Hey folks, I'm thinking about modding the fans on my APW9 to silence them a bit. Just gonna add a resistor on the positive wire for each fan and monitor the temps. Should be simple, right? LOL. Here’s a pic for fun!
Modding APW9 Fans for Less Noise
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Sounds like a solid plan! The whining noise from those APW9 fans can be annoying. I just crank up my miner fans to 90% all the time to drown it out. But yeah, I'm curious if you’re trying to run the PSU fans at a lower speed.
If you get a chance, could you share a decibel level before and after your mod? Also, can you run the PSU separately for testing?
I didn't measure the size of the fans, but I reckon they’re around 40x40mm and likely spin at 10-12k RPM. Way louder than the APW3/APW7. It’s like having a 120mm fan on full blast! I need to fix this for sure. Gotta be careful though, this is my best machine!
Keep us posted on how it goes!
Random idea... What if I just open the PSU and remove the fans? Thinking of throwing in some quiet 140mm Arctic fans. Would that work? 🤔 Would the PSU still start without its fans?
Good question. I don't have one around to check. Stuck at home for now.
The APW9 has three connectors for the fans. Each fan only has two wires, so it doesn’t directly monitor the RPM. I think it just checks the current. If it senses no current, it goes into a safety shutdown. Can’t leave it open though; airflow would be messed up.
Leaving it open might help with immersion cooling, but you'd probably need to rotate the miner for better airflow. With three wires, it usually means it gets RPM feedback but no speed control. Let’s hope it’s just using that third wire to monitor temperature.
Any chance you got a pic of the label on the vents? Would love to look up their specs like CFM and RPM online.