SPCR

I was originally going to go with a p180, but after a trip to Fry's I have been swayed by the p150's stylish looks. The trouble is, the psu that I had all picked out has a 120-mm fan. That's fine for the p180, but not so great for the case I want now. My question is, which psu is best for the p150? I would like quiet, modular if possible, with enough power for an 8800GTX and C2D.

born2code wrote:I was originally going to go with a p180, but after a trip to Fry's I have been swayed by the p150's stylish looks. The trouble is, the psu that I had all picked out has a 120-mm fan. That's fine for the p180, but not so great for the case I want now. My question is, which psu is best for the p150? I would like quiet, modular if possible, with enough power for an 8800GTX and C2D.

The P150 comes complete with troublesome NeoHE 430 PSU. The Solo is the same case but without a PSU, and comes in black/silver and minus the stealthed bay covers.

I picked up my new system last Monday.

A P150 with e6600 and a Corsair HX520. Modular with a 120mm fan. Normally very quiet but will spin up faster when needed, especially when gaming.

We had our last case for close to seven years. I decided it was worth the expense to get the case look I wanted and to replace the power supply.

I'm very, very happy with it.

It's so much quieter and cooler over what we had. Really quiet.

(as an aside, my Nexus 92mm fans currently aren't working, 2 in the front and 1 as an second fan on the Noctua NH-U9F CPU cooler, and the temps are still nice.)

My 2 cents,

You mentioned that a PSU with a 120mm fan wouldn't work well with the P 150- a standard ATX configuration? To the contrary, it should work fine, the 120mm fan in the power supply not only cools the PSU, but helps vent the case. Some quiet PC's (maximumpc made one) have used that singe 120mmPSU fan as the only "case" fan.

Seasonic makes good PSU's. Click the recomended link on this site; there are detailed reviews, including noise levels. Quietpc.com and tomshardware.com are other sources.

Antec powersuppplies have had some issues with Asus motherboards, but that may be a thing of the past now.

Antec powersuppplies have had some issues with Asus motherboards, but that may be a thing of the past now.

The NeoHE complaint thread is still alive and well, most recent post was today. It's not just Asus MBs either.

DeltaForce wrote:You mentioned that a PSU with a 120mm fan wouldn't work well with the P 150- a standard ATX configuration? To the contrary, it should work fine, the 120mm fan in the power supply not only cools the PSU, but helps vent the case. Some quiet PC's (maximumpc made one) have used that singe 120mmPSU fan as the only "case" fan.

If it's all right to use the power supply as an exhaust, then why do some people go to so much trouble to create separate zones? I thought sending hot air into psu intake was bad.

born2code wrote: If it's all right to use the power supply as an exhaust, then why do some people go to so much trouble to create separate zones? I thought sending hot air into psu intake was bad.

The more heat you pump into the PSU, the faster its fan has to spin, thus more noise. It's that simple. However, if you have cool parts (CPU/GPU etc) then you can use the PSU fan to exhaust case heat (the ATX spec was actually designed to allow this) and eliminate the case fan. less fans = less noise (not always, sometimes it's better in terms of noise to have many slow fans rather than one fast fan, but generally). So with very cool parts you could end up with the power supply fan being the only fan in the PC.

born2code wrote:I was originally going to go with a p180, but after a trip to Fry's I have been swayed by the p150's stylish looks. The trouble is, the psu that I had all picked out has a 120-mm fan. That's fine for the p180, but not so great for the case I want now. My question is, which psu is best for the p150? I would like quiet, modular if possible, with enough power for an 8800GTX and C2D.

Nothing wrong with a 120mm PSU in a P150. On the other hand, the NeoHE that comes with the case is already quiet, and has modular cables.

Kremmit wrote: Nothing wrong with a 120mm PSU in a P150.

The problem with a 120mm PSU in a compact case, like the P150/Solo, is that the PSU fan and the rear case fan, are in such close proximity, they are fighting each other for the same air, therefore conflict between the fans, leaving both fans not working to their full efficiency. Also potential conflict with the CPU coolers air flow. You could build a shielding duct over the rear case fan, towards the CPU cooler.

Kremmit wrote: On the other hand, the NeoHE that comes with the case is already quiet, and has modular cables.

It's also troublesome. I don't know if that's why born2code is looking for a PSU, but then why didn't he get the Solo? He hasn't explained.

My recomendation would be the Antec EarthWatts, with an 80mm rear fan. Same air-flow advantage over 120mm PSU's (as per NeoHE). Some people say this PSU is close in design to the NeoHE, but the electronis are closer to the Seasonic S12’s –according to SPCR’s Devon. It's just as quiet as the NeoHE, so you're only sacrafising modular cables, to achieve all important reliability/compatibility, and cheap too - that's what I'd go for.

As far as I can tell, the Solo is only available in silver/black--I want silver/white--but the question still remains, should I use the power supply as an exhaust or should I put it in a separate zone?

Sooty wrote:

Kremmit wrote: Nothing wrong with a 120mm PSU in a P150.

The problem with a 120mm PSU in a compact case, like the P150/Solo, is that the PSU fan and the rear case fan, are in such close proximity, they are fighting each other for the same air, therefore conflict between the fans, leaving both fans not working to their full efficiency. Also potential conflict with the CPU coolers air flow. You could build a shielding duct over the rear case fan, towards the CPU cooler.

Replace just a few words and you get a common problem with another case:

The problem with a 120mm top exhaust in a big case, like the P180, is that the top exhaust and the rear case fan, are in such close proximity, they are fighting each other for the same air, therefore conflict between the fans, leaving both fans not working to their full efficiency.

The solution chosen by most P180 owners- remove one of the redundant fans and cover the hole. Since the point of a PSU with a big bottom mount fan is that (in a case with a regular layout like the P150) it'll pull the hot air directly from the heatsink area and exhaust it from the case. It's what they're designed to do. Just skip the rear fan, cover the hole, and let the PSU fan do the work. Admittedly, that's going to put some extra heat into the PSU, but he is using a nice cool C2D. He could even duct that hot vid card to the rear exhaust hole instead of covering it up.

Before I bought my P150 I already had S12 430W so I was v happy to be able to test the S12 against the NeoHE. As you can see the S12 won. And it was only beceause it was quieter. Not by much, but still quieter, especially under load. The NeoHE - even with a duct - would ramp up faster and stay on high RPM longer. I miss its modular cables, but since P150 allows good cable management it's not really serious. Overall temps inside the case didn't change at all. Also, I didn't have any problems with the NeoHE although I have an Asus mobo. My NeoHE was made in July 2006 and was and still is (my pal has it now) perfectly stable.
I'm very happy with this setup and can honestly recommend it to anyone.

Cool Im thinking in buying Antec Solo + Seasonic S12-430, it must be a killer combo

cheers

typ0 wrote:Cool Im thinking in buying Antec Solo + Seasonic S12-430, it must be a killer combo

I have this combo. It's pretty good. Slightly depends on what you're going to put in it. I have six hard drives in mine and it's not inaudible, but the noise it does make is atonal, so it's easy to ignore.

Hello,

I'm not sure where the idea of "fighting for the same air" comes from -- I've been using an even more compact case, the Evercase 4252, with 120mm fanned PSU for a while now, and never had a problem. The Solo is downright roomy compared to the 4252.

This sort of arrangement makes it pretty easy to go "passive" with a good HS, like the Ninja. Eliminate the fan on the HS, and still stay very cool...

Exactly,
it is so easy to cool things with just the fan in the S12 and the Ninja passive. No case fan and no fan on the HS for a modest system although with a very hot Prescott.
I have onboard video so I can't say what it will be with a proper video card but my temps are perfect (32-38 idle and max 53 load)

The idea of "fighting for the same air" is suggested in this spcr review: nexus nx3500 120mm psu

Read section 7 - what about with a case fan? When the 80mm exhaust fan was turned on, psu noise went up by 2-3 dba.