Which of these PSUs will be the quietest...

Funkdafied · Post by **Funkdafied** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 10:41 pm

I'm planning to put together a quiet PC, and am having a lot of difficulty deciding on a power supply. These are the 4 I'm choosing between, and would like to know which is likely to be the quietest:

The single fan 350W SmartPower that comes with the Antec SLK3700-BQE
Antec Smart Power 2.0 400W
Enermax 420W Noisetaker
Zalman ZM400B-APS 400W Noiseless

I'm more inclined to the Enermax at the moment.. but would like to get some other opinions

Hellspawn · Post by **Hellspawn** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 10:38 am

Not sure if it is available in your area, but I'd check out the Seasonic s12 430 , it seems to be in the same power range and then some. From all I've read it's about the best there is coming off the shelf with no mods. I'm going for one myself.

Devonavar · Post by **Devonavar** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 11:24 am

What's in your system? Is it high or low power?

I think your choice is probably between the Smart Power and the Enermax, but I haven't heard the Smart Power in person yet. It is supposed to be very quiet.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 3:14 pm

Devonavar wrote:What's in your system? Is it high or low power?

I think your choice is probably between the Smart Power and the Enermax, but I haven't heard the Smart Power in person yet. It is supposed to be very quiet.

its very quiet when its:
A: dead as many have been reported to be shortly after plugging them in. (posts on here about that)
B: you have no heat hitting the unit so it doesnt ramp up, or alot of positive pressure in the case, but for THAT case, a simple 120 with a 5 volt push in front would do the trick in keeping this thing cool. I have that psu, i wish i could mail it to you or anyone else who needs one. mine now has an antec phantom 350 in it.... best component ever bought besides and Epyx joystick.

its all about your components torching the unit making it kick up in speed or not that makes these once quiet units irritating. Personally, i like the zalman 400, especially if you mod it, it is a nice piece of equipment.

other than that the seasonic 430 with, again, an open, positive presure styled case.

oh, btw, i tested 2 enermax's. they were fairly pleasant sounding. sometimes they have great power on them as well. Recommended by electrical engineer friend.

Funkdafied · Post by **Funkdafied** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 3:40 pm

Yeah, unfortunately we don't get Seasonics here in Aus.

I haven't decided what exactly is going in it but my system will probably be fairly low power. At the moment, I'm thinking 3500+ or 3ghz dual core, single HDD and 6600GT. Not too worried about having enough watts.

I was planning to have maybe just one 120mm rear-exhaust fan... Wouldn't that be more beneficial in keeping the case cool? Would a front-intake just cool the PSU better or would it be better for the case as well?

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 5:02 pm

F,

I have a smartpower 2.0 500w, noisetaker 485w, and a noisetaker 370w w/nexus fans. Also an fsp530 = a fortron with inline fans like the smartpower 2.0.

If you are counting on the psu to evacuate heat from the case, I wouldn't consider the smartpower 2.0 as the intake fan will ramp up and then the exhaust fan will come on. Its just not designed to do that. On the other hand if the smartpower 2.0 is in its own compartment as in a case like the p180 or a 3000b with the top portion isolated from most of the heat (with a partition of some sort), then it would be fine, as the only cooling it will ever need can be supplied by the 80x15mm intake fan.

The noisetakers never seem to ramp up so they are fairly quiet as stated in the reviews here. Of course with slower nexus fans a noisetaker is virtually silent. The noisetakers can play the evacuate the heat role and they have been around for a while and reviewed so you know what you are getting.

If a seasonic is out of the question, the antec truepower 2.0 might be worth looking into as it has a 120mm fan and has been reviewed many times on the web. - FG

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 6:11 pm

Here is a satisfied truepower 2.0 user -

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=23748

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 6:55 pm

well, yes, you need a fan on front of an open case like the slk 3000 series normally has, you want more pressure in than out to make a quiet psu stay quiet, or at least fairly equal.

Funkdafied · Post by **Funkdafied** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 7:17 pm

oh ok.. Well I guess I'm just choosing between the Antec True Power 2.0 380W and Enermax 420W Noisetaker. I took out the Zalman because it didn't get a great rating on the SPCR recommendations list, and I'm not too keen on modding it.

The case its going in will be a SLK3000B.. I can only guess that the TruePower 2.0 will be quieter with just the one fan. So right now that probably looks like the better option.

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 10:35 pm

There is a review on the web somewhere of the antec trueblue 2.0 that was also very good. I guess they will have to do until one is reviewed here. - FG

timmytimmytimmy · Post by **timmytimmytimmy** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 12:51 am

Good to see you, Funkdafied.. all the way from OCAU.

But yes, I can't really comment much on PSU choice, I don't have that much first-hand experience... but others in SPCR do

Funkdafied · Post by **Funkdafied** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:10 am

Yeah.. I've gone with the TruePower 2.0 380W. Having just one low-speed 120mm fan, it seems like the best bet

Should have it all together by next week.

timmytimmytimmy · Post by **timmytimmytimmy** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 5:14 am

Good to hear

. I see you are going with the 3000B, wasn't it an extremely tight fit under the table?

Oh.. and let us know how the build goes ie. pics

Edit: what other components did u pick?