Old AT power supply, do is it need a fan???

[Dat]

Hi, i have an old pentium 120 machine running linux, it has a AT power supply and in my attempts to make the machine quiet i have now passive cooled the CPU and installed a silent drive and know am working on making the PSU silent.

The PSU had a 80mm fan in it (cant remember the make) that i 7v modded and the PSU doesnt even seem to get hot at all! the air out the back of the PSU is ALWAYS cold, and i wondered if it was safe to run without a fan?

Does anyone have any experience with this? and/or any tips?

Thanks in advance,

Dat

[sirtoby]

If you want to risk burning up your computer (and whatever is close to it) then by all means..

I would never take the fan out of my PSU. Because they put the fan there for a reason. I'd just switch to a more quiet fan, but removing it entirely would not be recommended.

At least I would not want to leave a computer on at home knowing that it might burn up..? However, if you feel comfortable doing so.. then go ahead.

I'd personally recommend getting a quiet Papst or Panaflo fan and put it there.. okay, they have lower cfm which is not recommended either, but at least you get some airflow on it while you basically won't be able to hear it running

[Avatar28]

Well you'll note he already said that he 7v modded the fan that's in there. He could probably get something like a 20cfm vantec stealth fan and be fine. If 19dB is still too loud, then get the 12 dB papst fan. It's not much airflow, but hopefully will be enough.

[Dat]

I understand they put the fan there for a reason, but i wondered seeing as there is hardly any load on the on PSU (see below) that it may be ok without a fan, what will physically happen if the PSU burns up?

Thanks for your reply's, and in advance,

Dat

Current quiet system specs:

Old Gigabyte Mobo (ATX & AT, DRAM & SDRAM compatible)
Socket 7 P166 MMX (2.8v) running at 120mhz at 2v with AMD retail HS for 2100XP/no fan
2 x realtek ethernet PCI cards
3GB 5400 rpm HD
SB16 Value ISA sound card
PCI Matrox GFX Card
and i think a 235w AT PSU (cant remember exact output) with 7v modded fan.

[Avatar28]

It will just overheat and probably die. It COULD blow up. Had one that did. Thankfully it didn't take up my board in the process. When it blew, I heard several loud pops and the computer shut down (and smelled like burnt components).

[Dat]

ok, thanks for all your help

I think i will leave the fan in in that case, maybe i will buy a super quiet fan instead, and recommendations?

Im in the UK btw.

Thanks,

Dat