I've just bought and fitted a new Power Supply Unit to my PC after the old one developed some sort of power cord connection problem, i.e. every time I moved my tower the PSU would cut power to the PC, it'd take several attempts at unplugging/plugging in the power cord to get the PSU to work again. I'm assuming the problem was with the socket for the cable on the back of the PSU because there was more "flexing" on the casing than in another other PSU unit I've ever owned before when inserting the power cable.

So before the old PSU could do any permanent damage I've replaced it with an Aerocool Integrator Mod XT 750W PSU.

I've never used an Aerocool PSU before but the price was right and it has all the connectivity I require, however I am somewhat alarmed that when I power up my PC the fan within the PSU is not turning and for the life of me I can't find any information online about this PSU to re-assure me that this behaviour is normal, or if I should return the unit as faulty...

The only information I've been able to find is the marketing blurb that states the PSU has something called "Smart speed control":

The official Aerocool website appears to be the following but I'm not entirely sure as my PSU isn't listed on either it's product page or the discontinued page link (found at very bottom of the page): http://www.aerocool.com.tw/en/

I've emailed their Tech Support for clarification if it's normal for the PSU fan to stop turning when it's not under load/strain but I've no idea how long it'll take to get a reply, nor indeed if I'm emailing the right people which is why I thought I'd ask the question here...

I've never owned nor known of a PSU where it's cooling fan stops turning altogether, is it normal behaviour for this PSU fan to not turn or could my unit be faulty?... I'm reluctant to stress my pc in case it overheats and blows the PSU and I damage the motherboard.

Right now all I'm doing is some simple browsing and I'm not feeling any heat on the tower or on the back of the PSU so this may be normal but I just don't know.

On a positive note, the fan is certainly silent, it would be if it's not turning

I can't answer for your specific power supply but my 900 watt Antec will not spin the fan unless there is a load such as playing a game. In my case the power supply is really overkill for what the system actually needs and there just is not enough heat normally generated for the fan to be needed. Also the dual fans on my video card point directly on the power supply so there is always some airflow.

I doubt that you have an issue but there is only one way to be sure and that is putting the system under load to see if the fan comes on. It is most likely that the thermal fan control is just detecting that the fan is not needed but that cannot be proven until tested... For the record my power supply also has thermal fan control and it does spin up the fan when the system is under load but not at idle or just a light load such as browsing.

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Thanks Jay, it's assuring to know at least that some modern PSU's have some form of inbuilt fan speed control, I didn't know that which is why alarm bells rang in my head when I powered up the pc for the first time and the fan did nothing.

Had the fan spun up on powering on the pc and quickly dropped back to idle I wouldn't have been concerned [having seen the marketing blurb], it was the fact it did nothing and still hasn't that has me concerned.

I'm not what you could call a 'gamer' so I likely rarely stress my pc to its limits... my windows experience index rates my CPU and RAM at 7.6, HDD 7.9, graphics are rated at 6.6 respectively.
Not scientific I know but for what I use my pc for the graphics are more than enough and as such I'm in no hurry to upgrade the card, it also probably explains why I'm always 'behind the curve' when it comes to buying "newer" hardware

If Aerocool Tech Support don't reply to my email within the next 24 hours i'll 'stress test' my pc to see what happens, but on the basis of your Antec PSU experience you're probably correct and I don't need to worry (if it blows up my motherboard though we'll be talking again very soon! LOL)

Thanks.

Actually that is always the issue in a case like this. I doubt that an actual fan issue would blow your motherboard but anything is possible. If the power supply is of any decent quality it should blow itself if there is an over-temp and nothing else but I have no knowledge of the manufacturer of yours. For instance, when I blew my Ultra 550 watt supply, nothing but the supply was affected.

By any chance did your power supply come with a CD? If so it just may contain software that you can install that allows the setting of what temperatures trigger a reaction. I doubt that there is such a CD but you never know. It would be like your motherboard software (often in the BIOS) that allows you to control temperature settings as to system shutdown due to over-temp..

Don't freak out or anything over this post. I just think it only fair to point out everything I can think of in this type of situation.

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I got a reply back from their Tech Support and my fears are confirmed, the PSU fan should indeed be spinning on powering on:

On a positive note at least I bought the PSU direct from Amazon so the turnaround for a replacement should be relatively quick and painless.

The only documentation that came with it was a safety reminder leaflet, I had chuckle when I read "DO NOT insert finger into the fan to avoid injury.", you'd have to be incredibly dumb to do that but I guess someone must have for it to be listed

Like you I've also had a fair few PSU's fail over the years and they've never damaged anything else, but as you said, anything is possible. I have read of instances where they have damaged motherboards so I'm always fairly cautious to make sure they at least appear to be working as they should when I install a replacement.

I guess I'll be putting the old one back in today, at least I won't have to make it look pretty if i'll be taking it apart again in a few days

To close this off...

I filled in the 'request return' page on the Amazon website on Monday Evening and chose for them to send me a replacement instead of a refund, less than 24 hours later (damn, I love Amazon Prime!) and I had the replacement installed.

Based on the marketing speak of "thermal fan speed control" this unit behaved just like (my) logic thought it should, I pressed the power button on the tower and the fan spun up at full speed and quickly dropped back to a slower speed.

Glad that you are happy with your results.

LOL! I'm still not going to get concerned about mine not spinning up to speed. Actually it DOES 'twitch' a bit on powerup but will not even actually spin unless the system is doing something. Different brands, different ways of doing things.

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