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Higher powered PSU to quiet the system down?

aphex

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
Moderator
After replacing the fan on my video card, the loudest component in my system is now my PSU (Cooler Master Extreme 500), which is relatively quiet under most circumstances; however, it spun up quite a bit today when the video card was taxed (GTS 250).

Would putting a more powerful PSU into the system help keep the noise down? So when the video card is pulling more power, the PSU is able to keep the power level without needing to heat up.
 
You can definitely reduce or even eliminate PSU fan noise. Calculate your power usage at load and checkout the Seasonic X-series.

X-04.jpg
 
Lots of PSUs besides X series have fan control that correlates with load, although they may not fully turn off the fan at low loads like X series does. The passive mode isn't really that essential because the low RPM mode is very, very quiet.
 
The Coolermaster Silent Pro Hybrid series doesn't spin the fan until 200w, it also comes with a fan controller, that can manually or automatically control the fan speed of up to I believe 5 fans (2 directly into the CPU, 3 into the panel).

Also there are some fanless units out there for your power envelope.
 
The Corsair AX PSUs are very quiet low load. I barely hear my running when sitting on the desktop. Same internals as the Seasonic X-series!
 
aphex said:
After replacing the fan on my video card, the loudest component in my system is now my PSU (Cooler Master Extreme 500), which is relatively quiet under most circumstances; however, it spun up quite a bit today when the video card was taxed (GTS 250).

Would putting a more powerful PSU into the system help keep the noise down? So when the video card is pulling more power, the PSU is able to keep the power level without needing to heat up.
Click to expand...

for the same relative efficiency curve (% efficiency at % load), a larger power supply is going to be less efficient than a smaller one at the same absolute load, up until about the 80% load mark for the smaller supply. that means more heat generated by the larger supply. which generally means more fan noise (though obviously fan selection plays into that a great deal).


that supply doesn't have an 80Plus label on it, so it's almost guaranteed to be less efficient than many current supplies. step up to a better 500 watt or perhaps lower if it'd better match your load. have a kill-a-watt to measure?
 
ElFenix said:
for the same relative efficiency curve (% efficiency at % load), a larger power supply is going to be less efficient than a smaller one at the same absolute load, up until about the 80% load mark for the smaller supply. that means more heat generated by the larger supply. which generally means more fan noise (though obviously fan selection plays into that a great deal).


that supply doesn't have an 80Plus label on it, so it's almost guaranteed to be less efficient than many current supplies. step up to a better 500 watt or perhaps lower if it'd better match your load. have a kill-a-watt to measure?
Click to expand...

It shows >70% typical efficiency on the website.

Power usage calculators show me at 275w at 90% load. Plugging in my Kilowatt now to check it out.

EDIT: Under normal usage its showing ~150w, under load its 250-270w which is when the fan starts spinning up.
 
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I vaguely recall having a Coolermaster something or other which died last year from vented caps. Its fan was a poor quality sleeve bearing model which had a disproportional increase in noise relative to system load. Just about any decent quality replacement would probably have been quieter.
 
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aphex said:
After replacing the fan on my video card, the loudest component in my system is now my PSU (Cooler Master Extreme 500), which is relatively quiet under most circumstances; however, it spun up quite a bit today when the video card was taxed (GTS 250).
Click to expand...

That's because it is a mediocre PSU that can barely do rated output. Get a decent PSU that is known to be quiet. You don't necessarily need super high wattage. GTS 250 doesn't need much - heck it would run on a good quality 300W PSU.
 
Zap said:
That's because it is a mediocre PSU that can barely do rated output. Get a decent PSU that is known to be quiet. You don't necessarily need super high wattage. GTS 250 doesn't need much - heck it would run on a good quality 300W PSU.
Click to expand...

Quoted because this is true.

High wattage doesn't always equal quality!
 
aphex said:
It shows >70% typical efficiency on the website.

Power usage calculators show me at 275w at 90% load. Plugging in my Kilowatt now to check it out.

EDIT: Under normal usage its showing ~150w, under load its 250-270w which is when the fan starts spinning up.
Click to expand...

70% is rather terrible right now. your computer is probably a bit under 200 watts so your supply is burning power. just get a 80 plus unit, either standard 80 plus or bronze.

cheap, fairly good:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139026
 
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