Spacehead
04-02-2008, 03:01 PM
This PSU is a bit disappointing when considering the loud noise that it's fan keeps. I guess it has meant to move a lot of air to keep small heatsinks, and different parts that aren't covered with heatsinks, very cool.
I have a watercooled system with all the fans on 5 - 7Volts , so this PSUs fan is the noisiest component in my system.
OCZ, do you think that gamers won't notice noise at all when they're playing with headphones? OCZ seem to have different products that produce less noise. Some users had their PSUs sent back to OCZ because of this. OCZ support thought that there was a faulty fan that was keeping the noise. I guess faulty OCZ components are rare, as their quality inspection seems excellent from what I have read. Many said that their replacement unit was as noisy as the "faulty" one.
I decided that it was time for me to just change the fan, I rarely have a quality PSU fail on me. If some has failed, it was just from my own careless actions.
So I cut the warranty sticker, voiding the warranty and opened it.
This is the fan I found:
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/2179/oczfanspecszu7.jpg
I tested it at 12V, to make sure it was working properly. It seemed OK, no resonance or bearing problems. I can just tell that it is the loudest 120 mm fan I have heard. At 5.4W (12Vx0.45A) it propably runs more than 2000 rpms. Just a regular high speed fan, I think. So I needed replacement for that. I first tried Cooltek 0.11A , 1000 rpm, 1.32W fan, which was too inefficient , because PSU casing started to feel really warm.
Old Nexus 350W PSU had a perfect fan for this application:
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6849/fromnexusch0.jpg
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9540/yateloonyr7.jpg
It is a Yate Loon D12SM-12. Very pleasant tone at 12V, though somewhat noisy, but not a turbine like OCZs original fan.
I just cut the wires and connected red and black.
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/5648/connectredandblackov1.jpg
That yellow wire is for Fan leds , it supplies 12V from rail 3.
PSU can adjust the quieter fan now as it wishes, and it doesn't drive me nuts. From the back of the PSU I can feel as much of air flow than with the original fan, so performance shouldn't suffer. I put that Cooltek to Nexus350W. In there it should provide enough flow for those bigger heatsinks (on a ½ power PSU!) I should report after sometime if this OCZ PSU still works. I guess it will last as long as with the original fan. At least I don't need to sell it now because it is quieter. Next I need to kill resonance from my case.
OCZ , I think you should make it clear for the customers that this model series, GameXstream , isn't meant to be silent. Or if I had different fan that there should be, just tell me :)
This is the final look:
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3610/finallookuj0.jpg
Specs of the PSU, pictures inside & PCB revision:
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2759/specskm3.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/4673/psuinsideshf4.jpg
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/2351/psurevisiontm2.jpg
I have a watercooled system with all the fans on 5 - 7Volts , so this PSUs fan is the noisiest component in my system.
OCZ, do you think that gamers won't notice noise at all when they're playing with headphones? OCZ seem to have different products that produce less noise. Some users had their PSUs sent back to OCZ because of this. OCZ support thought that there was a faulty fan that was keeping the noise. I guess faulty OCZ components are rare, as their quality inspection seems excellent from what I have read. Many said that their replacement unit was as noisy as the "faulty" one.
I decided that it was time for me to just change the fan, I rarely have a quality PSU fail on me. If some has failed, it was just from my own careless actions.
So I cut the warranty sticker, voiding the warranty and opened it.
This is the fan I found:
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/2179/oczfanspecszu7.jpg
I tested it at 12V, to make sure it was working properly. It seemed OK, no resonance or bearing problems. I can just tell that it is the loudest 120 mm fan I have heard. At 5.4W (12Vx0.45A) it propably runs more than 2000 rpms. Just a regular high speed fan, I think. So I needed replacement for that. I first tried Cooltek 0.11A , 1000 rpm, 1.32W fan, which was too inefficient , because PSU casing started to feel really warm.
Old Nexus 350W PSU had a perfect fan for this application:
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6849/fromnexusch0.jpg
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9540/yateloonyr7.jpg
It is a Yate Loon D12SM-12. Very pleasant tone at 12V, though somewhat noisy, but not a turbine like OCZs original fan.
I just cut the wires and connected red and black.
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/5648/connectredandblackov1.jpg
That yellow wire is for Fan leds , it supplies 12V from rail 3.
PSU can adjust the quieter fan now as it wishes, and it doesn't drive me nuts. From the back of the PSU I can feel as much of air flow than with the original fan, so performance shouldn't suffer. I put that Cooltek to Nexus350W. In there it should provide enough flow for those bigger heatsinks (on a ½ power PSU!) I should report after sometime if this OCZ PSU still works. I guess it will last as long as with the original fan. At least I don't need to sell it now because it is quieter. Next I need to kill resonance from my case.
OCZ , I think you should make it clear for the customers that this model series, GameXstream , isn't meant to be silent. Or if I had different fan that there should be, just tell me :)
This is the final look:
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3610/finallookuj0.jpg
Specs of the PSU, pictures inside & PCB revision:
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2759/specskm3.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/4673/psuinsideshf4.jpg
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/2351/psurevisiontm2.jpg