Installing the PSU, which way is up?

JohnJSal

JohnJSal

Active Member
I'm asking, but I've already done this last night and it was a pain to get it in there. Hopefully I won't need to change it.

Anyway, I'm using the P182. Does it matter which way the PSU goes in? I put it with the fan facing down, because I figured if it faced up that would cause the upper area of the case to get warmer.

The instructions (for the case) say it can be installed either way, but I didn't know if there was a more practical, cooling-oriented solution. I've seen pictures of it both ways.

Thanks.
 
Usually the mounting holes only line up one way.

The fan is usually facing down, so as to suck air in from the case and out the back.
 
munkyeetr said:
Usually the mounting holes only line up one way.

The fan is usually facing down, so as to suck air in from the case and out the back.
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Hmm, I didn't try it the other way, but the holes lined up perfectly the way I did it. I put it in right-side up, so you can read the writing normally. I usually see them upside-down and wasn't sure if that's the proper way.

But in either case there would be an equal amount of space between the fan and the top of the lower chamber, or between the fan and the bottom of the case. And there's a case fan right next to it that blows air on it, so I figured especially in this situation it didn't matter.

EDIT: I just realized you are probably thinking of the PSU being at the top of the case. In the P182, it goes on the bottom.

EDIT2: I also just realized, based on your comment, that this fan is an intake fan, not exhaust. In that case, it probably doesn't matter which way it goes in.
 
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Yeah, the holes line up in either direction. Since it's mounted on the bottom, I'd say face the fan upright for intaking the air and providing the interior of the PSU with better cooling.
 
mep916 said:
Yeah, the holes line up in either direction. Since it's mounted on the bottom, I'd say face the fan upright for intaking the air and providing the interior of the PSU with better cooling.
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::sigh:: That's what I was thinking too. For some reason I thought that was an exhaust fan, so I faced it down for exactly the same type of reason. But now that I know it's an intake fan, it makes sense to face it up.

The only thing is, the bottom of the case is closed off from the top of the case, so I'm not sure how much good it would do to have the fan facing up anyway. The thought of taking it out and putting it back in is not enticing, because I spent forever trying to get the retaining cage (a feature of the P182) screwed back into the case.

EDIT: Here's a picture of someone else's case: http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff118/Indysailor/ANTEC P182/P1010018.jpg

They put it in with the fan facing down as well. I'm wondering if facing up would really help, given how the lower chamber is separated by that middle "shelf".
 
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You know, either way, it probably doesn't matter too much. Get the rest of your rig built and worry about that later. :D
 
It doesn't reallly matter. There isn't much room on the top or bottom of the PSU. My PSU is faced downward, but that's just personal preference.
 
diduknowthat said:
It doesn't reallly matter. There isn't much room on the top or bottom of the PSU. My PSU is faced downward, but that's just personal preference.
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Thanks. I've decided to leave it as it is and stop being so anal. It really did take me quite a while to get one side of that retaining cage in, and it would be stupid to do it all over again tonight.

Probably it only really matters if the PSU goes at the top, in which case you'd want the fan facing down since it would act more like a rear case fan. In the P180/182, it seems to be less for cooling and more for just supplying power (although it still cools the bottom, obviously).
 
nffc10 said:
The way i remember to place my PSU is that the cables come out closest to the motherboard Tray.;)
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Heh, yeah. Before I started plugging the cables into the PSU, I figured out where they needed to go and put them in a certain order, based on their length.

OCD anyone? :)
 
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