P180 - Lower bay PSU install questions

[Fallengod]

Well I jumped on the bandwagon and splurged. I just got my new case..Yay....it only took 2 damn WEEKS from ebuyer.com. Dont EVER buy from them, even though they have the cheapest price. I do have a couple questions though.

How do the majority of people set up the lower bay area? Do you all remove that big a** fan?. This is my conflict. I have the Antec TruePower 550 v2.0. It has only 1 fan, which is located on bottom of PSU. No intake for air in back(In the rear where the cables come out at), only intake in front(facing out the back of case).

So I would sort of like input on how I position the PSU first off. So the fan is facing down or up? Up would mean the PSU is upside down. Does it even matter? Either way, the AIR has nowhere to go. Also, since there is no air vent in the back, is there even a reason to keep that bottom bay 120MM FAN in? Right now, I have taken it out and put all the big long cables I dont use through the fan hole and into the bottom HDbay. How do all you guys have it set up? Should I put the fan and have it blow at the back of the PSU even though there is no intake anyways? Or just keep it out and help keep a clean cable management in the upper area where the videocard/mobo is.

Thanks. Any info is helpful.

 

[JBDan]

Doesn't matter if the psu fan is up or down. I would just mount it which ever way suits your wire management the best (ie. where the cables exit the housing). It does have ample room to breath either way. I opted for a low speed, super quiet Nexus 120mmx25mm down there. I have a raptor down there and with the Nexus at ~650 rpm (7V) it keeps my psu from ramping up (even though I did a fan mod to it and it doesn't ramp up anyways..it keeps the psu very cool) and keeps my raptor at 30C. It is softmounted and is inaudible from 3 feet at this speed. The vents on the rear that surround the psu allow air, forced from the central mounted lower fan, to blow over all 4 sides of the psu. Excellent thermal control imo. Where are your HD's installed? This could be a deciding factor on your use of a lower fan. I'd try different setups (even though its a PITA) to see what will achieve your maximum noise/cooling potential you can get. With some time, you can still get a neat wire job w/ out utilizing the entire lower chamber as a "cable home." g-luck

 

[Fallengod]

Thanks for input. Yeah I havnt decided on the hds yet. I was thinking the upper hd bay though.

Well, see for me, its just going to be a slave drive and a backup data drive(which I keep powered off untill I need to backup data on it.)

My main drive, Raptor 74gb, I have in the 5.25" bay with the ANTEC hd cooler(It needs the 5.25 cdrom bay to fit). So 1 HD is at the very top. The hd cooler is basically a big heatsink and has 2 fans on the front which blow air over and under the hd. PIC HERE So its Blowing it back into the case, and to the top 2 fans which then pushs the warm air out.

I guess if I spent some time on the cabling I could get it cleaned up like others do and then could keep the bottom fan in. ALthough, With my PSU, the fan pushing air towards it in the lower bay, really wouldnt do much I dont think. Theres no vent for the air to push through. Its just hitting the solid back of my TP-II 550. Is that gonna do anything? See what I mean? Id rather just sprawl all the unused cables into the lower bay.

 

[JBDan]

I do see what you mean...I say try it w/out the fan..with no HD down there your psu fan will be solo and keep plenty cool imo.

 

[absj]

I have the antec tp2 480, I kept the 120mm fan in there to blow on the ps. There is space around my psu for air to vent through so I kept the 120mm fan on. And my psu fan is facing down, but theres space between it and the bottom of the case.

 

[AUTommyJ]

Since this is on-topic, I might as well ask here rather than in a new post... long time lurker, finally signed up for the Forums.

Starting a new build (see sig)... modempower, how did you remove the lower (Power Supply) fan on the p180? I want to swap it over to the other side to allow more room for cable management, but had some difficulty in removing the fan assmebly. I was afraid I would break it if I gave it too much force. Is there some sort of "super-secret" method to easily removing the fan?

Any help is appreciated...

 

[JBDan]

Get some good light to see what you are doing....Welcome to the forums AU by the way That fan cage pops out very easily...the big peice that sticks out...the part you can put your hand around/on...give it a slight push (as in "bend") and watch where the latches detach....its pretty simple....just play with it. G-Luck with your new build! You will not have a short supply of advice/knowledge on the P180 and its innards at AT.

 

[SGPSupraman]

My Seasonic install guide said to make sure the fan was pointed down. I have been into car stereo amplifiers for some time and if the amp is mounted upside down the heatsinks won't do there job and the pcb will absorb of the heat, and could cause premature failure.

just my $.02

BTW I love the P180 what a great case design, except I could mount my Hd's in the upper as the power connector on my 7800GTX got in the way of them

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: SGPSupraman
My Seasonic install guide said to make sure the fan was pointed down. I have been into car stereo amplifiers for some time and if the amp is mounted upside down the heatsinks won't do there job and the pcb will absorb of the heat, and could cause premature failure.

just my $.02

BTW I love the P180 what a great case design, except I could mount my Hd's in the upper as the power connector on my 7800GTX got in the way of them

Hello Superman......thats one of the issues with having fans that need to be iether pointed upwards or downwards.
Especially if the manual says oneway....
Personally Seasonic wouldn`t be telling you to point it downwards if there wasn`t such an issue.
I would follow the manual!!

Good Luck!!

 

[SGPSupraman]

Yoda, Absolutely, I followed the manual.

I was just added to the conversation.

Thanks,

Supraman

 

[Kaeishiwaza]

Uh, I have a SeaSonic too and it says to point the PSU down so that it faces the mobo chamber. This is so the hot air from the PSU can be pushed out the back instead of piling up at the top of the case. Needless to say, because the PSU is on the bottom in a P180 this wouldn't apply. In fact, you'd want to orient it upwards if you wanted it pointing towards the mobo chamber. I think even that point is trivial on the P180 because the PSU sits in its own chamber with its own ventilation inside a P180.

 

[nombrecinq]

So what's the verdict? Seasonic manual says point down, but the P180 case is backwards so do we point it up?

 

[mushpuppy]

It also can be a tight squeeze inside that p180, so my 2 cents is: install it however the psu will fit.