Bottom Mounted Power supplies?

[ToonMarshy 2]

Hey Duders just looking for a bit of advice regards to my next pc build - It wont be finished til next month (damn home family and bill responsibilities) - however i now have everything in my possession except the Motherboard and Processor.

 

HOWEVER!!!

 

During this current excursion I have encountered something i have not yet come across in my time building pcs, The case wants me to mount the Power supply in the bottom of the case.

This in itself is not an issue - theres a good amount of room and the modular PSU i ordered will scale to where it needs to be! however i am tripping up on one little thing which in itself is probably nothing, but hey i'm paranoid.

 

So the case has a vent and filter along the base of it - presumably to aid and keep the PSU nice and ventilated/ shiny - image taken from horrible iphone 3gs incoming.

 

 

 

For reference the 'vent' is the bottom left of the picture - white fan is the top

 

This is all well and good, and can do nothing but aid my "Lets not melt the expensive shiny things" cause - or can it?!

Heres where you come in!

I don't know which way 'up' to install the psu, when it's bottom mounted.

 

So it's probably a no brainer, and disclaimer up front, i already have a fair idea which of these is the correct 'position' but a cross reference can't do any harm!

 

Being as it is bottom mounted, I don't know whether the 'this way up' labeling still applies or even was taken into consideration for top AND bottom - The power supply itself has a big ass fan on it, and my thinking is that should be installed facing downwards into the vent? leaving this side of the supply (horrible pic 2)

 

 

 

facing the top of the case, and therefore, the rest of the components.

 

The alternative way of course being leaving the aforementioned side facing down into the vent, and having the fan facing inwards, like so.

 

 

 

 

So yeah, just wondering if anyone has any advice with regards to psu's being mounted in such a way, and the 'correct' method of doing so could help a brother out before i do something stupid

 

Cheers in advance!

[Gemmill 44780]

Ant'll sort you out.

[Christmas Tree 4725]

Enters and leaves, very quickly

[Kevin 1]

Ant'll sort you out.

 

 

Enters and leaves, very quickly

[Besty 4]

Buy a normal case is my advice... (I don't know the answer)

[ToonMarshy 2]

Wow! thanks for the quick replies fellas (actually serious there, not being a sarcastic bell xD)

Got dragged into watching a naff tv show with the missus and wasnt expecting any replies when i got back!

 

Apologies if this is a random place to throw a question like that out there, but from console firmwares to mobile flashing - i've seen random bits of tech knowledge being thrown around by you lads and figured it was worth a crack

 

@ANt - So basically, i should mount it with the fan facing out the bottom of the case and job's a good 'un? guess as you say - an intake fan would bring in the cool from the outside - and an outward fan would basically exhale everything away from my shiny expensives.

 

The CPU i'll be bringing in (i7, 950) will have a big 'ol cooler on top (with fan obviously) - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/prolimatech...-1366-(fanless)

 

and the (ancient) 8800 im running currently has its own fan.

 

The case itself also has 5 fans in currently, and room for more should it require - so hopefully i can just plant it face down and the air flow will handle itself.

Though running hwmonitor for the first few days to make sure nothings melting cant hurt either

 

Alas the case is not a Corsair (Ram, psu all are however, love corsair products) and in fact there's a stupid story behind the case, it's actually of a brand i've never really heard of - an 'NZXT Lexa'

 

I did have my eye on an Antec - either the 900 or higher mainly because heating issues are a prime concern in my current build - however the one compromise have to make whenever i spend a ludicrous amount on a new build is that the Mrs gets a say in what the case is - purely based on its aesthetics and all

 

To be fair, despite the fact its got the general 'oh looks like a stealth plane isnt it AWESOME' stereotypical bullshit, it seems alright feature wise :_

 

• Fan control: Determine noise and airflow based on your needs, dual intakes and dual exhausts are controlled independently

• Night light: An ambient light over the 5.25" drives give visibility in dark rooms and at LAN parties

• Black on Black: Smoked clear window and a black interior give the best combination of black on black.

• Meshed front panel allows for more airflow

• 5.25" Stealth bay to keep a clean look

• NZXT Solid State bracket allows for two SSD drives to be installed

• Wire Routing: Motherboard punched holes allows for quick CPU bracket removable and optimal wire routing.

• Turned HDD also helps with providing a cleaner look.

• Pre-drilled water cooling holes on the backplate

• High end graphics card support, extra space is especially designed to fit longer 10.5" cards

• Side mounted USB, Audio, and E-SATA ports

• Mounting holes for dual radiator at the top

• Removable filter at the bottom PSU

 

But yeah, definitely not first choice - as long as it keeps all the internals in and doesnt melt though, i guess thats damage control - god knows why i decided to agree on letting the lady decide on the case though.

 

One final question if i may mate - The one component im not replacing any time soon 9though i will do eventually) is getting myself a new gfx card - im still rolling with a 8800gts 320 which is getting a bit ancient now - I notice in your screencap you have a Radeon 4870 in there if im not mistaken?

 

I have no idea how current ATi video cards are held in comparison to Nvidia counterparts (never owned a radeon) however am open to getting any card offering good bang for the buck, apologies if it's outside of your comfort area but do you have any input on current Ati's or suitable video cards in general?

 

 

Cheers for the advice again

[ToonMarshy 2]

 

I hear you on the hardware front - it was just my luck on the day i was considering which processor to get next month that intel decided to throw out the sandybridge chip. To be honest despite the GPU/CPU deal they got going on with it i'm still a little cautious about becoming an early adopter, especially with the fact they've dropped the pin count and basically rendered any compatibility completely impossible.

Reckon i'll still roll for a bloomfield i7 for now and see how it pans out over the next couple of years.

 

With any luck the appearance of these sandy bridges might drive down video and cpu prices by the end of the month - might even go nuts and throw out for a hex-core.

 

And you are a brave brave man for water cooling, i have several mates who swear by it but i just can't bring myself to willingly have it running through my pc, especially with the kind of luck i normally have!

 

Once again though, thank you for the advice matey!