Anyone know the decibel rating of the Enermax 350 ATX??

[videotips]

Anyone know the decibael rating on the powersupply? Im debating between the Enermax 350 or the Silencer 275 ATX which is 36 db.
I really dont want to buy the silencer because I dont know if it will have enough power for my system, but I work in an audio/video editing environment and cant have much noise.

Athlon 800
256 pc100 ram
one 15 gig 7200 rpm drive
two 30 gig 7200 rpm drives
matrox g400, rt2000 video capture, sb live, network card
3" intake fan, pci slot exhaust fan(real quite!), two hard drive fans(quiet themselves but hard drive noise comes through the vents, any way to fix that?)

 

[boomerang]

I'm sorry but I don't know the db rating on the Enermax. I can tell that it is considerably louder than the Silencer 275.

I was using the Silencer and it was whisper quiet. I bought the Enermax because I thought the second fan might be an alternative to a blowhole in my machine.

I noticed no difference temperature wise and a dramatic difference noise wise.

The Silencer was unnoticable over the other fans I was already running. The Enermax can be heard over all the other fans.

On a side note, I had thought that the fan(s) on the Enermax were thermostatically controlled. I have never noticed any RPM change even with the sidecover off. If I plug the RPM monitor lead into my BX6 R2, the system locks up. So I can't monitor the RPM that way.

 

[Guardian]

What case fans are you using cause I would't mind getting a few. My Enermax350 cannot be heard over my Panaflo 120mm L1A's.

 

[boomerang]

I've got a generic 80mm on the back. I've spaced it away from the back wall about 3/8". Keeps is real quiet.

I've had the same setup on the front bottom, but saw no difference in temperature.

I've got a hard drive cooler similar to the Ultra Thin Exhauster. Can't remember the name of it.

I had a Super Slot Cooler under my video card, but got tired of it drooping down and humming on the card underneath. I've got a Gamma, whatever it is, blowing on the video card's heatsink now.

Lastly, a Vantec P3-5030 on my P3 450 @ 558. I just put some of that Arctic Silver on the processor this morning. It dropped my temp 5 degrees to 102. I run RC5, so the processor is getting a workout.

Sorry I can't remember all the names of these pieces, I've picked them up one by one over the past year or so. The names aren't fresh in my mind.

 

[Redneck]

Boomerang, I have a very good feeling that the connector you pluugged nto yor mobo was NOT for rpm monitoring. AS far as i know, the ps doest have this feature. A rpm monitor would only need 1 wire. I think you acciddentaly plugged in a power connector. Consider yourself 1 very lucky person that you did not fry your board when you did that.

 

[thermite88]

boomerang,

The FM (fan monitor) connector on the Emermax PS has only two wires. One for ground and one for fan monitor/control. You have to make sure that the control wire is not connected to the +12 volts line of your motherboard connector pin. I have test over half a dozen Enermax, both 350 and 450W. The fan starts at very low rpm, typically under 2100. Some MB has a fan rpm limit (minimum) of 2100-2200 rpm and will refuse to start when the fan is "too slow". In that case, you will have to disable the fan monitoring in the MB BIOS. I have an Addtronics 7890A case, the Enermax fan runs at 2200-2300 after the system warms up. I have used the Enermax supply on Asus and MSI motherboards without any lockup problem. Chech your Abit BIOS to see if the low fan rpm is the issue.

The Enermax fan is one of the best that I have seen in a power supply. If you cannot thermostatically control or monitor the fan, there is something wrong with your setup or the PS itself. When running at the rated rpm, the Enermax fan is very quiet.

 

[lenjack]

I think dB rating is on their website.

 

[boomerang]

Thanks thermite88, I had read some posts regarding the fan monitoring here at the forums. I'm pretty well versed on the BIOS on my BX6 R2, and don't believe there is any way to disable the fan monitoring.

I checked the pin outs on the fan header in the mobo manual and I believe the wiring on the FM connector is correct. However, it could be reversed. It has a wire in both the outboard cavities of the connector. No wire in the middle. As I said, although the connector is keyed to only go on one way, the wires could still be reversed. I have not tried to reverse them for fear of creating a bigger problem. I assumed the chip (winbond?) that has to do with the monitoring was incompatable with only a two wire connector. Perhaps it needed that third wire. The documentation that came with the PS is very sparse.

I believe I will contact the people I purchased it from and get some feedback from them. I appreciate your advice very much and welcome any more you may have.

 

[thermite88]

boomerang,

The middle pin of the MB fan connectory is the +12V. As long as it is open, you are ok. I believe the ground wire is black from the PS fan monitor plug. Good luck.

BTW, you are absolutely right that the Enermax document left much to be desired.

 

[boomerang]

I emailed the outfit I bought it from and they emailed me right back. "The Head Geek" over there said that he had experienced the same lock-ups on other Abit boards also. He feels it is due to the RPM being so low on the fans and the threshold built into the motherboard.

Sounds like what's going on with my board is normal.

 

[Redman7]

Hey boomerang, from where did u purchase ur enermax?

 

[boomerang]

I got it from Russ at http://www.compucheap.com