Cooler Master Extreme PSU question

[anuclearbomb]

Hi guys,
This question is a little specific in nature to CM users. For those using CM extreme power supply, did you notice a small plastic sheet in the power supply, covering half of the unit? Do you guys know what's its function?
I am asking this because the PSU is getting EXTREMELY noise, because its temperature is rather, so I am thinking may be removing the plastic sheet could help to lower the temperature, any idea?

For those who doesnt own a CM, you can see from this picture
http://mmdstore.com/z/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=9

There is a plastic sheet covering the upper half of the PSU, and if you view if from the top (facing the fan), you will see that the plastic sheet covers half the fan.

Thanks.

 

[dogman_1234]

Is the fan pointing out into the open chassis or is it facing a wall of the chassis?

 

[thechief73]

Hi anuclearbomb,

From the looks of your picture and this one here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=17-171-031-S01&SCList=17-171-031-S01,17-171-031-S02,17-171-031-S03,17-171-031-S04,17-171-031-S05,17-171-031-S06,17-171-031-S07,17-171-031-S08,17-171-031-S09,17-171-031-S10&S7ImageFlag=2&Item=N82E16817171031&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=COOLER%20MASTER%20eXtreme%20Power%20Plus%20RS-500-PCAR-A3-US%20500W%20ATX12V%20v2.3%20%20%20%20Power%20Supply

That is the side of your fan you are looking at and if it is not the actual fan it will be right behind that piece of plastic, so I doubt you will get any better ventilation by taking apart your PSU to remove it.

The best thing you can do is make sure your case is cooling properly, front fans for intake, back and top for exhaust, no side fans they ruin the airflow from front to back. Also make sure your wires and all neatly tucked out of the way or wire-tied together.

 

[anuclearbomb]

Hi
Dogman, I am not very sure what you are talking about, the fan is facing my CPU cooler, it is suppose to draw air in and expel air out from the back.

thecieft73, if you take a look at this picture

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=17-171-031-S01&SCList=17-171-031-S01,17-171-031-S02,17-171-031-S03,17-171-031-S04,17-171-031-S05,17-171-031-S06,17-171-031-S07,17-171-031-S08,17-171-031-S09,17-171-031-S10&S7ImageFlag=2&Item=N82E16817171031&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=COOLER%20MASTER%20eXtreme%20Power%20Plus%20RS-500-PCAR-A3-US%20500W%20ATX12V%20v2.3%20%20%20%20Power%20Supply

You can actually see that at the right half of the PSU is covered by a piece of plastic, just beneath the fan. Look carefully, you should be able to see a shiny sheet.

Anyway I took apart the PSU carefully, and touched the metal heatsink. Ouch! It literally burned my hand. I am rather scared that the PSU is so hot. And of course, the fan is blow so damn hard that it sounds like a chopper now.
Some forum suggested to move the heat sensor away from the heatsink to avoid spinning up the fan, I did it and it doesnt help. Still loud as hell.

Just to add on that this PSU only started to become hot and noisy as hell when I added in my 6850 yesterday. I have a AMD athlon quad core and only 1 HDD. Played a couple of hours of just cause an ran some heaven benchmark without any issue. PSU calculator on CM site recommended a 350W PSU.

So is my PSU working normally? Is there anyway to make it quieter? like changing the fan or something.

 

[dogman_1234]

NEVER TOUCH THE INSIDE OF A PSU! YOU COULD OF DAMAGED IT EVEN FURTHER!

 

[abully]

well... if your PSU is heating up it could be that the PSU is not ventilated properly... just remove the PSU and plug it standalone in to power outlet and let it run for sometime... if its still getting hot then there's something wrong with PSU itself; maybe manufacturing default or something gone bad... if its not getting hot then it could be you are drawing too much power from than the PSU can handle or its not ventilated properly... dont know what case you are using but the best for a psu ventilation is to draw air from outside (from the bottom of the case) and exhaust it out from the rear (this is not for all cases)... other good scenario would be drawing air from the inside of the case and exhausting through rear... another work(in some HTPC cases) would be drawing air from the top and blowing inside the case...

If the plastic is inside the PSU then there should be a good reason why CM kept it there... plus its only blocking the exhaust not intake so its OK; dont fiddle with it...

 

[anuclearbomb]

My case is a pretty old AMD K7 case, the PSU draws air in from the top and exhaust through the rear.
I kept the plastic in place. The fan is extremely loud but strangely, when i put my hand behind the PSU, I can barely feel any air come out. The same is true when I put my hand near the fan (inside the case), it draws very little air in.
Does this happen for all CM PSU?
As for the power consumption, I believe that the total power draw is below 550W, in fact, its around 350W according to Antec calculator. thats only 63% of the stated watt, and hardwaresecret.com tested and confirmed that this PSU was an old seventeam 500W PSU.

The plastic does block off part of the intake, it seems to channel air to the metal heatsink, may be to cool them off better? I actually took it off but it didnt help on the temperature, its now back on.

The PSU doesnt spin up or gets very hot when I surf web or use MS word. But once I start up a game, it gets hot and loud, and it takes around 15mins after I shut down the game for the fan to slow down.

Right now I am thinking if changing the fan will help to make it quieter or cooler? The fan is a 12cm sleeve fan.

 

[anuclearbomb]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gqjcu-Q9E0

This video sorts of shows what I am getting from a CM
In comparison, the enermax is so much quieter.
Again, would like to ask if changing the fan helps.

 

[abully]

changing the fan for a psu is not advisable... better go for a new psu...

 

[thechief73]

thecieft73, if you take a look at this picture

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=17-171-031-S01&SCList=17-171-031-S01,17-171-031-S02,17-171-031-S03,17-171-031-S04,17-171-031-S05,17-171-031-S06,17-171-031-S07,17-171-031-S08,17-171-031-S09,17-171-031-S10&S7ImageFlag=2&Item=N82E16817171031&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=COOLER%20MASTER%20eXtreme%20Power%20Plus%20RS-500-PCAR-A3-US%20500W%20ATX12V%20v2.3%20%20%20%20Power%20Supply

You can actually see that at the right half of the PSU is covered by a piece of plastic, just beneath the fan. Look carefully, you should be able to see a shiny sheet.

anuclearbomb, I did look carefully, but you must have not read my post very carefully. You linked to the very same picture that I linked you to. And the pure fact of it is that even if that piece of plastic is not connected to your PSU fan in some way or is not the fan itself, it is the EXACT same size of the fan behind it(fans are not paper thin, most are 20mm-25mm thick), which in turn removing it to reveal a obstruction of the same size is NOT going to help increase airflow at all.

And like I said in my post "The best thing you can do is make sure your case is cooling properly, front fans for intake, back and top for exhaust, no side fans they ruin the airflow from front to back. Also make sure your wires and all neatly tucked out of the way or wire-tied together." and as others are telling you, If you case is too hot, solve the problem at the source, not trying with your PSU when its making noise from the exess heat.

 

[shovenose]

do not mess with the inside of your psu if you have no clue what your doing. you could damage the psu or kill yourself. both are bad.

now, id like to tell you that the extreme power series from cooler master is not a high quality unit. cooler master makes some good and some junk power supplies. the extreme power series is low quality.

if the fan is loud, then either you are overloading the power supply (for example 400w load would be high for this unit because its not really a 500w psu), and that could be causing it to get hot. also, there could be something wrong with the fan temperature control circuit in the power supply.

i own one 500w cooler master extreme power power supply. i got it not working. actually it worked fine but the fan failed, i know what im doing so i simply put a different fan in and the psu works fine now. the fan used in there originally is of low quality, so it could be dying.

the plastic thing you are seing in your power supply is meant to be there. it directs the airflow and forces it to go where it is hottest. do not remove it.

all in all, i recommend your power supply.

 

[anuclearbomb]

Thanks for all the reply. I did bought a CM 370 case, which has the PSU placed at the bottom of the PC. This seems to have solved my problem as the PSU doesnt spin up very often.
I sort of agree with what shovenose has said, the plastic was there to direct airflow to the heatsink, so I just left it there.

 

[anuclearbomb]

Best answer selected by anuclearbomb.

 

[shovenose]

i just read what i wrote, i didnt mean to say "i recommend your power supply i meant "i recommend you replace your pwer supply"

 

[anuclearbomb]

i just read what i wrote, i didnt mean to say "i recommend your power supply i meant "i recommend you replace your pwer supply"

LOL, its working fine for me. The voltages are within limits and from a review by hardwaresecrets.com, this PSU can output 540W of power, rather close to the 550W on its label.
I knew this isnt a top class PSU and bought it cos its cheap, and also because this is of the the better ones in the cheap PSUs. I will just use till the PSU burn out itself, by then I would get myself a better one.