Need help picking a power supply

Moondoggy · Post by **Moondoggy** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:34 pm

I'm having problems deciding what PSU to buy. I'm trying to make my system as powerful as I can while still keeping the noise down. That being said I understand that I may have to pay a premium for a so called "Silent" PSU but so be it.

I was gong to buy the Cooler Master Silent Pro M600 PSU as I found several good reviews of the product saying that it was a very quiet unit. Also compelling was that Amazon just dropped the price on this unit from 113.14 to $110.28. Problem is that every forum I visit regarding PSU's suggest that I use something else. Unfortunately, when I Google "Quiet Power Supply" I don't find any of those brands/models (except 1 PSU so far - see below) recommended on any sites dealing with "quiet PC's" that is in my price range.

Someone over the last 24 hours has recommended the SeaSonic M12 SS-600HM 600W PSU as an alternative and I did find this PSU mentioned on several acoustic/quite PC sties as being a quiet PSU. A check on cost shows it being available for $114.99 at NewEgg which is almost the same price as the cooler Master.

So......What I'm hoping for is to get a few more comments that I can weigh before making a decision.

Any insight would be appreciated.

burebista · Post by **burebista** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:44 pm

What's your system? 600W is enough for a quad and a Crossfire/SLI from high-end VGA's.

Moondoggy · Post by **Moondoggy** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:24 pm

It's going to have a Core I7 CPU, 6GB of Memory, a Sapphire 4850 graphics card and several perpherals. According to two diffferent calculators my psu needs to be at least 400W so the extra 200W is just for insurance in case I add more stuff later on.

burebista · Post by **burebista** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:42 pm

A similar setup like yours needs only 265W DC during games and if you "play" a lot of Furmark and prime95 you need 371W from PSU.

I'd be happy with an Enermax Pro/Modu82+ 525 if you want silence an OC. But CM Silent Pro is a good choice too.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 1:12 am

Hi,

Might I humbly suggest that you read all the recent power supply reviews here at SPCR and then decide what is a quiet PSU?

As folks have mentioned, you will not need more than a 300-400watt PSU.

Moondoggy · Post by **Moondoggy** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:00 am

NeilBlanchard wrote:Hi,

Might I humbly suggest that you read all the recent power supply reviews at [URL Deleted due to lack of permissions] here at SPCR and then decide what is a quiet PSU?

As folks have mentioned, you will not need more than a 300-400watt PSU.

OK. I read the "Recommended List" and I read reviews of both the SeaSonic model and the Cooler Master model and I foud them both worthy units but I was surprised that the Cooler Master model was not listed on the recommended list dispite it's good review. Perhaps this is a oversight that needs to be corrected.

I was pleased to note that your site was the first to suggest that a smaller PSU would handle my system. I had originally thought given the recommendation of 384 watts from two different PSU calculators that a 500w unit was more than adequate but many people on many different sites kept telling me that I needed a 700w unit so I was trying to seek some balance with the 600w models I was looking at.

With this in mind when I look at the recommandation list I noticed that the EnerMax Modu82+ 625 was very highly rated and I read the review also that sounded very good. I'm assuming that with this new info I can easily slip back to to the EnerMax Mudu82+ EDM525AT 525w unit and that this unit would be better in terms of noise than the Seasonic or the CoolerMaster 600w units I was previously looking at. Am I pretty much on target here? Please reply back with any comments.

K.Murx · Post by **K.Murx** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 11:37 am

You are.
Although the Enermax is at $120, while the Corsair 520HX which is only slightly louder will set you back just $90 after MIR (at newegg).

If you can deal with a non-modular PSU, there is also the Nexus Value 430, which is the most silent PSU ever reviewed at SPCR and has gathered almost a cult following for its silence. Sells also for ~$90.
If you add another graphics card for SLI later on, it might get a bit close, though.