Silverstone SX500-LG 500W Gold SFX-L

Interesting choice made by Silverstone, I happen to have bought a Coolermaster XtraFlo Slim 120 to be used in InWin BQ656 for a friend of mine more than a year ago (so I don't own this fan anymore), and also bought an Akasa slim 120mm fan a few months ago which is more or less identical to the XtraFlo Slim 120, just translucent blades vs shiny opaque blades. I find it pretty nice accoustically, but that could just be me.
IIRC ID-Cooling also sells this 120mm slim fan with its own brand label and color.

lhGYpp0.jpg
 
Hey, I'm in the picture :p

I wonder who really makes the fan, SilverStone looks to be using a custom voltage-only version. You can see there's only two wires on their fan.

Edit: Just noticed this on the product page

While advances in engineering and components have made modern high-end SFX PSUs quieter than ever, there is still inherent limitation with 80mm fan’s ability to dissipate heat at maximum loading conditions while maintaining satisfactory noise profile for users sensitive to higher-pitch sounds. With this in mind, SilverStone has released a “lengthened” variation of the SFX form factor called, SFX-L. With 30mm of added depth, a SFX-L power supply has enough room to fit a 120mm fan, thus its maximum load noise can be not only lower in intensity (via slower fan speed), but also lower in pitch (due to larger fan size).
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I wonder who they could possibly be referring to :D
 
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Aibohphobia said:
I wonder who they could possibly be referring to :D
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"Loud or high-pitched sounds, even if they are at a distance or virtually inaudible to others, may be extremely distressing for someone with autism."
We don't have autism right? Right?
 
Aibohphobia said:
while maintaining satisfactory noise profile for users sensitive to higher-pitch sounds
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I wonder who they could possibly be referring to :D
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cowsgomoo said:
"Loud or high-pitched sounds, even if they are at a distance or virtually inaudible to others, may be extremely distressing for someone with autism."
We don't have autism right? Right?
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Lol. Nope, not here.. just have moderately decent hearing, though it's no where near what it used to be.

Oddly enough, the annoying "chatter" with the SX600-G fan isn't at all a high frequency.. the occasional coil whine, which isn't even related to the fan, is the high-pitched sound.


They should've just said "For users that can hear the chirp of a songbird and the click-clack of a train on the tracks, we've proudly ditched our plans for using yet another shit 90-cent fan, and have instead had the sense to use one of retail quality." :p
 
I used (and still have) ID-cooling brand of these same fans. They are PWM and hit 1500-1600 RPM max. Even at that speed, I'd say they made a very reasonable sound through the H55 radiator. Up to around 1200RPM, I'd call them silent (not dead-silent obviously...). So, I think this Silverstone PSU could be it for many SFX builders...

Just to add, I bought two of these fans from Newegg but they shipped from China direct (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA59T1S56857). I don't exactly know who really is manufacturing them but ID-cooling could be it...
 
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Yes that's the one by ID Cooling.
As to who manufactures these Coolermaster/Akasa/ID Cooling 120x120x15mm fans, my guess is Everflow.
 
cowsgomoo said:
"Loud or high-pitched sounds, even if they are at a distance or virtually inaudible to others, may be extremely distressing for someone with autism."
We don't have autism right? Right?
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If that's the excuse I have to use to get quiet PC components manufactured, I've got autism :D
 
Quoting from the product page:
At 100mm deep, however, the standard SFX PSU is also limited in fan size to 80mm
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Is there any reason why a 92mm slim fan like the lovely Noctua couldn't be used in a 100mm deep PSU?
 
w9gb said:
While this supply is designed in EU, it is mfg. in China. Released in October 2014 (EU).
http://www.chieftec.eu/en/psus/smart-series/sfx-500gd-c.html
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Chieftec's version is not designed in Europe. It's HighPower's design and was shown at Computex in 2013. See last photo here, with PSU bottom left http://www.highpower-tech.com/Global/press_room_meat.php?id=20130426155856

Product page of the original http://www.highpower-tech.com/Global/product_page.php?class=20130625152157&id=20140707151110

veryrarium said:
Yes that's the one by ID Cooling.
As to who manufactures these Coolermaster/Akasa/ID Cooling 120x120x15mm fans, my guess is Everflow.
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Any reason for this guess? I can't find anything like this made by Everflow.

Harnser said:
Is there any reason why a 92mm slim fan like the lovely Noctua couldn't be used in a 100mm deep PSU?
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Yes because there is a power socket and active filter PCB in the way.

Also the Noctua 92x14 is not strong enough to cool either the ST45SF-G nor the SX600-G
 
This seems very promising, though personally I'd prefer a lower initial rpm. Should still be silent enough though. Should. :p

Aibohphobia said:
I wonder who they could possibly be referring to :D
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What, I have no idea what you're talking about!? :D

cowsgomoo said:
"Loud or high-pitched sounds, even if they are at a distance or virtually inaudible to others, may be extremely distressing for someone with autism."
We don't have autism right? Right?
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Uhm... well... actually I do. I'm in the "autism spectrum", specifically Asperger. In the "highly functional" category though, so I'm only mildly affected. More sensitive to noise than most other people? Probably (though I do have excellent hearing, so I'm not sure if it's the typical autism symptom). :cool:

AFD said:
They should've just said "For users that can hear the chirp of a songbird and the click-clack of a train on the tracks, we've proudly ditched our plans for using yet another shit 90-cent fan, and have instead had the sense to use one of retail quality." :p
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That's the truth, no doubt. :D
 
If the fan is good, then the coilwhine will be louder instead. Murphy's law.
 
backfeed said:
This seems very promising, though personally I'd prefer a lower initial rpm. Should still be silent enough though. Should. :p
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We shouldn't be expecting this PSU to be dead-silent while the fan is running, most ATX PSU's can't even do that with 25mm thick fans. The 920rpm minimal cycle is most likely a balance between the fan's starting range, minimal airflow and low noise. If this is not a PWM fan anymore but a voltage-based fan, it's characteristics change too.
 
Let's see what SPCR has to say about that Gemini M4 cooler: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Cooler_Master_GeminII_M4

Their measurements:

Voltage --- Speed --- SPL@1m
12V ---1580 RPM --- 30 dBA
9V ---1240 RPM --- 24 dBA
7V --- 940 RPM ---16~17 dBA

But no mention of any obnoxious noises and they went as far to say:

The GeminII M4 fan is fairly inoffensive. Its acoustics are typical for a decent sleeve bearing fan. It has a buzzy and turbulent sound at higher speeds and is generally smooth at lower speeds. Being a 1,600 RPM model, it has quite a large noise range. The cooler is an almost inaudible 12 dBA@1m at 5V, while at 12V, it measures 30 dBA@1m.
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I consider a "smooth" sound as something that easily fades into the background.
 
Ah. 16-17 dBA @ 940 rpm, by SPCR's measurements, will without doubt be quiet enough. Nice!
 
WiSK said:
Yes because there is a power socket and active filter PCB in the way.
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Ah, thanks! Never taken the case off a PSU to look inside.

Also the Noctua 92x14 is not strong enough to cool either the ST45SF-G nor the SX600-G
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Damn. I wasn't expecting a slim 80mm fan to be stronger than a slim 92mm fan :(
 
I'm surprised they put a sleeve bearing fan in a PSU, i always thought that was a no-no for RMA issues.

The list for good slim 120mm fans is pretty small, so it looks like they actually picked a fairly good one. Though it could still be a problem depending on the start/stop and fan rpm curve. I've seen semi passive units before where the fan turns on for 5 seconds and is fairly noticeable (not particularly loud) and then back off, and going back n forth like that is way more noticeable than if it was just running at the slow speed the entire time. So we'll see if Silverstone engineers do it right so things like this don't happen.

Worst case scenario, i may just hard wire the built in fan directly to a 5v or 7v line to make the fan speed constant.
 
WiSK said:
Any reason for this guess? I can't find anything like this made by Everflow.
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My reasoning is based on assumptions, so please take it with a grain of salt. ;) inb4 tl;dr

I started paying attention to the name of the bearings used in retail fans after I read this article. I don't know how accurate the patent part is, but what I took from this is companies that sell retail DC fans often use original names for the type of FDB adopted in their fans because they differ from some "standard" type of FDB bearing. The names are coined by... the packaging companies, the fan manufacturers, or the bearing manufacturers? Who knows.

Now the info given by Coolermaster, Akasa, and ID Cooling on the bearing type used in their 15mm-thick 120mm fans as to their bearing type:

Coolermaster R4-XFXS-16PK-R1 (XtraFlo Slim 120): Long Life Sleeve Bearing
Akasa AK-FN078: Enter Bearing (See my pic above ;) )
ID-Cooling NO-12015: hydraulic

ID-Cooling used a word which is just generic so doesn't help. Coolermaster use this name Long Life Sleeve Bearing not just for this particular fan but also for some other fans but I have never seen other companies' fans advertised with this name, and I can't tell if it's coined by them or the actual manufacturer of them, or if it's just a description that this bearing will have a long life compared with a typical cheap sleeve bearing. This leave us with the name Enter Bearing used by Akasa, a name that I have actually seen quite often, and not just in this Akasa fan.

Check out this review article by xbitlabs, the section on SilverStone Suscool 121, and this and this photos in particular. The box package of this Silverstone fan says Enter Bearing and the fan label says EBR (Enter Bearing Rotation according to this).
The article states
The next fan we will talk about was provided by the well-known SilverStone Company using a lot of Everflow solutions for their products. The fan is called Suscool 121 and is shipped in clear plastic casing
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and
This fan uses what is known as “Enter Bearing” and in reality is a common sleeve bearing with somehow extended lifespan.
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There was a post on OCN which refers to a wikipedia entry:
Fluid bearing fans have the advantages of near-silent operation and high life expectancy (comparable to ball bearing fans). However, these fans tend to be the most expensive. The enter bearing fan is a variation of the fluid bearing fan, developed by Everflow.
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I don't really know for sure if Enter Bearing is indeed FDB or sleeve bearing without fluid, but even xbitlabs says "with somehow extended lifespan" so I suppose it's the former.

My first encounter with EBR fans was Thermalright TY-140. I always loved this fan that came with Silver Arrow and Shaman and was also cheap when they were sold separately, and my curiousity about who was actually making them led me to some posts (starting with Tator Tot's post followed by this and this) on OCN. Thermalright calls the bearing of TY-140 Enhanced Hyper Flow Bearing (EHFB) though, but whatever.

(As a sidenote the blades of TY-140 may look familiar to those who own NZXT's Kraken X41/X61 but NZXT states their new 140mm fans use Nano Bearing, another bearing name, interesting. Noiseblocker has been using the name Nano SLI Bearing for their fans and kinda confusing too.)

TY-147, TY147A, and TY-100 are also EBR fans whereas TY-141 and TY-150 are not.

When you google Everflow fans you will find so many of them have been used on a wide range of GPUs:

EVGA GTX 650: 1
ASUS GTX 570 DCU II: 1, 2
ASUS GTX 670/760 DCU Mini OC:1, 2, 3
ASUS GTX 780 DCU II OC: 1
ASUS R9 280X DCU II: 1
ASUS R9 290X Matrix Platinum: 1
ASUS GTX 980 STRIX OC: 1, 2
GIGABYTE HD5870: 1, 2, 3
GIGABYTE HD5830: 1, 2
GALAXY GTX 780 HOF: 1

As you can see, a large majority of these Everflow fans have "(EBR)" printed on them. On the other hand, I haven't seen any fans that have the OEM/ODM names on them (as opposed to names like Thermalright, Coolermaster, Akasa, etc) having (EBR) printed somewhere. That's what makes me guess any Enter Bearing fans are made by Everflow. Now, it's possible that Coolermaster's XtraFlow Slim 120, Akasa's 120mm Slimfan and ID-Cooling N12015 have different OEMs but they are just so identical to each other when you look at their blades and struts design that I think the chance are slim.
 
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Excellent story Veryrarium! I read it all and all the links. I wanted to be convinced. The designs and names of bearings seems a murky and uncertain world.

However, in the same way you point to the bearing, I point to the shape of the fan blades. Evercool do not sell any fans where the blades are shaped like the Akasa S-Flow. As well as the Viper and Apache models, Cooler Master also sells a variation called XtraFlo, just like the name of the slim fan.

Isn't it just simpler to assume the three Akasa / CM / IDC are making this fan as a collaboration? And that the "enter" bearing is either licensed or a generic term?
 
I like your analysis veryrarium, thanks for the time you took!

It is also possible though that Everflow licenses the tech to manufacture these enter bearings by someone else, OR that Everflow just manufactures and sells the bearings, to be assembled by another fan manufacturer.

Akasa / CM / IDC are definitely the fans IMHO, whoever their OEM is...
 
Has anyone heard what happens when the fan kicks in at 41 degrees and the temp falls below 41 degrees? At what point does the fan turn off? Is it at a certain temp, or after a certain amount of time?

I'm just really worried about hovering at that 41 degree mark and having the fan turn on and off and on and off non stop.
 
Screes said:
Has anyone heard what happens when the fan kicks in at 41 degrees and the temp falls below 41 degrees? At what point does the fan turn off? Is it at a certain temp, or after a certain amount of time?

I'm just really worried about hovering at that 41 degree mark and having the fan turn on and off and on and off non stop.
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If the semi-fanless operation is borked like the SX600-G, then the fan will just kick on a few minutes after a cold boot and stay running (ie, doesn't work as advertised).
 
I rather have it running at the lowest speeds and being (almost) inaudible than turning off and on repeatedly. Since most people already have an issue with the fan on the SX600-G trying to start, I can only imagine the cry-storm when it would randomly and repeatedly start and stop because it's balancing between needing cooling and not needing it.

The way the SX600-G is setup, it seems it has a decent margin to not let it fall back to semi-fanless too easily, but I've seen experiments with a fan over the PSU's intake that shows it can indeed turn back off.
 
I suspect the fan controller in the SX600-G is the simplest possible: directly dependent on the temperature sensor, without any logic. A voltage is constantly applied to the fan, and when the temp sensor reaches 41 degrees, the voltage is high enough to get the fan started.

A fan will naturally have a higher starting voltage than the lowest possible operating voltage, so even if the temperature is reduced below 41 the fan will keep spinning. When it does get cold enough to go below the lowest possible operating voltage of the fan, it will eventually stop, not starting again until the higher starting voltage is reached. So it has a natural buffer zone, so to speak.

I'd prefer a simple logic circuit, that will only supply voltage to the fan when necessary, avoiding the silly spin up problems and noises. Which would also work at a more normal voltage range, allowing a much wider selection of fans (simplifying getting rid of the annoying chattering of the crappy stock fan).

But since the SX500-LG is a cheaper alternative than the SX600-G, I bet the same super-simple (i.e. stupid) fan "controller" will be reused, possibly only with a slight change of the output voltage range. But I'm only guessing.
 
The controller could be different, the OEM is Sirfa instead of Enhance and Sirfa has experience making semi-fanless PSUs with their Astro line.
 
Thanks for the compliments guys, glad to hear my thoughts were entertaining. But yes I could be totally wrong. As Phuncz said, it would be great if Tony Ou generously discloses what we are curious about.
WiSK said:
The designs and names of bearings seems a murky and uncertain world.
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Indeed.
WiSK said:
However, in the same way you point to the bearing, I point to the shape of the fan blades. Evercool do not sell any fans where the blades are shaped like the Akasa S-Flow. As well as the Viper and Apache models, Cooler Master also sells a variation called XtraFlo, just like the name of the slim fan.
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I don't know Everflow actually make a product catalog available (I can't access their site), but I think it's common for OEM manufacturers to never publicize information on their products that are catered for particular requests by other companies. Also, Blade shapes do help in finding which fans are identical to each other but I think similar "ideas" have often been adopted/mimicked by different companies. Like notches and ridges on fan blades, some company started adding them to reduce noise and many others followed suit. So I would also look at the blade count, strut design, hub size, hub shape (flat vs round on the intake side), etc. to make judgements.

For example, here is a 120mm slim fan by Jonsbo. it's hard to say if this is made by the same OEM as the slim fans of Coolermaster, Akasa, and ID-Cooling, despite the shape of the blades, because there are many differences as well.

WiSK said:
Isn't it just simpler to assume the three Akasa / CM / IDC are making this fan as a collaboration?
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That's very unlikely since these fans came out at totally different times. Coolermaster's XtraFlo Slim 120 was already available as part of their CPU cooler Gemnii M4 in January 2012 in my country, whereas Akasa AK-FN078 came out January of this year in my country. As for the ID-Cooling slim fan, I don't remember exactly the first time I found it, but I think I found it much later.

WiSK said:
And that the "enter" bearing is either licensed or a generic term?
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Is it a generic name? I don't think so. What about licensed? Yes it's possible, I can't deny that. I'm inclined to believe the likeliness of a fan advertised as Enter Bearing being an Everflow fan is high, from my experiences with seeing/owning many OEM fans none of which have (EBR) printed on them except for the ones by Everflow, but that could be because many of them were ball bearing fans.

Off topic but while I was googling Everflow fans, I found this blog entry by someone who bought Silverstone NT07-AM2, which comes with this 80x80x15mm fan. Enter Bearing, max 2400rpm, rated 26.9CFM. Too bad it doesn't turn on below 7V.
 
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The guys at Silverstone are an innovative bunch, so maybe they could make the first FDB slim fan. Or they could go with the method of fan blades of varying size to disperse noise.
 
Maybe its already been mentioned in this thread but I got a reply from a Silverstone representative that German stores would have it up for sale sometime in january.
 
Aibohphobia said:
Thanks! I've update the OP.
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"Thanks for your interest, the SX500-LG will be available in Germany at the end of January 2015."

Sorry, should doubled checked their answer prior to replying in this thread, seems like end of month. :eek:
 
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