garacs1 yes, I have seen the grill - that does NOTHING to prevent cables from getting into the blades. And I know this type of fans. If there is anything close to them, their performance is down the sewer. Friend of mine has such an abomination and it sucks ass.

the PS then ships it to AC then AC slaps on a quiet fan from a previous overstock which could explain the decision to use external psu cooling - it was cheaper for AC. But at $95 USD the 550r ain`t cheap. At least it`s easier to replace the fan if it should fail ;)

@ Steve and energyman:

Did you notice that the PSU external fan DOES have a fan-grill? Eventually, how many times have you heard of cables inside a closed computer case of "moving" around on their own, without external help (read that as hands)? HAving built hundreds of system, I never heard of such thing as cables getting tangled and even sucked into the PSU case by a fan applied externally to it. But hey, that's only my experience...

the external fan is STUPID.

It takes away precious space
Cable love to get in the blades
And even if not - this kind of fan is VERY sensible to any distortion in or near its air stream - so no matterwhat you do, you always get diminished cooling. Oh - and if its defective (and AC fans love to die) you have to get an AC fan...

idiotic

So the Fusion 550R PSU has an external fan... Guess they couldn't fit in inside with all the gubbins... Or have the designers never had that nasty noise from inside a case when a drive cable moves and catches the fan blades... Or worse jams them.

i was going to get a 4870x2 in september but there were no coolers so i waited and waited. now it's too late 4870x2 is old hat now and arctic should have released in october or not now.

charlie also needs a new camera.

What bothered me most at the CeBIT was the carcinogenic stench in-front and between the halls. Disgusting, no matter how many fans you use. CeBIT needs new management.