and powered internal to the supply and the lead
>that plugs into the MB is just there to allow sensing of the fan's
>speed. I have one in my latest system and I've got to say that I'm less
>than happy with its noise level.

That would explain why the fan speed didn't change when I unplugged
the sense cable from the mb.

>If your two system are more-or-less equal in power consumption it could
>be that the fan control circuit in the noisier PS is defective. On the
>other hand if the one system is drawing more power than the other then
>the extra noise might be justified by the extra power dissipation.

Very possible. One is an Intel cpu and the other is an AMD. The AMD
system is the loud one. But the Intel has a higher performance video
card. <shrug>

>What I'm going to do is to simply pull the Antec supply and put it on
>the shelf as a spare and install a really quiet supply like a Seasonic
>S12-430 which has a single 120mm fan.

I'm going to see if the end user complains about the extra noise. If
he doesn't mind it then I'm ok. If he complains, then I'll put in a
QTechnology Ultra Quiet unit.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Ken
(Reply address works as is.)

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Ken Long wrote:

> I have two new PCs, both with Antec True Power TPII-430 PSUs. One has
> a nice quiet fan but the fan in the other unit seems to be running at
> full speed as it's much louder than the first unit.

It's possible that the thermistor inside the louder Antec is touching
the heatsink while the thermistor in the other one is not, or the air
flow is worse because of the computer case. The thermistor is a small
green bean close to the big heatsink where all the power wires exit,
and there may be two thermistors, one on each side of the heatsink.
Only one affects the fan speed. Don't open the PSU until it's been
unplugged for at least twenty minutes because there's a lot of exposed
high voltage inside, including on one of the heatsinks, which runs at
170V. Reinstall the cover and its screws before applying AC power
again.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

John McGaw wrote:
> Ken Long wrote:
>
>> I have two new PCs, both with Antec True Power TPII-430 PSUs. One has
>> a nice quiet fan but the fan in the other unit seems to be running at
>> full speed as it's much louder than the first unit. Both units are
>> plugged into the proper connector on the mainboard and the MB manual
>> says that the connector supports the sense lead. I unplugged the PS
>> fan sense cable from the main boards and neither fan changed speeds
>> one way or the other.
>>
>> Any thoughts as to how I can get the louder unit to quiet down? It
>> doesn't sound defective. It just sounds like it running at full speed.
>>
>> Oh, the two PCs have different mainboards. The quiet one is an Intel
>> board and the loud one is a GigaByte board.
>>
>> Tia,
>> Ken Long
>> Albuquerque
>> (Reply address works as is.)
>
>
> The fans in these powersupply are not controlled by the motherboard. The
> fan speed is controlled and powered internal to the supply and the lead
> that plugs into the MB is just there to allow sensing of the fan's
> speed. I have one in my latest system and I've got to say that I'm less
> than happy with its noise level.
>
> If your two system are more-or-less equal in power consumption it could
> be that the fan control circuit in the noisier PS is defective. On the
> other hand if the one system is drawing more power than the other then
> the extra noise might be justified by the extra power dissipation.
>
> What I'm going to do is to simply pull the Antec supply and put it on
> the shelf as a spare and install a really quiet supply like a Seasonic
> S12-430 which has a single 120mm fan.

Just want I did a few months ago.
--
Derek

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 12:29:17 -0600, Ken Long
<kenl@despammed.com> wrote:


>Very possible. One is an Intel cpu and the other is an AMD. The AMD
>system is the loud one. But the Intel has a higher performance video
>card. <shrug>
>

That doesn't necessarily mean anything, you would have to
consider the specific CPUs too as some Intel use more power
than some AMD, and vice-versa. Additionally, if they aren't
using same cases, one may have better air intake. Such fans
are generally temperature controlled and having warmer (or
less) air intake means the fan runs hotter. Something quite
simple like having a CPU closer to the power supply intake
than the rear case exhaust fan (presumably you do have rear
case exhaust fan(s), yes(?) would also account for a higher
internal PSU temp.

The latter condition is fixed, but the former, better air
intake, might still be realized?


>>What I'm going to do is to simply pull the Antec supply and put it on
>>the shelf as a spare and install a really quiet supply like a Seasonic
>>S12-430 which has a single 120mm fan.
>
>I'm going to see if the end user complains about the extra noise. If
>he doesn't mind it then I'm ok. If he complains, then I'll put in a
>QTechnology Ultra Quiet unit.
>

PSU with larger fans tend to have higher flow/noise ratio,
but beware that the target should never be "noise
reduction", it should always be moving the necessary amount
of air as quietly as possible. In can seem the same thing,
but usually isn't, as many will just use a quieter PSU and
end up with higher temps. If that is an acceptible
end-result then all you needed to do was put a resistor
inline on the fan power lead, substitute a different fan, or
perhaps bend the termal probe a bit away from the heatsink
(that it's "probably" sitting against (I don't recall where
they are on those PSU)).