Enermax PSU (auto adjust to manual adjust?)

[JuicyFruit]

I have one of those 431W Enermaxs that auto adjust the speed of the fan. When deciding between the manual or auto, I was thinking "I won't be manually setting it because the auto will keep it nice and cool."

Needless to say, I was wrong. My friend has the manual version of my PSU and he sets his at around 3k while mine is pretty much constantly at 1600rpm. It never goes above 2k. This is making my cpu temp idle at 32 instead of 28. Before swapping out my old PSU, that was my idle temp.

I have a P4 2.53 @ 3Ghz and I've heard that over time, too much heat will wreck the "gates." Do you guys think that these 4 degrees will drastically reduce my CPU's life?

Another thing, is it possible to install any software that will control the speed of the fan? I have an Asus P4B533-E. If need be, I would consider doing something to the powersupply itself to get the fan speed up.

Thanks in advance

 

[Bovinicus]

It's not big deal. It just depends whether you value noise or better cooling more. 4 degrees is not going to drastically reduce the life of your CPU, but it might hinder your ability to OC just a tad. Also, that temparature you are getting is pretty good. I am guessing you have an aftermarket heatsink. This will cancel out the additional heat gained from OCing and the PSU.

I don't know of any software control of PSU fans, especially not ones that allow the "overclocking" of fans. I wouldn't really worry about it. If you want to reduce your case temps you should get a dremel and add a blowhole on the top or a side intake fan.

 

[JuicyFruit]

Crap. Forgot to mention that I have an Alpha PAL8942 with a YS-Tech adjustable fan. I feel like my computer is plenty loud already. I've done as much as I can to reduce the noise but I've pretty much just learned to live with it.

If I can get the psu fan to go faster, it'll draw the heat off my cpu even better and thus cool it more. I've heard that the Enermax fan at full speed is monstrous but I can't even get it past 1600rpms.

I was looking though the forums and stumbled upon speedfan. Installed it but can't seem to change the speed of my psu fan. Maybe it has some incompatibility issues with Asus mobos?

 

[NOX]

I had an Enermax EG365P-VE FCA with the adjustable fan. I would always turn in up when playing games, and turn it down when I was not.

4 degress is not much, overclocking no matter what speed or temp will reduce CPU life. However, not where it would really matter unless you plan on using the same CPU for 3+ years. Most people here will upgrade after a year, some maybe two, but it is rare to see someone use the same CPU for 3 or more years.

 

[JuicyFruit]

So basically there's no way to turn the the auto adjusting fan so it's manual. I'd still like to see it spin at least 3k rpms though.

 

[Goi]

I have the same PSU, which is the EG-465P-VE(FMA), and there's this 2-lead B&W cable running from the CPU that I believe does fan/temp monitoring/adjustment or something like that. There's also a knob at the back to manually adjust the fan speed, which I use. I don't know where to plug the lead in though, don't think my motherboard(GA-8PE667) supports it...

 

[Jhhnn]

If you have soldering skills and equipment, you can make the fan speed adjustable.

Unplug the power cord, push the power button to discharge the capacitors in the psu. Remove the psu from the case, open it up. There may be some residual charge in the unit, so avoid being well-grounded. Locate the toroidal chokes on the board, they look like a little wire-wound donut. There are two yellow wires leading to a heatshrink covered thermistor that's ty-rapped to one of the chokes. If you replace it with a linear taper 47K potentiometer on wires extended out of the box, you'll have full manual control. If you wire the potentiometer in parallel with the thermistor, you'll have semi-automatic control to increase fan speed above what the thermistor would normally provide....

It's a lot of effort for a few degrees. The issue with p4's and overclocking apparently isn't so much about heat as about increased voltage. The die shrink makes the gates etc much thinner and more susceptible to breakdown over time from increased voltage.... or so the theory goes, seems to make sense.

 

[JuicyFruit]

Wow, that seems like A LOT of work, for a few degrees as you had put it.

I'm bummed now and wish I had gotten the manual from the beginning.

At least I'll be swapping my Abit GF4 Ti4200 for a Gainward one. I have the itch to upgrade something We all can relate to that, right?

 

[JuicyFruit]

How about this? Would this be able to MAKE the psu fan go faster?

Yups, still looking to cool my cpu a little

 

[JuicyFruit]

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