Efficient (also in standby), low noise, low power PSU

EFoppen · Post by **EFoppen** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 3:20 am

Apart from wanting a no/low noise PC, I prefer to have a power efficient system. So far I came to a nearly totally silent pc using approx 61watt in idle mode with the following components:

Silverstone ST30NF Fanless PSU (300w)
1xNoctua 120mm fan (case)
1xNoctua 80mm fan (CPU)
MSI 945GT Speedster A4R motherboard (mobile on desktop)
T7200 C2D Mobile CPU
2x1Gb RAM
1xoptical drive OptiArc 7170s (not really silent, but rarely used)
1xHitachi HD in silent mode

My business laptop is more noisy, but consumes less power.

I am absolutely fine with the noise level, and power consumption of just over 60watt - acceptable. However, this power supply uses 16watt while the computer is not even turned on! The previous no-name PSU I used did approx 10watt, this expensive PSU should do better. At the same time I do not know how efficient this 300watt PSU is at low power consumption when the total system consumption is ~60watt.

So I am considering a new PSU, but it should do the following:

Fanless design
Very low standby consumption
Min 120watt
High efficiency at let's say 60-100watt
Prefer ATX form factor, easier to install

Do PSUs like these exist? Of course I could switch the PSU even off, but that is far from convenient.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 6:42 am

have you thought of getting shuko with power switch and turn of computer with that switch then computer uses 0 watts when turned off. You could also think getting Pico PSU instead regular form factor one.

Post by **MikeC** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:58 am

thejamppa wrote:have you thought of getting shuko with power switch and turn of computer with that switch then computer uses 0 watts when turned off. You could also think getting Pico PSU instead regular form factor one.

Yup, a powerbar is far more efficient (both in terms of direct electricity consumption and the environmental cost of production) than a new PSU.

EFoppen · Post by **EFoppen** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 9:11 am

Yes - have thought about it. But as the computer is also acting as a PVR with its TV-tuner, it needs to be powered most of the time. Agree that throwing the PSU away does not reduce my CO2 footprint!

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 6:48 am

Iâ€™ve owned two Silverstone ST30NF units and they both consumed 4W when off and 4 or 5W on standby. The first was an early revision with a 20 pin ATX power connector and the second the more recent revision with a 24 pin connector and a PCI-E 6 pin connector.
I was running a mixture of Core Duo (mobile) and Core 2 Duo (desktop) systems with these power supplies. This is in the UK where the voltage is 240.

So before changing your Silverstone I would check that something else isnâ€™t causing the problem or try and see if the unit is faulty.