Hi all, a question popped up in my head today connected with the PSU fan grill. I was wondering, since a large number of cases has the PSU bottom mounted facing the floor, do a PSU need a grill? Will it be quieter or cooler without it? Put the warranty issue away for a second. I ask hypothetically. I searched the Net, but no consistent results showed up. It's like one of those topics for example: how to install thermal probes from a fan controller (there is no recent and decent guide for this one). But my point is, is it possible that manufacturers release a PSU without a fan grill? What do you think about it?
I never thought about it before. I must have an old school tower - my PSU is at the top back. I can see why they wouldn't ship one without a grill (lawsuits), but at the same time, I'm seriously considering removing mine - no kids, and neither the wife nor I will be putting our fingers in there. Seems like it would make it a little quieter while improving airflow? Mine has a honeycomb perforated piece of metal, not the concentric-ringed grill.
The lawsuits is something I didn't think of. -fact I will try with mine off for a while. Some PSUs need the "thickness" of the grill to fill in the gap and tighten the fan to the casing, but I have spare silicon HDD-mounts that I will put in to replace it. Some users say the effect for airflow is insignificant (like 1-2CFM) and some say it reduces the noise quite a bit.
It is an object which is interfering with the air that is being sucked into the PSU, so it does have an effect on airflow. However, since PSU don't require massive amounts of air i don't think that you will notice a big difference (if any at all). I believe it is Enermax which has made some PSU's with round edges at the intake, which reduces noise by 2 db... but don't hang me up on it!
removing the rough edges in the fan grill would reduce the noise as much as removing the fan grill would. If you have the ring style fan grill, it's not really worth removing because it doesn't block enough air nor does it increase air turbulance enough to increase noise. The grate style that are stamped into most cases both decrease air (drastically in some cases) and increase air turbulance by a measurable amount. Air Turbulance in a PC case is no different than air turbulance for an airplane.....in either case, it's a bad thing.