# PSU mounting... top or bottom?



## hat (Jul 8, 2010)

A lot of cases these days have the PSU at the bottom of the case, not the top where they normally go. What's the main reasoning behind this? Where would you put unused cables? I normally put my cables on top of the optical drive, but with a case that mounts the PSU on the bottom, I can't think of where the cables would go outside of just being there on the case floor...


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## sneekypeet (Jul 8, 2010)

IF you dont have a ton of hard drives, I always stuff em in the HDD bays on the floor or behind the rack of drives. Zipties and patience will get a clean looking finished product


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## Fourstaff (Jul 8, 2010)

I like PSU being on the bottom: you can exhaust your cpu heat upwards, the wires does hang down and for some reason it makes me feel a bit better to see the PSU being on the bottom. Maybe its something to do with the heavy PSU resting on solid ground rather than supported by a few screws. And you can leave the cable lying on the floor of the casing, rather than trying to stuff them into the 5.25 bays.


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## shevanel (Jul 8, 2010)

My cpu is always around 3-5- or sometimes 10 c cooler when mounted at the top depending on the cpu hsf style.

My gpu is always warmer when the psu is mounted at the bottom. Luckily the case I have now doesnt have a top or bottom.. and it really keeps the heat down with how my airflow is setup

5830 and 720be at 1.4v but yeah the cpu downclock to low volts which helps but i have yet to take this cpu to 60c even with ITB even on stock cooling at 3.6ghz and the temp low/hi is from 22 hour uptime with alot of gaming plus a second monitor enabled... with only one monitor my gpu idles around 33c


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## sneekypeet (Jul 8, 2010)

shevanel said:


> My cpu is always around 3-5- or sometimes 10 c cooler when mounted at the top depending on the cpu hsf style.
> 
> My gpu is always warmer when the psu is mounted at the bottom.



I concur, but with a lot of cases, a top mounted PSU could cause issues with larger air coolers. Something else to think about. Running an extra amount of heat into the PSU "could" make it less efficient to run than if it was sucking cold air in from underneath the case.


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## shevanel (Jul 8, 2010)

That is true too. Gotta love variation.


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## sneekypeet (Jul 8, 2010)

I cant say for certain one is better than the other, its really dependant on the layout of the interior, or if the rear door has enough room behind it to stash wires. Otherwise the bottom mounted PSU is a lot harder to make look clean,this is where modulars come into play in my book


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## Animalpak (Jul 8, 2010)

The stacker 831 has vented top and you can you can mount the PSU with the fan on top and always have the psu up in the case.


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## erixx (Jul 8, 2010)

Correct me if I am wrong, but modular PSU are 10 euro more than non modular.... 
So why go non modular?

(AND you can also cut (and isolate properly) all those useless IDE and floppy cables   )


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## scaminatrix (Jul 8, 2010)

I've always had a thing about wanting to see fans spinning. The "upside-down" cases where you can see GFX card fan + PSU fan spinning are perfect for someone like me.
Admit it. How many of us have touched the center of a fan we can't see to check if it's spinning?
I think it also came from people wanting to see their PSU fan lights, and also from people just wanting to be different!
I am a supporter of the PSU-at-the-bottom case and the upside-down case (modded one of my own and it's much better for temps than the original.)


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## shevanel (Jul 8, 2010)

I guess you could say my PSU is "top mounted" LOL but My case sits in horizontally so all the heat that would naturally rise across each piece of hardware in a vertical tower just rises to the case top with no hardware between it or my fans just pull the heat out.. 

No matter what, everytime I open my case I never feel any warm air... the constant flow from front to back keeps my temps down and there isnt any hardware vertically to really cause any pockets to trap heat. This case, believe it or not, even ran my hardware cooler than the HAF 932 did and I've used this case with multiple platforms.


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## erixx (Jul 9, 2010)

Sweet case Shevanel!

100% aluminium us good for cooling. If you would heavy OC maybe you would need more incoming air, just guessing.


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## 1nf3rn0x (Jul 9, 2010)

My psu sits at the top, though I have a high perf 140mm fan pushing all the hot air from my psu out of the case, so there's really no problem.


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## Melvis (Jul 9, 2010)

At the top for the win 

Better cooling that way i think, and easy for cable management.


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## Crackshot-Killer (Jul 12, 2010)

At the bottom, lower centre of gravity and the fact I haven't got a large PSU above my hardware gives me a bit more peace of mind, and of-course the PSU is able to such in cooler air from underneath the case which is a huge plus.


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## erixx (Jul 13, 2010)

PC set on the floor, with a bottom PSU, I can't imagine the amount of dust that will be 'suched in' (C)crackshot-killer).
If you have an air filter, you will have to clean it every 2 days.

On the desk, a bottom PSU will come in handy to 'such in' all kind of food, hairs, mosquito corpora,... 

I have a garden and a dog, maybe I am biased


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## El_Mayo (Jul 13, 2010)

scaminatrix said:


> I am a supporter of the PSU-at-the-bottom case and the upside-down case (modded one of my own and it's much better for temps than the original.)



What do you mean by upside down case?
Someone link me to an example please


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## francis511 (Jul 13, 2010)

El_Mayo said:


> What do you mean by upside down case?
> Someone link me to an example please



You mean like the silverstone raven ? Sometimes top-mounted psus can be a pain to remove.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/raven/products/index.php?area=usa&model=RV02


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## de.das.dude (Jul 13, 2010)

PSU at the bottom is good, this keeps the PSU sucking in the cooler ambient air and not the already hot air which is resting at the top.

though, it not a problem for top mounted PSU if you can find a place to pump in the air from the outside.


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## ebolamonkey3 (Jul 13, 2010)

El_Mayo said:


> What do you mean by upside down case?
> Someone link me to an example please



Probably means a case where the motherboard is placed upside down, where the CPU is at the bottom and the video cards are on top, like the Lian Li A05N.


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## de.das.dude (Jul 13, 2010)

^ or a case simply turned upside down


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## scaminatrix (Jul 13, 2010)

This is my first one, the experiment. Found a few problems turning things upside down.
My 2nd one is much better, sprayed interior black, etc.


http://img.techpowerup.org/100713/IN ORDER (34).jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/100713/IN ORDER (37).jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/100713/IN ORDER (49).jpg


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## _33 (Jul 13, 2010)

I had my doubts until I bought a case with the PSU in the bottom.  I think it's a great idea and works great for many reasons, which I could explain.  First it is much more logical to have the power cable in the bottom than hanging from the top.  Second the PSU takes in cool air from under the case instead of hot air from the CPU.  Next there is much more room for cables in the bottom than on top when it is squeezed in besides the 5 1/4 inch rack.  Next with cable management holes around the motherboard, the setup can still look elegant.  It is more and more accepted in the industry to have the PSU in the bottom for these reasons and others.


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## erocker (Jul 13, 2010)

Top or bottom doesn't make any difference. The configuration of the case does.


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## sneekypeet (Jul 13, 2010)

erocker said:


> Top or bottom doesn't make any difference. The configuration of the case does.



The Raven is a good example


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## scaminatrix (Jul 13, 2010)

One of my friends doesn't want his PSU at the bottom as his case is on the floor and his non-modular PSU wouldn't look as neat in his situation. It's only a browsing PC so no heat worries.
I can see why there's many different opinions on the matter.


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