Best silent 500W PSU?

round oclock

Junior Member
Sep 12, 2006
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I was thinking of a Antec NEO HE 500 but if you got any cheaper&quieter option please let me know!

Thank you
 

Qi

Junior Member
Mar 21, 2004
14
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Not cheaper, but the Corsair HX520W is very quiet. It has high quality components, modular cables and 5 year warranty too. You can read the review at SPCR.
 

JEDIYoda

Lifer
Jul 13, 2005
33,986
3,320
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Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
Seasonic. Get the S12 if you can stand the cabling.... If you must have modular go for the M12.

I have heard some people say the seasonic is not all that silent anymore compared to other brands!!
 

Qi

Junior Member
Mar 21, 2004
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Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
Seasonic. Get the S12 if you can stand the cabling.... If you must have modular go for the M12.

I have heard some people say the seasonic is not all that silent anymore compared to other brands!!
Can you substantiate your claim with some reviews? So far, every review that I've read concludes that the Seasonic/Corsair PSU's are extraordinary quiet. Silent PC Review, a site dedicated entirely to PC acoustics, even says that the Seasonic/Corsair PSU's are the quietest fan-cooled PSUs they have tested to date.
 

ShockwaveVT

Senior member
Dec 13, 2004
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My new Seasonic M12 500 is very quiet. Quiet enough that I can't hear it over the 120mm exhaust fans in my case.
Can't really compare it to other PSU's on the market today, but its much quieter than my old Antec TruPower.

 

pkme2

Diamond Member
Sep 30, 2005
3,896
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My S12 600W is quieter than my case fans. My case fans are quite and I know the PSU is running by the warm air exiting in back.
 

Nickel020

Senior member
Jun 26, 2002
753
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Maybe they're not as quiet as they used to be, since they use ball bearing fans now instead of Yate Loons, but the "old" ones with Yate Loons were very close to inaudible. I mean my old P80 Samsung with a Nidec Motor (maybe the quitest 3,5" HD to date) is louder than my old Seasonic.
 

Skyguy

Senior member
Oct 7, 2006
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Why the switch? They cheaping out? I mean, why decrease quality and give their competitors a chance to catch up and take market share?
 

Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
47,982
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Originally posted by: Skyguy
Why the switch? They cheaping out? I mean, why decrease quality and give their competitors a chance to catch up and take market share?
I don't believe the new fans cost less to produce and use in the PSUs. It's a quality control thing - the performance of the old sleeve-bearing ones was too inconsistent, according to Seasonic (IIRC).
 

GalvanizedYankee

Diamond Member
Oct 27, 2003
6,986
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Sleeve bearing fans do not tolerate heat very well. Ball bearing fans do quite well with thier feet to the fire.
I imagine ceramic bearing fans tolerate heat well also.
PSU and HS fans should be ball or ceramic bearinged.


...Galvanized
 

Nickel020

Senior member
Jun 26, 2002
753
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Yeah, sleeve bearing fans aren't as durable as ball bearing fans. The Yate Loons are actually used in most cheap PSUs as they're cheap themselves, but they're also very quiet... cheap is not always bad. And most users won't notice the difference. If your video card isn't passively cooled and your HDs aren't in some sort of enclosure I doubt you'll hear the difference.