Anyone go fanless? How was that? (Seasonic Prime 600W Titanium fanless)

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My PC still has more ambient noise than I'd like and I think the loudest component is my Silverstone 1000W Gold Strider (from my SLI days)

From what I can tell, everything else is silent or very near silent:

1. DH15s CPU Cooler with Noctua 150mm fan
2. Arctic Accellero Xtreme III cooled 1080Ti
3. Mostly SSDs (my two spinners are rarely used and mostly stopped)
4. Noctua 200mm PWM intake fan (inaudible)
5. 120mm Noctua exhaust fan (inaudible)

Even when I use the ASUS fan control to dial everything down to minimal speed, I still hear what I'm pretty sure is the Silverstone PSU.

Anyone else try one of these and notice a real difference?
 
My builds are not as advanced as yours as I don't have separate video cards. Since I don't game I just use Intel's cpu built in video. For my main build I use the smaller Seasonic SS-400FL2 fanless model mounted in the bottom of a NZXT H230 case. If you're considering fanless its probably best if you use a bottom mount case. I also have an HTPC in a Silverstone Grandia09 case but for that I use a Corsair RM650x since it has to be mounted on its side. But the Corsair is basically fanless since I don't require enough wattage to trigger the fan. You might consider something like that with a zero rpm fan mode where that mode generally covers the first 25 percent of the psu's rated power.
 
Maybe that PSU has a screamer fan, and you're justified in swapping it out. But realize, if you make the PSU quieter, one of the other fans will become the loudest fan... You might be too hyper focused. I realized I was when doing what you were doing.

Just realize true fanless PSUs are dependent on decent case cooling and not no airflow/cooling. I have a fanless mode Corsair SF450 SFX PSU. Ive never heard it come on, though i have it mounted fan up and right under fully open top vent, so good natural air convection. Likely it has come on but i'd be focused on the game at that point anyway.

Anyway, you could try re-orienting/positioning your PSU if its possible. Making some cardboard ducts to get it better air flow or exhaust. Make a duct to get it fresh air direct from the 200mm if the PSU is eating hot GPU/CPU exhaust, so it doesnt have to spin up as high.

edit: also, after i made my computer quiet, I realized my monitor has a slight humming sound... There is always some sound. I think I preferred the not annoying at all fan whoosh instead of the now evident monitor humm.
 
I have a Corsair HX750i that has a fan. I have never heard it come on. The only other fans in my system are some Noctua 140 that's on my Noctua heatsink, and the fans on my EVGA 980ti, which also stay off unless gaming.

Apart from that I have one mechanical drive in my system, so I think I'd know if my PSU fan came on.

So fanless is probably not worth it if you can find a PSU that has silent operation.
 
I have a Seasonic Focus Plus which has a semi-fanless switch. I let the fan run all the time because I can't hear any difference.
 
Thanks guys, that's all pretty good advice.

1. My desk is way to complex a setup for my to move my CPU.
2. The case is the TT V21 which is a bottom mounted PSU and it should get good air from the front 200mm fan.
3. I don't really need a 1000W psu anymore as I don't plan to go back to SLI - I always buy good PSUs anyway so it's not really worth it to me to try to save $20-50 on a "less noisy" PSU that still has a fan when noise is a top priority for me.
 
I use SSR-850 TR (seasonic prime ultra titanium) with the fan in hybrid mode, so it's basically always off. Was not cheap though!! I did not need 850W but it's the point that it remains in fanless mode longer. Even if I change the button to always run the fan, it's still very quiet.
 
I have a build with that fanless Seasonic 600W. It was the original PSU, so I can't offer a comparison, but I have to say I love this thing. I'm not loading it very heavily (maybe 1/3 load most of the time?) and it gets barely warm. No coil whine or other untoward noises from my sample. Everything else in the build gave me some sort of major or minor hassle (it was a first time build) but the PSU was cable and forget.

It's not cheap though. Had I been on a stricter budget I may not have gone with the fanless.
 
Its nice but the 600 fanless is the same price as the 850 normal, and running that with the hybrid switch enabled on most systems you will get the same result. The 850 and 1000 also have a full set of modular connectors; the FL, 650 and 750 have less.

Personally I prefer smart cooling, quiet 99.9% of the time but fans turn on when they are actually needed. Heat is the enemy and his power to defeat your precious box of chips is exponenetial, never let him get on a roll and win. Helps to blow the dust out too, fanless electronics will still build up a nice electrostatic layer.

Regardless the SS titaniums are really good PSUs, I've bought somewhere near 10 of them now.
 
Aluminum said:
Its nice but the 600 fanless is the same price as the 850 normal, and running that with the hybrid switch enabled on most systems you will get the same result. The 850 and 1000 also have a full set of modular connectors; the FL, 650 and 750 have less.

Personally I prefer smart cooling, quiet 99.9% of the time but fans turn on when they are actually needed. Heat is the enemy and his power to defeat your precious box of chips is exponenetial, never let him get on a roll and win. Helps to blow the dust out too, fanless electronics will still build up a nice electrostatic layer.

Regardless the SS titaniums are really good PSUs, I've bought somewhere near 10 of them now.
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I don't think I'll ever go back to dual GPUs unless the power consumption goes way down - they just dump too much heat in my office and I'm happy with my current scheme which is demanding games on the center monitor, light weight games on all 3 monitors.

600W is plenty - it has a 12 year warranty and the casing is a lot more open than the hybrid models. My front 200mm fan pushes a lot of air through the case and even though it's well filtered, I dust it regularly to keep it optimal.

So while the part of me that likes to keep my options open and prepare for the unexpected thinks the hybrid models make sense, I'm intrigued by the more exotic fanless version and it's more in line with my system goals.

EDIT:

Just ordered it from Newegg. $182 minus the $50 gift card I got from another order and with free shipping, it was only $132
 
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There's no doubt in my mind that the hybrids are a better choice for many, maybe even most builds. The fanless is a niche item, for builds where silence is paramount, power needs are unlikely to grow too much, and the budget is there. That happens to describe my build very well, and the SS fanless has fit the bill perfectly so far.

(Oddly enough, the primary noisemaker in my system is the gigabyte RX 550 GPU. It can run fan stopped up to a point, but when the fan does turn on, it's audible as a faint buzz even at minimum speed. It's barely audible, but with the rest of the system essentially dead quiet, it can get annoying. I might have to find a different board or replace the fan...)
 
pitingres said:
There's no doubt in my mind that the hybrids are a better choice for many, maybe even most builds. The fanless is a niche item, for builds where silence is paramount, power needs are unlikely to grow too much, and the budget is there. That happens to describe my build very well, and the SS fanless has fit the bill perfectly so far.

(Oddly enough, the primary noisemaker in my system is the gigabyte RX 550 GPU. It can run fan stopped up to a point, but when the fan does turn on, it's audible as a faint buzz even at minimum speed. It's barely audible, but with the rest of the system essentially dead quiet, it can get annoying. I might have to find a different board or replace the fan...)
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I've put a lot of thought, money and work (Arctic coolers can be a major pain to install!) into getting everything as quiet as possible - I don't really have anywhere to go after the PSU except maybe some fan speed tweaking, so I'll have to accept wherever it ends up.

I dialed my system into some of those PSU calculators - ouch, I think those are designed to over sell you on capacity as they were telling me 650-850W for a single GPU system...
 
I find it a lot easier/cheaper to just put my PC in my basement and run cable extensions.

If you’re a homeowner or have a spare room that may be an option.
 
Dayaks said:
I find it a lot easier/cheaper to just put my PC in my basement and run cable extensions.

If you’re a homeowner or have a spare room that may be an option.
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That's getting more difficult with Displayport's length limitations and higher resolution monitors.
 
Well not a solution that is everyones cup of tea but I always go with overkill PSUs for my builds on the grounds that they take it easy and don't stress at all thus no noise.

So in my current PC I used a Corsair AX1500i that works passively even with an overclocked i9-7940X & 1080Ti 99% of the time. The fan on this unit does not turn on before the load reaches 50%. In general, my PC is dead silent and I have it on the right side of my desk at 50cm from my ear.
 
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