Nexus 350 Watt "Real Silent" Joke Right?

[alexander]

Hello, I know you this is probably the zillionth thread you have seen recommending a PSU but I have a few criteria.

1) Firstly, I am wondering if my Nexus PSU is malfunctioning by being so loud or if I am over powering the PSU by my components.

My System is:

Newcastle 3500+ 64 Bit With Freezer 64 @ 5v
6800GT 256mb With VF-700Cu @ 5v
Antec Slk3000B with 120mm Fan @ 5v
Chipset Fan @ 5v
Audigy 2
Dual Suspended Samsung Spinpoints
Dual PC3200 1GB RAM
DVD+RW

Basically all my fans in my view are silent, minus the PSU.

Could it be because my system needs so much power that the fan is constantly on full?

Or could it be dust that makes it loud?

I am really not good with electronics so I am not going to open the PSU up.


2) In the UK the Seasonic S12's are non-existent or just too darn expensive, what is the best alternative?

I have a fairly limited budget but anything up to £40 would be ok.

Would you suggest buying the Nexus 4090 as in your reviews?

I've been slightly put off at the thought as this one is fairly loud.

3) I was thinking of changing the CPU to a Venice core with better power consumption, would this be enough to make the PSU fan slow down?

4) Is there any software to monitor what the PSU is outputting?


Thanks for all your help so far, this is my final Silencing part in the PC

[VERiON]

Would you suggest buying the Nexus 4090 as in your reviews?

I've bought nexus 4090 and it is not as quiet as i thought it will be
But so far it is quietest PSU i ever have. It has som clicking fan noise - i think the fan is little unbalanced. But YMMW.

If your setup is running rock stable and only bad thing s the PSU noise - then you can skip buying new PSU, because this one have enough juices to run your hardware.

Instead - try to improve heat exhaust in your system.

If most of the heat is escaping thru the PSU - its thermal controlled fan is ramping up to its maximum. PSU is designed to work at 40-50 'C max (max safe temp) and thermal diode in psu fan goes crazy when air entering psu is at 40 'C, because speeding psu fan to the max can't get enough cool air to PSU.

so... If you don't want to modify your PSU (it nullifies your fire insurance) you can:

1. feed the psu with fresh air (search forum for "psu duct")

I don't like this method because i have case with front doors and because it is hard to duct fresh air NOT from front of the case and the front intake is the great way for noise to escape - but it could be done in "silent way" search forum.


2. try to immidietly evacuate the heat form your hottest components (cpu and gpu)

make a simple cardboard duct to exhaust the air out of the case. It doesn't have to be state-of-the-art duct. Simple cardbord and duct (pun intended) tape construction will do.
When you feed your psu with cooler air (only heatet by NB, HDD and RAM) it will slow down its fan.

[alexander]

Hello, thank you very much for your reply.

I thought it was controlled not by the heat but by the output voltage due to this:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article131-page4.html

It matches the Voltage with sounds levels directly so I thought it was due to this?

Anyone any more ideas?

Thanks again, Alex

[Devonavar]

I'm afraid our article isn't very clear; every power supply we've tested with a variable fan has been thermally controlled, including your Nexus. The output figures that you see are specific to our test setup, and are included as a general guideline of what to expect in a low airflow system. Read our PSU testing methodology for more details. Improving airflow and/or reducing heat is the best approach; it sounds as though you're likely to have problems no matter what PSU you put in your system until you do something about heat and airflow.

[andyb]

My PSU is the standard Sonata 380W, it does NOT ramp up at all under load, but it's still too noisy for me, and at some point will be going, and ideally replaced with a Phantom.

Running your case fan faster wont help with the heat as your PSU is creating the heat itself, getting more cool air into the system might help, ducting could be an option.

Another possibly quiter PSU might be a false economy as it will cost you money but might not make things any better.

Does your PSU fan run fast all of the time.???, or just under load.??? If it's just under load presumably your playing games and your speakers are on, or is it something else.

I was under the impression that the Venice core was slightly hotter than the Newcastle, anyway a difference of load drawn would be 10W~ max, thats nothing, your Graphics card probably draws more power than anything else, want to swap it for a MX440


BTW what is your CPU temp at idle and under load.???


Andy

[alexander]

Helllo thanks for your replies and clearing up the temperature PSU things.

Recently my Newcastle CPU has been running at 42 idle (with Cool N quiet one!!!) and a baking hot 58 degrees when on full load.

It used to be idleing at 28 and maxing out at 50 degrees.

I have no idea why it has suddenly got hotter but I think those are very bad temperatures.



So does anyone think buying a Nexus 4090 is a good idea in making it quieter?

[Devonavar]

Those aren't pretty temperatures. Time to check all your fans to make sure they're still spinning, and your filters to make sure they're not clogged. If those are fine, you'll need to think back and try to remember what the last change to your system was...

[alexander]

Those aren't pretty temperatures. Time to check all your fans to make sure they're still spinning, and your filters to make sure they're not clogged. If those are fine, you'll need to think back and try to remember what the last change to your system was...

Tell me about it Lol, I have reseated the processor with some of that Arcitc Silver still to no avail

I'm trying to convince myself its the motherboard


Anyone any ideas?>

[andyb]

Thanks for the temps.

Mine are currently CPU 50C, system 34C.

I have had the case side off for 24hours with no temperature change.
My PC has been on for 4 days 6hours at the time of posting.

However the hottest my system has got is CPU 54C, system 40C.

I posted here about my heatsink http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=21778

If I get time I will remove the fan on the Freezer 64, and duct the front case fan to it, then direct but not duct to my back case fan, I will let you know the results.

MSI have a new BIOS out for your/our motherboard, that fixes CPU temp issues, I havent tried it yet.

I live in london, not last week, but generally the temps have been increasing, if ambient goes up, so does everything else, some more than others, your and my systems for example.


Andy

[alexander]

Seeing you have said that I think I'm going to order a 3800+ Venice, they consume less power and they are cooler, any ideas if that will improve my performance?

[Devonavar]

Venice cores have SSE3 I believe, and some tweaks have been made to the memory controller. If you don't need SSE3 (if you don't know what it is, you don't), and you don't use 4 sticks of RAM, there's pretty much no difference in performance.

[alexander]

Wow, plugging my case fan has got my temperatures down to a reasonable hotness. It is now idling at 38 degrees and maxing at 55 degrees.

I didn't realise that the Case fan wasn't plugged in.

Can anyone recommend a PSU which can be bought in the UK for under £50?

[StarfishChris]

Seasonic SS-351HT (S12 OEM, 350W)
Enermax Noisetaker 370W

I'd recommend the Seasonic.

[sionnach]

seasonic is 12 pounds cheaper here: http://www.xcase.co.uk/acatalog/Seasonic_Psu_s.html

[miTchy]

i got a hiper 480watt silent power supply from PCWORLD for £45 it came with extra rounded ide cables and a chrome fan 80mm fan and it the quietest thing in my computer at the moment

[StarfishChris]

seasonic is 12 pounds cheaper here: http://www.xcase.co.uk/acatalog/Seasonic_Psu_s.html

I don't know if they've improved but packaging used to be very poor. The PSUs were never damaged, though.

[mahkum2]

I recently bought a SS-401HT from Xcase for £53.00 including delivery. I find it to be extreamly quiet (not silent) and therefore recommend it highly. But one thing surprised me though. The fan inside the psu is an ADDA one, not the Yate Loon I was expecting. This psu seems to be a cross between the S12 430 and the Super Tornado 300 Rev 0.03. The inside of the psu including the heatsinks look excatly like the S12 430 except the fan is connected to a mini fan controller board similar to the Super Tornado Rev 0.03.
As for xcase's packaging, mine came in a box bubble wrapped and arrived in good condition.