hi, quick question..

how many 80mm fans can i hook up to a 500w PSU safely?

The question should be "how many are required". Your question can't really be answered with the only known the 500W PSU. What other loads are already on the PSU and what the 12V ratings are. ALL 80MM fans aren't going to pull the same current. The more airflow the fan is capable of the more power will be required. I found one fan with a rated current draw of .13A. That equates to about 15watts.

... and just another word of caution. You can have to many fans. To many and they will start working against each other and you will end up in a worse state.

One at the front and two at the back is plenty.

Stuart

haha yeh.. thanks
i guess that is a little too straight forward.

thanks for the input!

My setup is simple & quiet. All I have is a single 120mm exhaust fan in the rear, plus the 120mm in my PSU. And my case has a ducted vent in the side panel over the CPU fan.

Current room temp is 22C (approx 72F), board temp is 30C, CPU temp is 32C. CPU is an A64 3000+ o/c'd to 2.5GHz.

One on the front to sucking air in and one on the back blowing air out.

I don't know what Intel recommends, but according to AMD's "Builders Guide for
Desktop/Tower Systems":

"• With the vertical case, a power supply with ATX-style bottom air intake vents maintains a better thermal environment than a power supply with only a front air intake vent.
• Cases with an added fan in the back cool better than cases without an added fan.
• The rear fans must all pull air in the same direction; otherwise one fan pulls warm air out of the enclosure while the other fan pulls the preheated air back into the enclosure.
• Front intake fans have not proven to be a significant benefit for vertical cases.
• Fans 80mm or larger work best."

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/con...