I am looking now PSU that is QUIET ( more quiet than my current Be Quiet! which is also in recomended list ) My system is on signature. I am kinda temped to go on Silverstone ST30NF but its darn expensive. NeoHE 380W seems nice but there has been so much complains on NeoHE's so I don't know if that is safe choice or not. Corsairs VX450W seems nice too.
According monitoring program my PSU's fan is RPM'ing around 940 to 970 RPM's and I've never seen below 900 RPM speeds, even when using it in P182 case. Its pretty quiet but I know I can get even more quiet PC, when my HDD goes in Scythe Quiet Drive, PSU will be the most noisiest part of my Computer.
Edit: Here's bit list of high quality quiet PSU's, criticism is welcome:
Tagan 2force 430W / 480W (has dual 80mm fans in pull push configuration, should be very quiet and high quality )
Antec Neo HE 380W ( one of the quietest but has lot's of compatibility issues )
Corsair VX 450W ( Corsairs are pretty good and this is affordable )
Zalman ZM360B-APS (cheapest of all of them in here. Fan seems high quality )
Seasonic S12-380W / 330W (finding original S12 might be hard )
ST30NF 300W (absolutely silent but is twice as expensive as cheapest alternative )
Pursue of silent, sufficient and good quality psu
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MikeC
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SPCR measured the SPL of the BeQuiet 430 at 21 dBA @ 1m. Since it's in a modest power system, I assume the fan does not ramp up much if at all. I see you're using a Nexus Caterpillar Silent System Case -- which does not give the PSU as cool a working environment as the P182 you mentioned. Anyway, replacing the BeQuiet 430 with any of the PSUs on your list isn't really going to help; all of them have the same basic idle noise, even though the quality may differ a bit. That's not including the fanless Silverstone, of course, which has it own challenges -- ie, making sure it runs cool enough.
If I were in your position, I'd try experimenting with slowing down the fan in the existing PSU.
How? Well, because SPCR measured the idle fan voltage of our BQ430 samples at 4.3V, the 5V trick won't work, and neither will most external manual fan controllers as they generally don't go below 5V. Splicing in a silicon diode is probably the cheapest practical way -- this means opening up the PSU and cutting into the fan lead. Check cpemma's site for details.
The tricky thing about this mod will be how close the 4.3V default fan voltage is to the fan's minimum start voltage. It would be really nice to find out exactly at what voltage the fan starts. Since it's rated to spin at 2000rpm at 12V, I'd guess 4.3V could be pretty close to min start voltage.
If you'd rather not go this route, you could simple swap out the fan for another good one with a lower rated speed. I'd use one of Scythe's Sony S-FDB bearing fans -- one rated for ~1500rpm. Or an NMB of similar spec, which Scythe also markets in the EU. To be specific:
S-FLEX SFF21F (1600rpm)
Minebea 12cm Mid (1600rpm): 4710KL-04W-B19-V54
Why not old favorites like the Nexus and YateLoon? Because they are sleeve bearings, which I don't feel comfortable recommending for up/down blowing use under hotter conditions, and because they probably won't start until the PSU gets hotter (ie, when the fan voltage rises signficantly higher than 4.3V), which may lead to shorter life & poorer stability for the PSU. On the other hand, a couple samples of the S-FLEX SFF21F (1600rpm) were tested by SPCR to start with a minimum voltage of 4V @ 550rpm. The SPL at this speed was too low (<19dBA) for us to measure accurately.
Hope all that helps.
If I were in your position, I'd try experimenting with slowing down the fan in the existing PSU.
How? Well, because SPCR measured the idle fan voltage of our BQ430 samples at 4.3V, the 5V trick won't work, and neither will most external manual fan controllers as they generally don't go below 5V. Splicing in a silicon diode is probably the cheapest practical way -- this means opening up the PSU and cutting into the fan lead. Check cpemma's site for details.
The tricky thing about this mod will be how close the 4.3V default fan voltage is to the fan's minimum start voltage. It would be really nice to find out exactly at what voltage the fan starts. Since it's rated to spin at 2000rpm at 12V, I'd guess 4.3V could be pretty close to min start voltage.
If you'd rather not go this route, you could simple swap out the fan for another good one with a lower rated speed. I'd use one of Scythe's Sony S-FDB bearing fans -- one rated for ~1500rpm. Or an NMB of similar spec, which Scythe also markets in the EU. To be specific:
S-FLEX SFF21F (1600rpm)
Minebea 12cm Mid (1600rpm): 4710KL-04W-B19-V54
Why not old favorites like the Nexus and YateLoon? Because they are sleeve bearings, which I don't feel comfortable recommending for up/down blowing use under hotter conditions, and because they probably won't start until the PSU gets hotter (ie, when the fan voltage rises signficantly higher than 4.3V), which may lead to shorter life & poorer stability for the PSU. On the other hand, a couple samples of the S-FLEX SFF21F (1600rpm) were tested by SPCR to start with a minimum voltage of 4V @ 550rpm. The SPL at this speed was too low (<19dBA) for us to measure accurately.
Hope all that helps.
If you're not going to follow MikeC's advice is there any chance you could put the system back in the P180, get a PSU similar to the NeoHE or Noisetaker and remove fans and then use the bottom chamber fan to cool the PSU?
MikeC and Devonavar have advised the above and I'm using it in a P180 at the moment. Have left the PSU casing intact (have removed fans though) and the bottom chamber fan (undervolted Nexus) is cooling a Noisetaker 485.
MikeC and Devonavar have advised the above and I'm using it in a P180 at the moment. Have left the PSU casing intact (have removed fans though) and the bottom chamber fan (undervolted Nexus) is cooling a Noisetaker 485.
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thejamppa
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Thanks, but fan speed was the same in Nexus caterpillar and in P182B. Around 950 RPM's. In both cases PSU is mounted on floor. This be quiet! I am going to plug into my gaming rig, powering my 7900gs sli instead horrible coil whiner: Antec TP II 550W.MikeC wrote:SPCR measured the SPL of the BeQuiet 430 at 21 dBA @ 1m. Since it's in a modest power system, I assume the fan does not ramp up much if at all. I see you're using a Nexus Caterpillar Silent System Case -- which does not give the PSU as cool a working environment as the P182 you mentioned. Anyway, replacing the BeQuiet 430 with any of the PSUs on your list isn't really going to help; all of them have the same basic idle noise, even though the quality may differ a bit. That's not including the fanless Silverstone, of course, which has it own challenges -- ie, making sure it runs cool enough.
That is viable option, if I would have tools to do fan swap.If I were in your position, I'd try experimenting with slowing down the fan in the existing PSU.
Thanks. This will be some use for me.How? Well, because SPCR measured the idle fan voltage of our BQ430 samples at 4.3V, the 5V trick won't work, and neither will most external manual fan controllers as they generally don't go below 5V. Splicing in a silicon diode is probably the cheapest practical way -- this means opening up the PSU and cutting into the fan lead. Check cpemma's site for details.
The tricky thing about this mod will be how close the 4.3V default fan voltage is to the fan's minimum start voltage. It would be really nice to find out exactly at what voltage the fan starts. Since it's rated to spin at 2000rpm at 12V, I'd guess 4.3V could be pretty close to min start voltage.
Thanks a bunch once again. This was very helpful for my future projects.If you'd rather not go this route, you could simple swap out the fan for another good one with a lower rated speed. I'd use one of Scythe's Sony S-FDB bearing fans -- one rated for ~1500rpm. Or an NMB of similar spec, which Scythe also markets in the EU. To be specific:
S-FLEX SFF21F (1600rpm)
Minebea 12cm Mid (1600rpm): 4710KL-04W-B19-V54
Why not old favorites like the Nexus and YateLoon? Because they are sleeve bearings, which I don't feel comfortable recommending for up/down blowing use under hotter conditions, and because they probably won't start until the PSU gets hotter (ie, when the fan voltage rises signficantly higher than 4.3V), which may lead to shorter life & poorer stability for the PSU. On the other hand, a couple samples of the S-FLEX SFF21F (1600rpm) were tested by SPCR to start with a minimum voltage of 4V @ 550rpm. The SPL at this speed was too low (<19dBA) for us to measure accurately.
Hope all that helps.
FanSwap seems to be viable option especially the 1600 RPM fan Scythe seems nice. But I probably will change my Be Quiet! into Corsair VX 450W so I can power up my gaming rig more quietly and I get as quiet PSU as my current one is. In my understantment VX450W will stay quieter than my Be Quiet! So I kinda like that fact. It also is 1cm shorter than my Be Quiet! Which means its easier fit than my Be Quiet in Nexus case.
Edit: In VX450 W article, there was mention about coil whine when fan was stopped, but article said that when fan was spinning it could not be heard.