Corsair SF 80+ Platinum Fan Mod/Swap

Sazexa

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Original poster
Jan 22, 2020
136
168
I've seen plenty of fan swaps on Corsair 80+ Gold units. There's easy to find adapters for that. I have a SF600 80+ Platinum, and just wanted to give a head's up that the internal connector is different. I hadn't seen anyone do this mod on a 80+ Platinum unit so, I figured I'd throw it out there and maybe help someone save a quick $10 so they don't have to accidentally order two adapters like I did. I'm pretty sure the regular 80+ Gold units use just a 3-pin Mini-GPU (with only two wires) to 3-pin normal size fan connector.

The 80+ Platinum uses a 4-wire PWM fan. I was able to find a 4-pin mini-GPU fan head to regular 4-pin PWM fan header adapter, and put it in the power supply. The PSU has the female end, with the pins on it, the fan has the male end that plugs into it. I then put in a Noctua NF-A9x14 HS Chromax fan, and left the grill removed from the unit. It's inside a case anyways, a grill is a little unnecessary and it will help keep noise down if the fan decides to ramp up.The adapter cable itself was about four inches long, and the cable on the fan was pretty long, but I found a good way to loop it around so that it wouldn't really block any airflow or be close to any circuitry components. The decorative sleeving on the wires shouldn't be conductive, but, I wasn't going to chance it on the inside of the PSU lol

Here's some pictures, you can kind of see the route I did for the cables and the cable adapter itself.









INFORMATION ON CORSAIR SF POWER SUPPLY RECALLS:
I'm amending the original post to include some information about Corsair SF PSU's, since there is a recall on some of them. It might make getting your unit replaced under a recall difficult if you mod it first, so, here's a heads-up on the scoop.

There is currently a recall on some Corsair SF-line power supplies. It's mostly in markets outside of North America it seems, but it seems some PSU's may "brick" them selves under certain conditions.

The recall is for power supplies produced between 8/19 and 3/20, which are units that fall between serial numbers 194448xx, and up to 201148xx. My unit is a 1943xxxx, so fortunately my specific unit is not in need of replacement.

You can learn more at the following link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/15829/corsair-sf-series-psu-recall

UPDATE: Fan header re-pinning required!
Thanks to user "NRG," he's brought something to my attention I did not initially discover. I didn't initially have a system to test this but I overlooked something I should have noticed at first; fan header lay-out. The layout between the Corsair NR092L and typical fan headers are a bit different. So, some de-pinning and replacing of the header on your Noctua fan is required. It's relatively easy as well, so let's show you what you need to do.

Consider the adapter as just a jumper, this is what the wiring looks like between the two headers. So basically we need to move the wires around on the regular fan header.

Noctua NF-A9x14HS with header face-up:
Black - Yellow - Green - Blue

Corsair NR092L with header face-up:
Yellow - Blue - Black - Green


Basically, you just need to swap the wires on your Noctua fan's header so they line up color for color with the Corsair header, as long as the headers are in the same orientation as this image. So, if labelling the headers on the Noctua fan as Black - Yellow - Green - Blue, we can change that to 1 2 3 4 for simplicity sake. We need to change the number orientation as follows:

Originally: 1
2 3 4
Re-pinned: 2 4 1 3

It's a bit difficult to visualize it give that the Chromax Black version of the Noctua NF-A9x14HS has all black wiring under the sleeving and from the fan hub. Looking at the back of the noctua fan (as well as three other regular PWM Noctua fans) I've concluded that they're always layed out the same way, off the motor hub to the header as the 1 2 3 4 lay-out, in a ribbon cable that makes it easy to follow and track each wire. I skinned the sleeve off of the wire, to make sure I can trace it properly when re-pinning.


Lastly, how to actually remove the pins from the header. It's quite simple. You take a small fine pointed tool like tweezers or a screw driver, and push on the side of the connector opening slot towards the wires. Then you can gently pull the wire out of the connector with the metal attached. If it's not coming out easy, you aren't pushing down hard enough. It takes a little getting use to the first few times you've done it, and it can be easy to damage, so just be gentle and slowly add force if need be. After removing, make sure you insert into the new slow on the header the correct way (with the curled side facing the slotted side of the header.) otherwise it won't bite correctly. Give the wire a little tug, make sure it's seated. It may take an attempt or two, or you may need to push the wire in from the back side with your device you're using to take the header out to really push it all the way in. Do so carefully as not to cut wiring insulation or break the wire. Once all that is done, and your fan is installed, you fan should spin up once it's under the correct heat or wattage load.


 
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teenyweeny

Efficiency Noob
Dec 30, 2019
6
2
I thought these were supposed to be pretty quiet on their own? If you're going to do a fan swap why not just get a cheaper PSU, like a Silverstone?
 
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Sazexa

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Original poster
Jan 22, 2020
136
168
I thought these were supposed to be pretty quiet on their own? If you're going to do a fan swap why not just get a cheaper PSU, like a Silverstone?
The Noctua fan will move more air and remain a small bit quieter. Truth be told if was more of a visual mod than a performance one. It's going into a sandwich style case where the PSU is next to the motherboard. I'll have both fan surfaces visible from the same angle in the PSU and on my CPU cooler. So, I want them to match.

I wanted the efficiency, and smaller size of a true SFX unit. So a little mod never hurt. Plus this unit has a seven year warranty.
 

smitty2k1

King of Cable Management
Dec 3, 2016
967
492
Nice photos and write-up, thanks for sharing.

For some reason I thought these PSUs used 80mm fans (at least a Silverstone I did a fan mod back in the day on used one).

That Noctua is a 92mm fan, right?
 
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VegetableStu

Shrink Ray Wielder
Aug 18, 2016
1,949
2,619
The 80+ Platinum uses a 4-wire PWM fan. I was able to find a 4-pin mini-GPU fan head to regular 4-pin PWM fan header adapter, and put it in the power supply. The PSU has the female end, with the pins on it, the fan has the male end that plugs into it. I then put in a Noctua NF-A9x14 HS Chromax fan, and left the grill removed from the unit. It's inside a case anyways, a grill is a little unnecessary and it will help keep noise down if the fan decides to ramp up.The adapter cable itself was about four inches long, and the cable on the fan was pretty long, but I found a good way to loop it around so that it wouldn't really block any airflow or be close to any circuitry components. The decorative sleeving on the wires shouldn't be conductive, but, I wasn't going to chance it on the inside of the PSU lol

okay, that scores major brownie points to my next PSU choice O_O
 
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Sazexa

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Original poster
Jan 22, 2020
136
168
I don't know if they'll honour the warranty now that you've modded it.
I believe in the US as long as I haven't physically irreversibly modified or damaged a component, that law about opening it up was ruled unneforcable.

Nice photos and write-up, thanks for sharing.

For some reason I thought these PSUs used 80mm fans (at least a Silverstone I did a fan mod back in the day on used one).

That Noctua is a 92mm fan, right?
Thanks for the kind words! I can post a few more photos when I get home, less pretty ones from my phone for documentation purposes. I believe some of Silverstone's SFX units use a 80mm fan, and their SFX-L units fit a 120mm. The Noctua fan is a 92mm x 14mm thick. The origin fan included is a Corsair "NR092L" (there are a few variants, with different connectors and wire count/PWM, as is the main point of this thread, the specifics of the 80+ platinum). If I recall the sticker saying. 92mmx15mm. You definitely won't fit a full 25mm thick fan in here. Corsair did have the original fan installed with a grill of course so that saved some space internally as well.

okay, that scores major brownie points to my next PSU choice O_O
The warranty? It's quite healthy! It'll probably save the price difference and more several times over in those seven years on efficiency in the long run, as well. My town has relatively cheap electrical with their own power company, about 30% cheaper than national average. Even at that rate, with my typical useage of the computer, it would save me I believe in the neighborhood of $30-$40 a year on running costs, maybe a small bit more if I recall.
 
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Sazexa

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Original poster
Jan 22, 2020
136
168
That's probably the EXACT same cable as what I bought, I just got mine off of someone on eBay.
 

kimaroth

Efficiency Noob
Apr 1, 2020
6
1
Does this kind of mods solve coil whine from PSU? I read that PSU coil whine is caused by the PSU fan in the voltage limit to start working, and also read about Corsair SF Gold having this coil whine and SF Platinum not having it, so I guess PWM helps that way.
 

Sazexa

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Original poster
Jan 22, 2020
136
168
Does this kind of mods solve coil whine from PSU? I read that PSU coil whine is caused by the PSU fan in the voltage limit to start working, and also read about Corsair SF Gold having this coil whine and SF Platinum not having it, so I guess PWM helps that way.
I don't believe this solves coil whine. I believe coil whine is actually vibration caused by the movement of electrons flowing through actual coils and capacitors, or other components. I could be wrong but that was my understanding. I haven't used this PSU for other than testing yet, as I've been waiting for parts. If I do some more testing with it, I'll be sure to let you know if it has any excess coil whine, or less than what I'd consider standard.
 
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Flightpath

Efficiency Noob
May 19, 2020
6
4
Thanks for sharing this! Probably doesn't change much performance wise but it looks so much better and gives me something to tinker with at least, much appreciated.
 
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smitty2k1

King of Cable Management
Dec 3, 2016
967
492
I'm so happy with my SF600 platinum's stock fan quietness I've never had any desire to swap the fan. My older silverstone 450w definitely got the 'ole 80x15 Noiseblocker fan treatment though.
 

x111

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Aug 5, 2019
114
45
I did some similar mod but powered up Noctua NF-A9x14 HS with cpu on motherboard because that little psu is always warm/hot, thanks to corsair retarded silence cooling management !
 

rocklobster

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Nov 30, 2018
93
23
I'm so happy with my SF600 platinum's stock fan quietness I've never had any desire to swap the fan. My older silverstone 450w definitely got the 'ole 80x15 Noiseblocker fan treatment though.

I ordered 2 80mm slims fans from Aliexpress for the same purpose, but the delivery took so long I changed PSU 3 time since then. Corsair SF450, Seasonic 750w ATX and finally a Fractal Design Ion SFX-L. Now I need to find a place to stick 2 80mm fans in my case.
 

Sazexa

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Original poster
Jan 22, 2020
136
168
I'm so happy with my SF600 platinum's stock fan quietness I've never had any desire to swap the fan. My older silverstone 450w definitely got the 'ole 80x15 Noiseblocker fan treatment though.
I haven't tested the noise yet. While I'm sure the stock fan is plenty quiet, this will probably be just a hair quieter. But really it's also partly just an aesthetic mod. I mentioned this above, but, it will be in a sandwhich layout case. I'll be using a cooler where the fan will be facing the same orientation as the PSU's fan, and now they'll match nicely.