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Silent Power Supplies

M

mr_yogi

n00b
Joined
Sep 24, 2009
Messages
5
Hi,
I'm looking for a quiet 600+ Watt PSU, as this'll have to last me a while it needs to be of a decent quality and have plently of power to handle future upgrades.

It needs to be as quiet as possible because my PC doubles as a gaming PC and a music server (hifi is in the same room), and currently listening to music you can currently hear the PC in the background on quieter passages, and especially at night.

The CPU is watercooled and the GPU will be too (EK CF4890), very soon. The two PSU's on my short list are:

Enermax MODU82+ 625W

Antec Signature 650W

Existing system fans are being replaced by the following:

1 x Syethe S-Flex 800RPM - 120mm
3 x Enermax Everest - 80mm

Unless anyone can sugest quieter choices (which I can get hold of here in the UK), as the main parts of the system are watercooled airflow isn't a huge concern.

Current System:
Hiper Type-R 480W (reasonably quiet buy not quiet enough also getting on a bit)
Core2Duo E6600 @3.6GHz
Abit AB9 Pro
6GB DDR2-800
Radeon HD4890
1TB Western Digital Green Power
X-Fi
DVD RW

Thanks for any advice.
 
go to Silentpcreview.com for silent advise, they are crazy about that kind of stuff there... (crazy in a good way)
 
Well, one way to get a quiet system is to purchase a way overpowered PSU so it'll never reach a high enough load percentage to really ramp up the fan. Since you're looking at the Signature, I assume you have a pretty decent budget for this. I would suggest that you take a look at some of the better ~850W units out there like the Corsair HX850, Seasonic M12D 850W, XFX Black Edition 850W (if you can get one over there), or even something like the Enermax Revolution85+ series. The Antec Truepower New 750W, Corsair HX750, and Seasonic M12D 750W would also be good options.
 
Thanks for the replies.

@Megalomaniac: Thanks, very helpful site.

@Zero82z: The idea of using a larger PSU I think is a good one, unfortunately I can't afford a decent 800+W PSU as they are £120+ where as the 650 Sig and MODU82+ are about £90, which would be my limit.

@icejon: Just looked at the Silent Pro review and it looks like it stays quiet until the current draw ramps up, where it becomes louder than the competition. Looking at your Sig you have a relatively low powered GPU which might explain why the PSU is silent in your system.

At the moment I'm favouring the Antec Sig as I've read the fan in the Enermax can get loud after a couple of months use.

On an tangent, is it easy to tell which rails each of the connectors hang off? If I were to add another 4890 in Crossfire I would need to use a couple of Molex to PCI-e power adapters as the PSU only has 2 PCI-e connectors. How would be best to distribute the load over the three rails?

Also has anyone any experience of the Silverstone Zeus ST-85ZF, 850W PSU? It's a couple of years old now but has Quad 12V rails, 4x PCI-e power connectors as is relatively cheap for a 850W PSU from a well known brand. I found a review on jonnyguru but it doesn't have noise test results.

Thanks Again.
 
mr_yogi said:
On an tangent, is it easy to tell which rails each of the connectors hang off? If I were to add another 4890 in Crossfire I would need to use a couple of Molex to PCI-e power adapters as the PSU only has 2 PCI-e connectors. How would be best to distribute the load over the three rails?
Click to expand...
The rail distribution really doesn't matter. It'll be balanced enough that you don't have to worry about it.
mr_yogi said:
Also has anyone any experience of the Silverstone Zeus ST-85ZF, 850W PSU? It's a couple of years old now but has Quad 12V rails, 4x PCI-e power connectors as is relatively cheap for a 850W PSU from a well known brand. I found a review on jonnyguru but it doesn't have noise test results.
Click to expand...
I believe that model is made by Etasis, and probably isn't all that quiet.
 
Since you're in the UK Yogi, I'd definitely recommend a Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 650W. I put one into a PC I built for someone not long ago who values a silent running PC. Actually made me do a double to take when it first fired up, it was so quiet I thought it wasn't working. :D

Here's a good UK retailer of all thing silence related for PCs:

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/home

They don't stock the BeQuiet PSUs anymore, but overclockers.co.uk do.
 
Thanks.

OK bit of a U-Turn, has anyone got any noise figures for the Corsair HX 750? The reviews I've read have been excellent but havn't said how loud it is at various loads. Although it's a bit more expensive the 7 year warrantee is swaying me.
 
Thanks for the link.

That's a shame, looks like it'll be audiable when there is low background noise even when the PC is idling, back to the Antec then.
 
I went from a coolermaster silent pro 700 to an OCZ 700W stealthxtreme. The OCZ is as silent as the coolermaster, and $55 cheaper.
 
e39dinan said:
I went from a coolermaster silent pro 700 to an OCZ 700W stealthxtreme. The OCZ is as silent as the coolermaster, and $55 cheaper.
Click to expand...
The OCZ is also a piece of crap FSP that's only good up to about 500W of loading.
 
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