• How long can a power supply run without a fan?
    11 replies, posted
Ok, a little background. I ordered a computer from a company about a month or two ago, and whilst it first appeared fine, I was plagued by a grinding noise that I found to by coming from the PSU. This had been going on for some time, but last night, as I was trying to look up causes and solutions, the noise suddenly went away, which I believe could be due to one of two possibilities. Either the issue sorted itself out (unlikely) or the fan stopped. And since the fan is located at the very bottom, it's difficult to check. Would it be save to turn on the PC in order to check, or should a fanless PSU never be used? PSU is a Corsair CX600 btw
I remember someone posting about parts in a PSU that get hot, no matter the load, and without the fan going it will heat up the whole thing easily and cause to overheat. I can't remember it on the top of my head, but it is NOT recommended at all. On the other hand, that fan is there for a reason, otherwise it wouldn't have been there in the first place.
So not even a turn on then instantly shutdown? I'm probably just going to rma the damn thing anyway
Yes, without the fan, certain components within the power supply will break relatively quickly, effectively killing the entire device. And if you're unlucky, it may take the lives of other components in your system with it.
[QUOTE=Rixxz2;46182049]Yes, without the fan, certain components within the power supply will break relatively quickly, effectively killing the entire device. And if you're unlucky, it may take the lives of other components in your system with it.[/QUOTE] Nope, all the components that dissipate a lot of heat in the power supply are bolted to a heatsink which has a fairly reasonable thermal mass that takes some time to heat up, running a PSU without a fan for a couple of minutes is perfectly fine particularly if you have it open in a well ventilated area, pretty much all the components on the heatsink can tolerate up to 150C without failure. The problem is most likely either the fan is hitting the case or its own power wires, both of which are fixed easily, if you do decide to test it do not under any circumstances touch anything inside when it's plugged in.
[QUOTE=Chryseus;46183676]Nope, all the components that dissipate a lot of heat in the power supply are bolted to a heatsink which has a fairly reasonable thermal mass that takes some time to heat up, running a PSU without a fan for a couple of minutes is perfectly fine particularly if you have it open in a well ventilated area, pretty much all the components on the heatsink can tolerate up to 150C without failure. The problem is most likely either the fan is hitting the case or its own power wires, both of which are fixed easily, if you do decide to test it do not under any circumstances touch anything inside when it's plugged in.[/QUOTE] Yeah, I was more thinking if he was going to run it for 30+ minutes [editline]8th October 2014[/editline] missed post #4 [editline]8th October 2014[/editline] I didn't even read the OP properly, fsdf
Well my initial plan didn't convince me either way. Do you think I could log in and give it 5-10 mins?
You should be fine to turn in on briefly to see if it runs. However, that CX is made with cheaper chinese caps, and the main cap is a panasonic only rated for 85C instead of the typical 105C.
Why do you need 5-10 minutes ? either the fan is spinning or not, even if you can't see it (take it out the case?) you should be able to hear it and feel the air. But yeah 5 to 10 minutes is probably fine, provided you don't do something stupid like play a game. [QUOTE=Levelog;46186929]You should be fine to turn in on briefly to see if it runs. However, that CX is made with cheaper chinese caps, and the main cap is a panasonic only rated for 85C instead of the typical 105C.[/QUOTE] I've never actually seen a failure of the main filter cap before, usually it's the output caps that fail, panasonic caps are quite reliable although I think nichicon and rubycon are the best.
Thanks for the assistance. Can I point out that the company's advice was 'run a game and see if it fails.' I wish I was joking.
The good news is that I did feel a slight breeze at the fan vent, so I think it is working. This is like 2006 xbox again
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