Recommend a HIGH-powered & QUIET power supply?

[GnomeCop]

First off, is this even possible?
I need a very powerful power supply, like I'm talking 500+ watts at least.

I guess a very high quality 460-480watt PSU may be sufficient, but going for more power couldnt hurt. I was using a Zalman 400watt psu. It was very quiet, but it barely powered my system.

I have 4 HDs in my system along with 2 optical drives, 9800 pro, audigy2, a matrox pci card, and a buttload of fans. Sometimes, the system wouldnt even boot with the zalman psu, other times, it would do a hard lockup and I would have to press reset.

For the time being, I have a sparkle power 530watt psu in my system (wasn't going to chance it with the zalman anymore), which is excellent except for the noise.

Under normal use and idle, the comp is very quiet with the Sparkle psu. Under load, playing games, etc, the thing gets horrifically loud. Lately I've been playing painkiller so it doesnt matter because the music drowns everything out, but I dont know if I can take much more.

I have been looking at the Silverstone 460watt psu, which looks to be the most powerful PSU on the market that utilizes the single 120mm fan design. The other runner ups I'm considering are the enermax 550w and some brand named Tagan.

Any PSU recommendations welcome. Hopefully I can find something that will power all the crap in my system and be less noisy at the same time.

 

[jswjimmy]

enermax 600watt noisetaker $160 link

 

[Gravity]

I'm skeptical about that being too quiet. I used the Zalman 400 and it was inaudible. It may be all you need.

 

[fireontheway]

powerful, but i'm not sure if its silent enough for you ...

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: Gravity
I'm skeptical about that being too quiet. I used the Zalman 400 and it was inaudible. It may be all you need.

I have the Zalman, and it's far from inaudible. I dropped a Panaflo L1a in mine to calm it down. It's much better now. Although it should be noted, there are few power supplies as quiet as the Zalman in stock form.

 

[spelletrader]

Originally posted by: jswjimmy
enermax 600watt noisetaker $160 link

 

[ColossusX]

I have the PC Power & Cooling 510 Deluxe and cant hear it over my 120mm case fan. It will have NO problem powering everything you have.

 

[pelikan]

SPCR

 

[FiberoN]

Antec SmartPower 400w anyone?

 

[gordanfreeman]

with all honesty i can say that i can not hear my antec true480W PSU over any of my fans. i just unplugged both 120mm case fans and i still heard my HSF and gfx card HSF over the PSU. of course im not under much load right now, but i cant remember a time the PSU made a noticable amount of noise. the antec truepower PSU's are known for providing reliable power rails, and antec in general is a quality PSU manufacturer. if feel you need the power, antec has PSU's up to 550W but i would bet the 480 would be ok.

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: FiberoN
Antec SmartPower 400w anyone?

I would hardly dare to call that quiet. I would rather try a Fortron.

 

[dmcowen674]

Allied 400 and I disabled extra Fan on the bottom so as quiet as any PS I'v had.

Had to get the Allied 400 Watter when previous No Name 500 watt supply would not power up 3200+ XP when I got the chip to upgrade from 1600 XP to the Barton in my A7N8X Board.

 

[Anubis]

my antec Truepower 430 is scilent, i woudent expect the TP 500 to be any louder

and a 430 shoudl power all that just fine

I have
4HDs
2 Optical Drives
Floppy
4 case fans running on 4 pin molex
Vantec tornado 80mm 4pin on the HS
Mobile 2400+ @ 2.3GHz 1.7V
Audigy
PCI IDE Card
PCI TV Tuner
USB ZIP drive
USB Card Reader
TI 4600
and some other things

 

[drewdogg808]

Originally posted by: ColossusX
I have the PC Power & Cooling 510 Deluxe and cant hear it over my 120mm case fan. It will have NO problem powering everything you have.

hmm...my 510 deluxe is the loudest thing in my system..i definitely hear it over everything, especially when it speeds up. the antec 480 i had was extremely quiet, more than the enermax 550 i had too.

 

[Axon]

Antec True Control 550w has adjustable fan volume.

 

[twajetmech]

FWIW I have no issues with the noise my P/S makes (see my sig). I'm sure its not the quietest but It gives all the power I need, stable and has enough room if I ever want to add more stuff.
twajetmech

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: Anubis
my antec Truepower 430 is scilent, i woudent expect the TP 500 to be any louder

and a 430 shoudl power all that just fine

I have
4HDs
2 Optical Drives
Floppy
4 case fans running on 4 pin molex
Vantec tornado 80mm 4pin on the HS
Mobile 2400+ @ 2.3GHz 1.7V
Audigy
PCI IDE Card
PCI TV Tuner
USB ZIP drive
USB Card Reader
TI 4600
and some other things

I like how you say the Truepower 430 is silent, then say you have 4 case fans and at least one Tornado.

 

[amdskip]

My 430 true power is quiet too IMHO and all my fans are panaflos and hard drives are seagates with a zalman on the video card.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: amdskip
My 430 true power is quiet too IMHO and all my fans are panaflos and hard drives are seagates with a zalman on the video card.

OMG TEH PANAFLOEEZZZ?!

Panaflo makes their share of 35-40db screamers (the M, H and U series). And more than 2 or 3 80mm L1As make enough noise to drown out hard drives, etc. and make other noises difficult to isolate. Do you have a panaflo on your processor?

That was a very vague statement to try to justify the quietness of the 480 truepower.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: Anubis
my antec Truepower 430 is scilent, i woudent expect the TP 500 to be any louder

and a 430 shoudl power all that just fine

I have
4HDs
2 Optical Drives
Floppy
4 case fans running on 4 pin molex
Vantec tornado 80mm 4pin on the HS
Mobile 2400+ @ 2.3GHz 1.7V
Audigy
PCI IDE Card
PCI TV Tuner
USB ZIP drive
USB Card Reader
TI 4600
and some other things

I like how you say the Truepower 430 is silent, then say you have 4 case fans and at least one Tornado.

ok but before i had this case, all i had was the TP430 and teh stock fan on my XP1700+ stock fan made more noise, at first i wasent sure if teh power supply was on, i had to put my hand behind the case to see if teh fan was blowing

and Nebor: even in systems liek dells that use really quite fans and a CPU duct ive NEVER been able to hear a HDD, IMO HDD dont make any noise and most of you are crazy i think, same with CD-Roms and Burners, other then initial Spin up, they dont make any noise,

 

[Nebor]

Oh my gosh! My HDDs are the dominant noise in my system. I can hear them right now, whirring away softly. Other than that it's that damn VGA silencer, screaming quietly.

And CD drives make a lot of noise throughout their use, particularly noticable when playing DVD-Audio, since there's no way to rip DVD-A to your HD to avoid that noise.

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: amdskip
My 430 true power is quiet too IMHO and all my fans are panaflos and hard drives are seagates with a zalman on the video card.

OMG TEH PANAFLOEEZZZ?!

Panaflo makes their share of 35-40db screamers (the M, H and U series). And more than 2 or 3 80mm L1As make enough noise to drown out hard drives, etc. and make other noises difficult to isolate. Do you have a panaflo on your processor?

That was a very vague statement to try to justify the quietness of the 480 truepower.

O whatever, I have 4 of them and I have an adjustable fan on the processor.

 

[GnomeCop]

Right now , my sparkle power 530watt seems to be getting the job done power wise, but the fans seem to get a little crazy when the system is under load.

Ithe consensus overall from people that I've asked is the enermax 600w is a solid choice for a quiet performing high wattage psu. I am still not certain about pc power and cooling's turbo cool series because they require modding, and the silencer psus are too weak.

I prefer to not mod my psu,, i'm too lazy.
Just the thought of re-cabling my system tires me out, so I'd like to save some work wherever possible.