Seasonic Snow Silent 750W Power Supply Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Messages
55,598
Seasonic Snow Silent 750W Power Supply Review - Seasonic is without a doubt the "best" computer PSU designer and builder in North America in our opinion. It has continually made award winning enthusiast class PSUs which is simply not easy in today's market. Six of its last eleven units reviewed here have "only" produced HardOCP Silver awards though. Do we have a new Gold [H] today?
 
Excellent review as always. The conclusion reminds me of your review of the Seasonic 660w Platinum unit.

"When you buy a Seasonic PLATINUM-660 you are simply getting exactly what you paid for; quite possibly the best PSU we have ever reviewed."

The 660 had a 0.01 volt deviation on the 3.3v, 5v and 12v lines. Very glad to see Seasonic continuing to put out excellent products.
 
Probably the only company that hasn't disappointed me with their products yet, not even once in 20 years.
 
Soooo...why did they put the fan on TOP when all case air openings for PSU's are on the bottom?
 
The small, but boisterous (ironic), crowd that complains about any noise output at all from fan cooled units will still complain but they hardly fall in the rational category.
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Ahem! That's really not on.

There are units like the 1250W Zalman and the 850W Superflower Leadex that turn off their fans when current requirement is low.
 
I've got the 1050 version and so far it's been good to me. Only thing is I would have preferred white cables to match the aesthetic.
 
Talked to Seasonic today and it looks like these will be on Newegg early next week.
 
So if a person buys a power supply that claims to be silent, and is aggrieved when they find it's not silent, they're irrational?

This is nothing more than false advertising. The definition of silent is "not making or accompanied by any sound" and this product does not meet that definition. A Power supply should only claim to be silent if it is fanless. If it's not fanless it should use a name like 'quiet' or 'low noise' rather than silent.

I have a fanless PSU that is truly silent. It's only 520W so I'm always on the look out for a higher power silent PSU, but this "silent" PSU clearly isn't what I'm looking for.

Of course, given how much Seasonic advertise on the site this was never going to get anything other than a glowing review. Reviews of Seasonic products on HardOCP really can't be taken seriously.
 
Mr Milquetoast said:
So if a person buys a power supply that claims to be silent, and is aggrieved when they find it's not silent, they're irrational?

This is nothing more than false advertising. The definition of silent is "not making or accompanied by any sound" and this product does not meet that definition. A Power supply should only claim to be silent if it is fanless. If it's not fanless it should use a name like 'quiet' or 'low noise' rather than silent.

I have a fanless PSU that is truly silent. It's only 520W so I'm always on the look out for a higher power silent PSU, but this "silent" PSU clearly isn't what I'm looking for.

Of course, given how much Seasonic advertise on the site this was never going to get anything other than a glowing review. Reviews of Seasonic products on HardOCP really can't be taken seriously.
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Your supply is not silent. There are switching converters inside the supply which make sound because of the magnetostriction of the inductors and transformers inside. It just happens the SPL generate from it is below where the human ears can pick it up. I have a projector with a fan....I cannot hear it at place where people sit. If you ask anybody if that projector is "silent" or "not silent", the answer would be "silent".

Your point is pendantic...and downright annoying.
 
Slap it in a white case like:

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Add this decal:

rebel-alliance-stickers-for-cars_zpsoxvjtcvh.jpg


Call it a day. :)
 
Mr Milquetoast said:
So if a person buys a power supply that claims to be silent, and is aggrieved when they find it's not silent, they're irrational?

This is nothing more than false advertising. The definition of silent is "not making or accompanied by any sound" and this product does not meet that definition. A Power supply should only claim to be silent if it is fanless. If it's not fanless it should use a name like 'quiet' or 'low noise' rather than silent.

I have a fanless PSU that is truly silent. It's only 520W so I'm always on the look out for a higher power silent PSU, but this "silent" PSU clearly isn't what I'm looking for.

Of course, given how much Seasonic advertise on the site this was never going to get anything other than a glowing review. Reviews of Seasonic products on HardOCP really can't be taken seriously.
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Basically agree with every word of this post. The "rational" line irked me as well (though one imagines that was their intention). It makes you wonder why HardOCP even bothers to cater to this subject at all considering the apparent disdain being held for the demographic of buyers that cares about it.

Frankly I'd already considered HardOCP's testing or comments on noise as mostly lip service given the primitiveness in their testing setup and general short shrift attitude towards this area... so this review really just removed any benefit of the doubt.

Though, anyone who's interested in seeing the claims of these "silent" products being tested & measured accurately knows where to look first on the web for this sort of thing anyway, at least.

I understand (and appreciate) that HardOCP is all about pushing things to the extremes, power-wise, so I don't expect much sympathy towards the elimination of noise concern crowd in graphics cards and whatnot but not recognizing the value in paying precise attention to this attribute for things like power supplies where there are very few areas to differentiate these products outside of price, capacity & modular/non-modular status is disappointing.
 
Trepidati0n said:
Your supply is not silent. There are switching converters inside the supply which make sound because of the magnetostriction of the inductors and transformers inside. It just happens the SPL generate from it is below where the human ears can pick it up. I have a projector with a fan....I cannot hear it at place where people sit. If you ask anybody if that projector is "silent" or "not silent", the answer would be "silent".

Your point is pendantic...and downright annoying.
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You're pointing out how a -fanless- power supply is

...not silent. There are switching converters inside the supply which make sound because of the magnetostriction of the inductors and transformers inside. It just happens the SPL generate from it is below where the human ears can pick it up.
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and accusing other people of being pedantic?

Not really sure either what point you're making by distinguishing that his fanless (& therefore effectively silent) power supply is generating (by your own words) noise "...below where the human ears can pick it up".

I guess your technical correction about his fanless power supply's lack of true silence is a warning for any dogs or androids reading this thread?

***

Actually... upon further re-reading of Milquetoast's post, though I still don't disagree with the expectation of "silence" from a "billed as silent" power supply, I do have to disagree in part just in regards to:

A Power supply should only claim to be silent if it is fanless.
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I think it's false advertising simply because it's not effectively silent from inside a case, not because it simply has a fan.

I originally wanted to go with a fanless PSU too when building my first silent PC but found the available capacities too low for comfort so I ended up rolling the dice on an Enermax Modu82+ 625 watt PSU that was reviewed as effectively inaudible and I'm pleased to say I found that to be the case.

(Though I should note there have been reports of people with this unit complaining of new fan noise/coil whine after a year or two, but thankfully I've never experienced either issue after 5 years straight running it.)

I consider it silent if not "dead silent", even under load. I even sit 1 foot away from my PC and can never hear it, at all, even under high load. This is why I consider it silent.

Maybe if you stick your ear right up to the PSU, with the case doors off, you can hear it's custom low-noise profile fan a tiny bit under high load (though not even a tiny bit with case doors off while the PC is at idle... I've tried it). Other than that, dead silent.

But since -absolutely 0%- of people will ever be in a situation during it's use to hear noise come from it (which is to say having your ear a cm away with the case doors off), I confidently proclaim it as silent (a fine line maybe, but well worth distinguishing).

(Of course, I do have it in an Antec P182 case with sound dampening doors, so, perhaps that could be a factor. But anyone looking for silence should be using dampened case doors anyway, unless it's an open air system.)

Obviously, the power supply in this review though, also with a fan, is not effectively silent (contrary to it's advertising) or the review wouldn't have (insultingly) qualified its claim that it was.

So, no, if I could hear this Seasonic power supply's fan from within my computer case, even a foot away, under full load/any circumstance, at all, I would not say that it is silent.

But not because it has a fan.

***

Milquetoast, I assume you have even 1 or 2 low RPM fans in your system somewhere yeah? If that's the case, no need to worry about PSU's with a fan being "silent" if you can get one that's as quiet or quieter than any of your (even extremely quiet) case fans.

I only use 120 mm Nexus Real Silent case fans set under 600 rpms and I never hear my PSU fan over them.

I guess if you have a no fans/completely open air (no case doors) system you might have a point, but, I kinda doubt that you do, even if you're a strict silence enthusiast (for various reasons, as I've looked into it myself).

Also, I mean, if you take any old case fan, unplug it, spin it with your finger, well, depending on the fan maybe, you probably won't hear anything. Thus proving that just because a fan is spinning does not mean it will be audible (so it is effectively silent).

Granted, PC powered fans are spinning faster than your finger pushes it likely but, you get my point, and with the right noise profile fan and a low enough RPM, you can get a fan that is effectively silent (ie. inaudible from a foot away and inside a computer case).

And, you can also even find PSU with fans that good, like I did with my Enermax, and some other, newer units that have since come out (if evidently not this Seasonic unit).

All that said, I would agree that if a PSU with a fan, advertised as "silent", ever becomes audible from within a closed PC case, even from a foot away at full load, then it is not silent and is false advertising (as in the case this Seasonic PSU, unlike my Enermax unit).
 
This thread was more entertaining than the review. Thanks! I'm glad HardOCP supports Seasonic, they're worth supporting. I'm sure they'll dump Seasonic and rip them a new one if their PSU build quality starts failing. What I worry about with every product is the internal parts being swapped out for cheaper components over the lifetime of the product.
 
Wierdo said:
Probably the only company that hasn't disappointed me with their products yet, not even once in 20 years.
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I came to this forum now because my Seasonic 550 just died yesterday - but it was from 2006 . I feel like I should bury it in the backyard next to the cat and hamster lol
 
Picked one of these up off of Amazon, today, because of this review. Thanks Kyle!

Good thing my black case doesn't have a window ;)
 
Same here. I've been using Corsair power supplies, but just bought a Seasonic for my next build based on the review.
 
Mr Milquetoast said:
So if a person buys a power supply that claims to be silent, and is aggrieved when they find it's not silent, they're irrational?
This is nothing more than false advertising. The definition of silent is "not making or accompanied by any sound" and this product does not meet that definition.
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Since you like being pedantic, let me ask you this:
1)Does anywhere says that this PSU stays always silent? or that it is a noiseless PSU? It's not false advertising since the PSU comes with a "Hybrid mode", so even for a certain amount of time / load it does what advertises, meaning stays silent, so why the false advertising? Misleading maybe, but NOT false !! It would be false if it never stayed silent!!!
2)Even if it's not totaly silent, have you checked the stats before start accusing it? check out the noise charts here: Seasonic Snow Silent 750 W Review . Among 93 PSUs it has the 4th best average noise output !! So even if it's a misleading advertising, it is one of the best PSUs at the market, noise-wise !!!

P.S. Personaly, I've bought the SnowSilent 750 for my brother's pc, and it proved to be the best shopping choise i've made on the PSU market!! (*although, to be honest, the noise factor was never among my shopping criteria, always looking for ultimate performance & build quality)
 
Sith'ari said:
the PSU comes with a "Hybrid mode", so even for a certain amount of time / load it does what advertises, meaning stays silent
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It even describes that set of operational modes on the box! lol, "false advertising".

Anecdotally: I have this PSU in my main, in no small part because of [H]'s review, and I can't hear it in my Obsidian 550D *shrug*. Maybe I'm not as sensitive as some folks.
 
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