Got my Super Silencer A3

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 9:45 pm

Now I see what the fuss is all about! This PSU is leagues better than the A2, which disappointed me from the beginning. Sent the RMA in 2 weeks ago and received the A3 today. How about some data?

System was as described here, except that I'd changed the Speedfan settings. With the Zalman at 32-40%, its RPM runs 1240-1450. The NB is at 40-50%, 2300-3000 RPM. With my ear more than 1' from the front of the case, both are inaudible on high.

I put the A3 in to find it idles at 1180, rather than the A2's 1430. The Enermax required reducing, so I left the fan's adjuster on minimum, hooked it to the Sunbeam, and fed it about 8V. Very roughly, that should drop it from 1800 to 1200. These changes made a big improvement in idle noise, but the acid test is what the A3 does under load. After 40 minutes of Prime95, RPM had climbed to 1500. This is about 600 below what the A2's fan did. Reported temps:

Code: Select all

          Idle    Load
Ambient    21      21
Case       29      31
CPU        40      60
PWM        32      46
HD         na      35

My system is now quieter under load than it was at idle.

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 9:56 pm

Forgot something. Based on the A3's fan spec and my power consumption, it looks like my 350 does give a little more fan voltage than the 400 that MikeC tested. The numbers are extremely rough, but would validate Seasonic's claim that higher-power PSUs run quieter at moderate loads.

RLiu818 · Post by **RLiu818** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 1:31 am

what wattage is your Super Silencer?

And does it come with integrated SATA power connectors or does it come with an adapter?

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 2:34 am

Thanks for the very informative update!

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 6:28 am

HammerSandwich - You finally got an A3... heh

With my 460W A3, it idled, as you've heard me say a million times before, @ 1725 RPM. Maybe I had a higher load, I don't know. Maybe it's because of the higher wattage rating. In any case, I'm glad you are satisfied with the A3, I am too (minus the whine with the 9800 XT in it). Hopefully someday perhaps I'll try to see how to eliminate the whine/find what is causing it and fix it.

bobov · Post by **bobov** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 8:19 am

I swapped the fan in my SS A3 to panoflo M1ABX. Now the fan speed at idle dropped from ~1480rpm to ~1050rpm, which is quieter than before.

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 10:31 am

Cool... very cool. I may try that, perhaps it will eliminate the whine!

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 11:52 am

RLiu818 wrote:what wattage is your Super Silencer?

And does it come with integrated SATA power connectors or does it come with an adapter?

It's a 350 and came with a single Molex-to-SATA adapter. This is as MikeC wrote in "Revisited", with the 400+W models getting the "server-level" upgrades.

oceancyc · Post by **oceancyc** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 2:17 pm

Where'd you get the A3?
And is the whine caused by the fan or some sort of interference?

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 2:19 pm

I got mine from excaliburpc.com.

I don't have the Super Silencer in the computer at the moment, but I am pretty sure that it was fan-related. Why, you ask? Well I had a GF FX 5200 Ultra when I first had the A3. A while later, I got a 9800 XT. That was when the whining started to happen. I believe that it is due to the increased load, that thus the fan would idle @ a higher RPM, and it was @ that specific RPM that the whine would begin. Before the 9800 XT, it was really silent.

Got my Super Silencer A3

Got my Super Silencer A3

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