Quieter Supermicro PSU?

[Concentric]

I'm considering a Supermicro chassis fitted with redundant 1400W PSUs, but my system won't require 1400W.

I realise that this chassis will not be silent. I'm not expecting to be able to make it silent, but I would like to keep the noise to a minimum.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that someone swapped the PSU in their Supermicro chassis for a lower rated one because it was quieter.

Does anyone have any experience of doing this? Are lower rated Supermicro PSU units quieter?

 

[rvborgh]

The 1400w SM psu's (at least the ones used in the SC748 case like the one i use) are virtually silent... perfectly fine for desktop use... the only time the start to make noticeable noise is when you start pulling wattage through them (lots of wattage - ie 800+)... then the dual fans will start to spool up to keep things cool... but this should not really be an issue if you are running dual 1400w PSUs...

if you want to quiet things down you'll need to get rid of any passive heat sinks... replacing them with Noctuas, then add a Gelid fan controller and drop the chassis fans down to 1 or 2 notches... then its completely suitable for desktop use.

hope this helps.

 

[Concentric]

Thanks for your input rv.

However, the chassis I'm looking at is a SC847A-R1400UB (sorry, I should have included this in the OP), which looks like a slightly different PSU type to yours:

Yours (on the right) looks like it has dual exhaust fans per unit, which might explain why it's quieter? Not sure it's comparable to the one I'm looking at (on the left).

 

[rvborgh]

Hi,

i'm using PWS-1K41F-1R... the server you mentioned uses the PWS-1K41P-1R.

it looks like they are similar but with stacked fans perhaps on the unit you are considering?

http://www.supermicro.com/support/resources/pws/

efficiencies are virtually identical:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/powersupply/80PLUS/80PLUS_PWS-1K41P-1R.pdf

vs,

http://www.supermicro.com/products/powersupply/80PLUS/80PLUS_PWS-1K41F-1R.pdf

i really doubt that your PSUs would be that much louder than mine. The are probably just as quiet. The innards are probably the same/slightly modified. Best way would be to give SuperMicro a call...

i was previously using the 1000w units (PWS-1K01-1R) and the fans on those ran at full bore all the time... extremely loud. These 1400w units are of a newer design and only spool up as necessary.

hope that helps.

PS: these things are built like a tank

Thanks for your input rv.

However, the chassis I'm looking at is a SC847A-R1400UB (sorry, I should have included this in the OP), which looks like a slightly different PSU type to yours:

Yours (on the right) looks like it has dual exhaust fans per unit, which might explain why it's quieter? Not sure it's comparable to the one I'm looking at (on the left).

 

[Blue Fox]

The loud part about the 847 chassis is the internal fans, not the power supply. You should not replace them and switching power supplies won't do you much good either. If you want something quiet, get a different chassis. This thing is never meant to be quiet and is in no way suitable for a home or office environment. You will hear it throughout your entire home. Take it from someone that owns multiple.

 

[rvborgh]

i wonder if there would be room in that chassis for active cpu cooling (ie Noctua's)... the need for the chassis fans to be run at the highest settings would be drastically reduced (like mine). How much cooling do the drive bays require?

on my system i went from this (completely intolerable):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2mxLwwzMBI&list=UU6lnBkg1WUh2iQ4xV_qciBw&index=9

to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYX_Xccs58Q&list=UU6lnBkg1WUh2iQ4xV_qciBw

just fine if you ask me.

The loud part about the 847 chassis is the internal fans, not the power supply. You should not replace them and switching power supplies won't do you much good either. If you want something quiet, get a different chassis. This thing is never meant to be quiet and is in no way suitable for a home or office environment. You will hear it throughout your entire home. Take it from someone that owns multiple.

 

[Blue Fox]

Wouldn't make a difference. This chassis is designed around high static pressure fans. You pretty much live with it or find a different chassis. The 24 bay variants (846) are far more flexible.