top mount- bottom mount - does it make a difference?

[johnnyblazzwa]

hi guys, I'm possibly gonna be buy a case with a bottom mount for psu and i'm wondering if there is any difference? are some power supplies meant only to be top mounted or could i run into any trouble with wire lenth's with a bottom mount case?

i would assume its all the same but better to be sure

[Andy]

Originally Posted by johnnyblazzwa

hi guys, I'm possibly gonna be buy a case with a bottom mount for psu and i'm wondering if there is any difference? are some power supplies meant only to be top mounted or could i run into any trouble with wire lenth's with a bottom mount case?

i would assume its all the same but better to be sure

You could run into length issues, but if you are buying mainstream stuff, I wouldn't worry about it. Bottom mounts have pretty much become the standard for gaming cases, and PSU's.

[Caldezar]

Bottom mounts are more about cooling than anything else. With an intake vent at the bottom of the case, your PSU gets fresh air from outside the case and exhausts it out the back immediately. Rather than grabbing all the warm air from inside your case. However, you'll likely want to make sure the case also has an exhaust fan either in the back or the top to compensate for the lack of the PSU removing hot air.

[johnnyblazzwa]

awesome, thanks guys

[Raserei408]

Originally Posted by Caldezar

Bottom mounts are more about cooling than anything else. With an intake vent at the bottom of the case, your PSU gets fresh air from outside the case and exhausts it out the back immediately. Rather than grabbing all the warm air from inside your case.

I disagree, since if that were true every case with a bottom-mounted PSU would have vents on the bottom (which they don't, case in point Antec 900) and it would only be beneficial if PSUs had a a fan on the top or bottom, not on the front. Though this is also true, there's another reason that hasn't been addressed; a PSU is typically the heaviest component of a PC, and with it on the top, the case becomes top-heavy. Bottom-mounted PSUs make the case bottom-heavy and a fair bit more stable. Also, though this is case dependent, if a case has a bottom-mounted PSU it also has the potential for a top-mounted fan (either by the manufacturers placing one there or via modding).

Though this is considered to be the best location for a PSU (hence the industry shift toward bottom-mounted PSUs) there is a distinct disadvantage; cables may not be long enough to reach all the connectors, especially the ATX and CPU power connections. Unless the case is huge it's usually not an issue, and if worse comes to worse, there are always cable-extenders available.

[0o0]

Originally Posted by Raserei408

I disagree, since if that were true every case with a bottom-mounted PSU would have vents on the bottom (which they don't, case in point Antec 900) and it would only be beneficial if PSUs had a a fan on the top or bottom, not on the front. Though this is also true, there's another reason that hasn't been addressed; a PSU is typically the heaviest component of a PC, and with it on the top, the case becomes top-heavy. Bottom-mounted PSUs make the case bottom-heavy and a fair bit more stable. Also, though this is case dependent, if a case has a bottom-mounted PSU it also has the potential for a top-mounted fan (either by the manufacturers placing one there or via modding).

Though this is considered to be the best location for a PSU (hence the industry shift toward bottom-mounted PSUs) there is a distinct disadvantage; cables may not be long enough to reach all the connectors, especially the ATX and CPU power connections. Unless the case is huge it's usually not an issue, and if worse comes to worse, there are always cable-extenders available.

I didn't really like antec 900 anyways... well, I wasn't around when it was first released (I was like 12 yrs old), but if I was, I may have appreciated it's design more. All decent modern psu's can reach from the bottom. Only the old/crappy cases and psu's don't have a bottom mount (or in the case of the antec 900, don't have a bottom vent) or their cables aren't long enough to reach. Take any modern (2008 or older should be right) decent 'mainstream' (non-oem crap) and they will be 100% compatible with bottom mount and bottom vents.