Rob.Screene
Prominent Member
[Edit: added review links and extracts, plus add Seasonic UK supplier]
Following on from Retro's radical external PSU idea, JohnS's experience and I'm sure Jeff has had a nice PSU or two! I thought it's time to bring knowledge on modern PSU's together.
Enermax have been praised for accurate, clean volts and being quiet in the past. Since then some reviews have found them far from the quietest.
I have an Enermax Whisper in my HTPC which isn't totally silent and an Enermax Whisper PFC (manual+auto fan control) which pretty much is silent, but then again it's in my desktop that has two averagely loud Western Digital 7200rpm BB hard disks so they may be masking the PSU noise a bit.
I did notice that the Enermax gave me a noticably better, noise free capture with an IDS Falcon at the time of the change from the original generic 300W PSU that came with my first case.
I think only users of power hungry Radeon 9700's+ or triple multi hard disk raid arrays in a HTPC will need over a 300W rated unit. Higer ratings can mean more component heat and hence more air that needs moving (and noise) to cool them.
Here's some that I've read ought to be good:-
a) Antec TruePower 330PGB 330W ATX 2.03 AMD/P4 Dual Fan £39.00 http://www.dabs.com
Good temp sensitive dual fan speed curve, plus two similarly controlled case fan feeds.
Review: http://mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/truepower330/
b) Enermax EG365AX-G-FMA PSU 350W with Manual Fan Control/Temp Control 2Yr £33/£31 ex VAT http://www.scan.co.uk
Review: http://mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/enermax365fca/
c) Zalman 300A-APF Ultra Quiet PSU 300W £47.00 http://www.aria.co.uk
"Pros: Extremely quiet, Temp sensor controlled output fan, Plenty of device connectors, The Multi-Connector,
Great voltage regulation."
Review: http://www.ocaddiction.com/reviews/psu/zalman_300w/
"Very quiet 300W, cool operation, big heatsinks, intelligent fan control. Handy 5V/12V multiconnector for fans. Active PFC. Sample exhibited a negligible amount of coil buzzing. 6/02"
"The Zalman PSU does a better job of keeping itself and the case cooler. Both CPU and PSU temperatures are significantly lower than with the Seasonic, suggesting better hot air exhaust and throughput due to its higher fan voltage. The large heatsinks in the Zalman may also contribute to the lower PSU temperature. All of this is likely related to the efficiency ratings of the two PSU: 75% for the Zalman vs. 65% for the Seasonic.
The ambient temperature was 3° C higher when the Zalman was tested; one can conjecture that at 23° C, the Zalman would have provided lower CPU and PSU temperatures and/or lower noise.
The tradeoff in the Zalman may be a slightly faster rate of fan noise increase under load. However, the slightly lower noise of the fan in the Zalman may offset its higher driving voltage. "
Review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/modul...ns&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=24&page=1
d) Quietpc ATX Ultra-Quiet PSU 300W AMD Approved - £52.00 http://www.quietpc.com
"I can say that in a normal room this PSU is noiseless. For that I mean that you need to put your ears really close to the fan to hear it spinning, and even then its just a low noise. Its about the same as the Zalmans PSU. For comparison, the Enermax wishper is noisier because of its dual fan design."
Review: http://mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/quietpc300/
e) Seasonic SS300-FS 300W intelligent thermal fan control £42.50 http://www.koolnquiet.co.uk
"Very quiet 300W, neck & neck with Zalman; runs a bit hotter. All Seasonic PSU utilize their smart S2FC fan control for minimum noise. Active PFC. Note: All Seasonic PSUs feature the S2FC fan control; preliminary firsthand examination of entire line is promising. 6/02"
"Compared to ALL other unmodified power supply units I have used, the Seasonic SS-300FS is about the quietest. These other units include 2 models of Enermax, SH, Zalman and many generic power supplies. Despite the slightly quieter startup noise level of the Zalman ST-300BLP, that unit's rapid speedup makes it significantly more intrusive than the Seasonic, overall. As mentioned before, this is the same behavior observed in the Enermax and SH models, as described in detail in my previous PSU articles. "
Review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/modul...ns&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=24&page=1
Review: http://mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/ss303540fs/
Reference: http://www.seasonic.com/products/p_atx12v.htm
f) Dangerous passive cooled open PSU! Would still need a 80mm case exhaust fan in place of PSU's fans!
g) Add panaflow 80mm fan and speed controller to an existing PSU. How do you know it's still running within it's design thermal limits? One unit with a panafow mod burnt out in a web test I read somwhere.
I've added a poll to make summarising results more interesting.
Your comments and experience appreciated.
regards,
Rob.
Keywords: Chosing choosing pc power supply psu power-supply
Following on from Retro's radical external PSU idea, JohnS's experience and I'm sure Jeff has had a nice PSU or two! I thought it's time to bring knowledge on modern PSU's together.
Enermax have been praised for accurate, clean volts and being quiet in the past. Since then some reviews have found them far from the quietest.
I have an Enermax Whisper in my HTPC which isn't totally silent and an Enermax Whisper PFC (manual+auto fan control) which pretty much is silent, but then again it's in my desktop that has two averagely loud Western Digital 7200rpm BB hard disks so they may be masking the PSU noise a bit.
I did notice that the Enermax gave me a noticably better, noise free capture with an IDS Falcon at the time of the change from the original generic 300W PSU that came with my first case.
I think only users of power hungry Radeon 9700's+ or triple multi hard disk raid arrays in a HTPC will need over a 300W rated unit. Higer ratings can mean more component heat and hence more air that needs moving (and noise) to cool them.
Here's some that I've read ought to be good:-
a) Antec TruePower 330PGB 330W ATX 2.03 AMD/P4 Dual Fan £39.00 http://www.dabs.com
Good temp sensitive dual fan speed curve, plus two similarly controlled case fan feeds.
Review: http://mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/truepower330/
b) Enermax EG365AX-G-FMA PSU 350W with Manual Fan Control/Temp Control 2Yr £33/£31 ex VAT http://www.scan.co.uk
Review: http://mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/enermax365fca/
c) Zalman 300A-APF Ultra Quiet PSU 300W £47.00 http://www.aria.co.uk
"Pros: Extremely quiet, Temp sensor controlled output fan, Plenty of device connectors, The Multi-Connector,
Great voltage regulation."
Review: http://www.ocaddiction.com/reviews/psu/zalman_300w/
"Very quiet 300W, cool operation, big heatsinks, intelligent fan control. Handy 5V/12V multiconnector for fans. Active PFC. Sample exhibited a negligible amount of coil buzzing. 6/02"
"The Zalman PSU does a better job of keeping itself and the case cooler. Both CPU and PSU temperatures are significantly lower than with the Seasonic, suggesting better hot air exhaust and throughput due to its higher fan voltage. The large heatsinks in the Zalman may also contribute to the lower PSU temperature. All of this is likely related to the efficiency ratings of the two PSU: 75% for the Zalman vs. 65% for the Seasonic.
The ambient temperature was 3° C higher when the Zalman was tested; one can conjecture that at 23° C, the Zalman would have provided lower CPU and PSU temperatures and/or lower noise.
The tradeoff in the Zalman may be a slightly faster rate of fan noise increase under load. However, the slightly lower noise of the fan in the Zalman may offset its higher driving voltage. "
Review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/modul...ns&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=24&page=1
d) Quietpc ATX Ultra-Quiet PSU 300W AMD Approved - £52.00 http://www.quietpc.com
"I can say that in a normal room this PSU is noiseless. For that I mean that you need to put your ears really close to the fan to hear it spinning, and even then its just a low noise. Its about the same as the Zalmans PSU. For comparison, the Enermax wishper is noisier because of its dual fan design."
Review: http://mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/quietpc300/
e) Seasonic SS300-FS 300W intelligent thermal fan control £42.50 http://www.koolnquiet.co.uk
"Very quiet 300W, neck & neck with Zalman; runs a bit hotter. All Seasonic PSU utilize their smart S2FC fan control for minimum noise. Active PFC. Note: All Seasonic PSUs feature the S2FC fan control; preliminary firsthand examination of entire line is promising. 6/02"
"Compared to ALL other unmodified power supply units I have used, the Seasonic SS-300FS is about the quietest. These other units include 2 models of Enermax, SH, Zalman and many generic power supplies. Despite the slightly quieter startup noise level of the Zalman ST-300BLP, that unit's rapid speedup makes it significantly more intrusive than the Seasonic, overall. As mentioned before, this is the same behavior observed in the Enermax and SH models, as described in detail in my previous PSU articles. "
Review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/modul...ns&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=24&page=1
Review: http://mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/ss303540fs/
Reference: http://www.seasonic.com/products/p_atx12v.htm
f) Dangerous passive cooled open PSU! Would still need a 80mm case exhaust fan in place of PSU's fans!
g) Add panaflow 80mm fan and speed controller to an existing PSU. How do you know it's still running within it's design thermal limits? One unit with a panafow mod burnt out in a web test I read somwhere.
I've added a poll to make summarising results more interesting.
Your comments and experience appreciated.
regards,
Rob.
Keywords: Chosing choosing pc power supply psu power-supply