Stupid and Dangerous Modding at its best.

Slutmonkey57b

I've had a hardware failure I've tracked down to most-likely a failure of the fan in my PSU.

I was tempted to write the whole system off as the graphics card died - it wasn't till I cracked the case open that I found the PSU fan wasn't spinning (it's always on minimum setting and the other fans well drown it out so I would never have noticed it cutting out), and I figured it could well have affected the mobo or memory too. The PSU does seem to be working - I had some problems getting the system up and running again, but it is now seemingly stable since I sellotaped a couple of 80mm fans to the sides to cool it down. The LED in the fan is still lighting up, and the voltages are stable according to speedfan/BIOS.

So opinions: How feasible is it to swap out the fan on a PSU?
Is it likely that I've got board/memory damage to go with a dead graphics card?
How do I avoid splashing more money on stuff than I need to?

Edit: PSU is an Fortron blue storm 350w 120mm fan

requiem1

its cheap but can be a bit dodgey if you don't know what you're doing. there are tons of guides on doing this online so for the cost of a fan I'd give it a go. In terms of the mobo, its impossible to know if its damaged or not. I'd graba psu and gpu off a mate and try it out. then you can make up your mind where to go with fixing it.

L31mr0d

I've been shocked before by an unplugged PSU that I was opening to change the noisy fan and let me tell you, that was not fun.

Seriously, its a 350w PSU, it's the bare minimum for most systems and you'll have to dump it anyway if you plan on upgrading. Why not spend a few quid and get a new one that's future proofed for your next PC.

Also, with a few PSUs I've opened, the fan tends to be soldered into the PCB not plugged in so you will probably have cut the connector off your new fan and solder it into the board of the PSU.

Slutmonkey57b

Anything I get won't be a huge power upgrade - probably the Corsair 450w for silence and due to massive budget constraints. €60 for the Corsair is already money I don't have to spend. Of course, my bill paying mind is telling me not to bother and get a life instead.

Nuts to that!

I think I can actually get the parts I need for ~€350 PSU, chip, board, memory, GFX, the only problem then is that my mind tells me "But look... an OCZ Vertex is only another €120...." which is dangerous territory.

If there's soldering involved I am counting myself out of the fan replacement stakes. I'm far too messy with wood and nails, never mind solder.

Mac daddy

The fan connects directly to the PSU PCB via a 3-pin fan header from what I can see on several review websites.

B00MSTICK

SlutMonkey wrote:

Of course, my bill paying mind is telling me not to bother and get a life instead.

Life ain't all its cracked up to be :pac:

Have you tested all the components yet?

Slutmonkey57b

Everything seems to be pretty stable. Have had a few registry problems but that seems to be the only side effect. Upgrade on hold - the sellotaped fans are working their magic.

Given that PSU makers now have elongated housings for 1000w boxes, why has none of them thought to use a longer box for a lower watt supply with a push/pull fan config, like my jury rigged setup is doing? Seems like a no brainer to me.