Quite Power Supply?

[BigJimbo]

ok im looking for quietness now (sick of whinning noise). Anyway I was looking at 3 different models around 400 watt and was wondering if there was any input on them

1. Enermax Whisper 350 ~$60
2. Zalman "Noise-Free" ~$100 Link
3. SilenX ~$100Link

i never heard of SilenX till tongith and supposidly they are the quietest on the market. From o a review i read about them they are VERY Good PSU's and underload maintain stablility.

money isnt a huge issue as quietness is.

ps. the reason for going quiet was i was watching T3 and well in the non action parts all you would hear would be weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee gets annoying

 

[mindwreck]

i would go with zalman or enermax. I have a enermax whisper 350 and its silent . zalmans i've heard from friends are truely quiet also

 

[Nebor]

My zalman makes no noise that I can detect, even w/ my ear pressed against the fan guard (apparently people like me are the reason for fan guards!)

Seriously though, the fan barely moves ANY air, but the air coming out is quite warm. if it matters to you, it did raise my case temp several degrees celcius, simply because this PS doesn't run that cool, it's a little heat radiator in your case.

 

[RalfHutter]

List of recommended quiet PSU's from SilentPCReview.com. Note that the list is broken into 2 sections, below 400W and above 400W.

 

[Gravity]

According to Silentpcreview, you don't need 400w psu to be effective. I bought the 300w seasonic psu and it's pretty darned quiet. about $49 bux if you shop for it.

Gravity

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: Gravity
According to Silentpcreview, you don't need 400w psu to be effective. I bought the 300w seasonic psu and it's pretty darned quiet. about $49 bux if you shop for it.

Gravity

That one is very quiet, you could also look at a Zalman though.

 

[dalfollo]

I have read good reiews on the fortan? check newegg...it uses a 120 fan and the reaer is just preforated and very quiet there is a 300w and a 350 that i have seen.

 

[mrzed]

I can say from personal experience that the enermax "whisper" series is misnamed. I may be a bit sensitive, but those things are barely better than average to my ears. Compared to it, thing like a fortron 120mm would be a much better choice, and move hot air out of the case better in the process.

 

[Corporate Thug]

i hear the thermaltakes are really quite

 

[klah]

I have the Thermaltake Silent PurePower W0011+PFC. There are two 80mm fans. The intake fan is fixed at 2400rpm while the exhaust fan can be manually controlled from ~900-4800rpm (available range is controlled by internal thermal sensor). I replaced the intake fan with a 8cm L1A @ 7V and keep the exhaust fan at the minimum setting and now it is extremely quiet.

 

[BigJimbo]

i went ahead and ordered the SilenX ill post comments when i get it

 

[Wigwam]

Originally posted by: mrzed
I can say from personal experience that the enermax "whisper" series is misnamed. I may be a bit sensitive, but those things are barely better than average to my ears. Compared to it, thing like a fortron 120mm would be a much better choice, and move hot air out of the case better in the process.

i agree - i was very diasppointed with my enermax 350W
also now i get this annoying high-pitched noise with the machine one; it wasnt there with the old psu and i have tried 2 new enermaxs with the same result:frown:

 

[Nebor]

As one of the few people here who actually HAVE a Zalman PS, I can tell you that it is truly silent. MY WD 800JBs are the only part in my system I can hear. 5x Panaflo L1As, 1x Zalman 92mm OP1 (attached to zalman vid card heatpipe), 1x Zalman 7000Cu. All connected to a Vantec fan controller. Turn them all down to the lowest setting, and bam, you hear the harddrives, and nothing else.

Having had an Antec 300w, I can say that this PS is FAR more quiet. I would really rate it as silent.

 

[dizzyshk]

ditto on zalman as well, i have 300w model and it is dead silent. it is little bit warm but it has been stable as rock.

 

[tallman45]

I have used Antec TruePower 430 and 480's and they can be virtually silent. Remember that the intake fan in most all power supplys acts as a case exhaust fan, if it pulls in hot/warm air the internal fan controller will speed up the fan thus creating more noise. Ensure that you have excellant intake and exhaust case fans so that the power supply does not have to handle this chore.

 

[techwanabe]

Originally posted by: tallman45
I have used Antec TruePower 430 and 480's and they can be virtually silent. Remember that the intake fan in most all power supplys acts as a case exhaust fan, if it pulls in hot/warm air the internal fan controller will speed up the fan thus creating more noise. Ensure that you have excellant intake and exhaust case fans so that the power supply does not have to handle this chore.

My Antec Smart Blue 350 W is very quiet. I had the case open and it was quiet, then put the side on and now it is essentially silent, and hard to tell the computer is on.

 

[Baronz]

Look in this thread

 

[ponyo]

350 Fortron with 120 mm fan is quiet and cheap. I used one for friend's build and it was virtually silent.

 

[BigJimbo]

ok heres the update i ordered the super silent SilenX 400watt PSU from SilenX.com

first off they ship super fast it got from cali to florida in 3 days, and they packaged it well

second off they kinda screwed up and gave me the NON PFC PS instead of the PFC (it was a free upgrade) so i call them up and they gave me a credit so i got it a little cheaper

3rd they give a $5 coupon for ordering and posting on reseller ratings.

as for the unit....my video card fan is now the loudest thing in the case....go figure this powersupply is super duper quiet and im quite impressed with it so far. so if any of you want a reccomendation on a good silent power supply i would reccomend this one


thanks again for all your input

oh yea..it wound up costing me $105 shipped from them with the credits they gave me ehh 10 bucks is 10 bucks

 

[Slogun]

here's a site that specializes in quiet PC parts. Perhaps the info there will help you decide.

To be truly quiet, you want it to be 20dB or less.

I wish I knew about this stuff before I bought my last 2 PSUs.

EDIT: Oh, sorry, didn't notice your last post that you already bought. Maybe the info will help someone else.
Yea, that SilenX.com is another good quiet PC site. That PSU you bought is <14dB