Need a quiet PSU for a HTPC

[FredGarvin]

I have a HPTC I'm building with this case. I'd like to get a quiet PSU for it, but am unsure what to get. I originally got the Seasonic fanless PSU, but was concerned about the heat being that it's in a somewhat tight area. Those bastards at NewEgg had the 650w Seasonic for $110 and I was going to get that, but they pulled the coupon early. Anyway, the specs of my machine are:

AMD Athlon x2 5050e
2GB
Biostar MCP6P Motherbaord
2TB Hitachi 7k2000 and 5k3000
LG Combo Drive
XFX 5450 Fanless GPU

I figure I don't need much power. I mainly use it to watch movies, but I'm not sure what the best fit is. Thanks for any help.

[quest_for_silence]

I figure I don't need much power. I mainly use it to watch movies, but I'm not sure what the best fit is.

Code: Select all

PSU's acoustic performance tested by SPCR in the hotbox in the last months
                 WATTS/DB           2011
MODEL       90 150 200 250 300   NEWEGG PRICE
AX-850     <10 <10  12  15  18      180$
GX-700      15  15  18  20  25      180$
TP-750      12  12  14  14  18      100$
X-400FL    <10 <10 <10 <10 <10      130$
MODU87+     11  11  11  11  14     >130$
NX5000      11  11  12  14  22      ---$
CX-400      19  26  32  35  35       50$
ECO80+     <11  12  16  19  26      >70$
X-650      <10  11  12  14  16      135$
CP-850      12  12  12  14  14      120$
RX-8500     14  14  18  23  28      ---$
M700W       14  14  18  25  27      110$
VALUE430    11  12  16  18  18       75$
TX-650      21  21  21  21  23       90$
PRO82+      13  13  14  15  16      110$
MODU82+     13  13  14  15  16      145$
 
PSU's acoustic performance tested by SPCR out of the hotbox in the last months
                 WATTS/DB           2011
MODEL       90 150 200 250 300   NEWEGG PRICE
AX-850     <10 <10 <10 11~13 12     180$
GX-700      15  15  15  17  21      180$
TP-750      12  12  12  14  15      100$
X-400FL    <10 <10 <10 <10 <10      129$
MODU87+     11  11  11  11  11      130$
NX5000      11  11  12 12.5 14      ---$
ECO80+     <11 <11  12  16  20      >70$
X-650      <10 <10 <10 <10 <10      135$
CP-850      12  12  12  12  12      120$

You need something with good values under the 150W mark.

[loimlo]

I recommend Seasonic X400 if money is no issue. After all, fanless is the quietest PSU money can buy except coil whine.

[MikeC]

The GD05 -- http://www.silentpcreview.com/silverstone-gd05 -- has a bottom intake for the PSU, so it will run cool unless you stuff the PC in a poorly ventilated cabinet. Any PSU with out of hotbox anechoic chamber readings of 15 dBA or so at 150W will be perfectly quiet in real use. You might hear it from real close when the TV or stereo is off.

[andymcca]

I don't know what sort of budget you are on, but I have an inexpensive Rosewill PSU in my HTPC:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817182202

I've actually turned the machine off by accident thinking I was turning it on. The fan runs continuously (unlike the SS X650), and it's not modular, but for $50 USD it's amazing. It is far more quiet than the (admittedly not-great) 120mm Coolermaster fan I have running at 5V.

Also it comes in a sweet cardboard box.

Edit: PS I'm assuming you are in the USA since you linked to Newegg.

[Joe Public]

I originally got the Seasonic fanless PSU, but was concerned about the heat being that it's in a somewhat tight area.

Was it causing any problems due to the higher temps? These PSUs can take a beating, they're supposed to work fine in a 40-50C ambient temperature.

[Trav1s]

I have this PS in a system that is quite similar to yours and an intel C2D system at a local museum.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817371029

For the current price I think it is hard to beat.

[floats]

I have this PS in a system that is quite similar to yours and an intel C2D system at a local museum.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817371029

For the current price I think it is hard to beat.

I just ordered the 520 watt model for $5 more:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6817371030

[FredGarvin]

The GD05 has a bottom intake for the PSU, so it will run cool unless you stuff the PC in a poorly ventilated cabinet.

Thanks for the replies. That's exactly where it's going in my TV stand, which is why I was concerned about getting the fanless Seasonic. There's maybe a half an inch on the sides and an inch on the top. Normally, the low wattage AMDs run pretty cool, but I don't know if that's going to be a problem with where I have it.

[Fire-Flare]

The Nexus Value is quite at home in my HTPC.

I used to have it in a home-built laptop. (briefcase with desktop parts) I NEVER heard the thing in there, even when gaming.

[quest_for_silence]

Normally, the low wattage AMDs run pretty cool, but I don't know if that's going to be a problem with where I have it.

The best trade-off seem to be the Enermax ECO80 II 400W, 49 USD after MIR at NewEgg.
I forgot to say IMO, but it's a well-grounded opinion (if you look at the tables above).

[FredGarvin]

Thanks Luca and all. If you don't mind my asking, what makes the Enermax a better value over the Seasonic? I'd prefer to spend less like most people, but I'm willing to pay more if it offers me something better.

[quest_for_silence]

If you don't mind my asking, what makes the Enermax a better value over the Seasonic?

Well, I would almost mind, Fred , but since I am not such an ignorant bad boy, I will repeat one more time.

And I am going to use the very same 2009 words of SPCR (Devon Cooke):

The Eco80+ is Enermax' economy line, but it's still a very worthy power supply.
...
Unless your workstation needs (and I mean really needs) multiple blazing graphics cards, the difference between an Eco80+ and a Seasonic X-650 is mostly bragging rights.

It's wonderful to discover that even this lowly power supply has a noise profile that matches the best.
....
this power supply is worth it just for the fan.

And what of the middling efficiency and cooling performance? It's good enough, and, especially if you go for the cheaper 400W version (the 350W doesn't seem to be carried anywhere), it's much better value than the high end competition.

I think it's enough, isn'it?

[FredGarvin]

I hope you're right Luca cause I just ordered one. Thanks for the help. I'll post back when I get it.

[quest_for_silence]

I hope you're right Luca cause I just ordered one.

How lucky that we live in different worlds (you in the so-called New, me in the Old one), then!

[FredGarvin]

OK, I got my Enermax PSU and it does seem much more quiet than the one it replaced, but I think my heatsink/fan is a little too noisy. I'm just using stock fan than came with the CPU. Is there one that's more quiet. I don't have a lot of room in the case to go bigger than what I've got now. Thanks for any help.

[Trav1s]

Can you post up a few pics? Some of our more visual people might be able to make some suggestions for you.

[FredGarvin]

Thanks Trav1s. Here's a pic of the present situation. I know my cable skills are poor, but it's what I got:



Thanks for any help.

[Trav1s]

Space is real tight in there My initial though is a wide low profile HS/Fan combo from Scythe but I am out of date on the current models and performance. I would begin with a fan upgrade on the heatsink before anything else.

[quest_for_silence]

OK, I got my Enermax PSU and it does seem much more quiet than the one it replaced

Providing it's the EEES400 AWT-II, your former PSU should be already very quiet (which one is it?).
BTW, if you want to make some test (just for your own satisfaction), then you might run a couple of Prime95 instances (max FFT) and FurMark in order to hear - if any - the difference among them.

but I think my heatsink/fan is a little too noisy. I'm just using stock fan than came with the CPU. Is there one that's more quiet. I don't have a lot of room in the case to go bigger than what I've got now.

The most straightforward option would be the Scythe Big Shuriken, or maybe even the Scythe Shuriken: I use it on a 4850e inside a smaller Antec Micro Fusion and it is inaudible up to 900rpm (even "thanks" to the not so quiet Seasonic TFX inside it).

If your chipset heatsink won't hurt, probably the best cooler under a 75mm height should be the Prolimatech Samuel 17, but with a 25mm 120mm fan it would cost twice the Big Shuriken.

At anyway, a quieter (and more performing) cooler surely helps, but it matters the more how you control it. I think your Biostar is SpeedFan-compatible, and it's the most flexible way - if you run under Windows - to slow down your fans.

Eventually another intriguing option is the Thermalright HR-01 3U, but it would be tricky securing a fan (I mean a good 80mm one, there are several by Nexus, Scythe, AC, Xilence, Enermax, Noctua, et c.) on it, and it isn't definitely cheap.

[FredGarvin]

Thanks Luca and Trav1s. My old PSU was a Cool Master 550w that I think I picked up for $30 on NewEgg. I was using it in my desktop, but when I got Silverstone case, I took the old desktop case I was using for my HTPC and put my desktop into it. It's an Antec and had it's own PSU. I think it's one of the Antec green PSUs. It's fairly quiet. I took the Cool Master PSU from my old desktop case and put it into the Silverstone case, but it was too noisy for my tastes. My quest for a a quieter case has lead me to the much better Enermax PSU. If I can just get the fan thing worked out, I'll be in business. I got another HTPC in the bedroom. It's in a Shuttle barebone. While I like the Shuttle, it's got a noisy PSU with a dull hum. If I can get this one worked out good, I'm going to take the parts from that and build another just like it.

Funny you should mention the Scythe. When I got my Silverstone case, I bought one of those, but it just seemed way to big to fit and I ended up returning it. Does it really seem like it'd fit? If I were to just replace the fan, is there a recommended quiet one? I'll poke around the BIOS to see if I can play with the settings to make the fan run more quiet. Thanks again for the help.

[quest_for_silence]

If I were to just replace the fan, is there a recommended quiet one?

For a so called "ghetto mod" you may try a Scythe Kama PWM or an Enermax Cluster if your board has a 4-pin cpu fan header; otherwise, if it has a 3-pin header, you may go either for something like a Scythe Kama Flow 2, or a Noctua (or even a Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP12/13, while on the cheap side you may use an Enermax T.B. Silence).

You may spare something going for a sleeve bearing fan, but you have to run horizontally and so you might be likely to run into some problems (ticking/clicking, reliability) also: at anyway, the usual sleeve champions are the Scythe Slipstream, either the PWM or the 1200rpm voltage controlled one (for a "cheap & ghetto mod" you may try the Arctic Cooling F12, either the voltage controlled and PWM variants: but the std ones, NOT the Pro or TC versions).

Again: it doesn't matter which good fan you will use, but it matters how you dial down it.

[FredGarvin]

OK, I got the Scythe installed and it's a lot more quiet. It's no silent like I hoped, but with the Enermax PSU and Scythe fan, it's way better than what I started with. I suspect once I get in the TV stand 10' away I won't hear it much if at all. I wonder if there's anything in the BIOS or perhaps some software that I can use to control the fan better? The CPU is a 45w AMD and it almost never goes above the mid 30°s. Do I need the fan on as much as it is now?

Now I got to figure what to do with my Shuttle barebone. Its PSU has a dull hum to it. I usually sit much closer to it. I don't know if the one I just built would be quiet enough. I thought about getting a Mac Mini and a case for the drives, but those are so expensive. I'd probably be looking at $800 by the time I picked up a SSD for it. Maybe I could sell the Shuttle for a few hundred, but that's still a lot of money to me anyway. If you were going to build the best quiet system, what would it be? Thanks for the help.

[quest_for_silence]

I wonder if there's anything in the BIOS or perhaps some software that I can use to control the fan better?

I've already told you so, you should use SpeedFan to control your fans: have you tried it?

About your BIOS I don't know, check the manual about which options are available: I think that BIOSTAR one should have at least a rather sophisticated CPU FAN management in the PC Health Status section.

Another option is an internal fan controller, like the mCubed T-Balancer, otherwise you may use as many Zalman Fan Mate as you may need.

Moreover, your GD05 has three 120mm intake fans: they run at 1200rpm for a noise baseline of 24dB, way high IMO, providing that you have relatively low power parts.

If you want to run positive pressure, I think that you should dial down them (at no more than 600rpm): you may use either a cable splitter at a fixed voltage one (7-8V I guess), or something like the Akasa one for PWM if you don't want to run them at fixed speed.
Otherwise, if you would run a classic negative pressure case, then you have to disconnect two of them and dial down the third (you have to do some tries to determine which one to left on, probably one or both of the right side when downvolted).

The CPU is a 45w AMD and it almost never goes above the mid 30°s. Do I need the fan on as much as it is now?

Absolutely no: you can easily cool such a CPU with your Scythe fan at about 300rpm. If you have picked the smaller Shuriken, then it's mandatory, as its 10cm slim fan may be really annoying at over 2000rpm.

If you were going to build the best quiet system, what would it be?

The quietest "compact as a Shuttle is"?

BTW, if you can switch its PSU (even with some Pico-style one, if it's enough) and its CPU cooler, you might get some huge improvement even with that Shuttle.

[FredGarvin]

Thanks Luca. I've seen those Pico PSUs a couple times. They look pretty amazing, but do you think I could get it work with my Shuttle? I'll check the BIOS on my Biostar to see if there's any fan options in there. Right now I'm running Vista on my machine, but I'd like to transfer over to Linux soon. I'm having some Linux issues with my board, mainly it doesn't support AHCI. I don't know that speedfan is a long term option.

By the way I got my HTPC stuffed into the TV stand. It looks great and runs good/quiet.

[quest_for_silence]

do you think I could get it work with my Shuttle?

If you don't give any detail about that Shuttle barebone, how might I answer?

I'll check the BIOS on my Biostar to see if there's any fan options in there.

I'm sure there are, at least for the CPU header.

I don't know that speedfan is a long term option.

Linux has its sort of equivalent of SpeedFan, it's called fancontrol, check it out (along with your BIOS).

[FredGarvin]

Let's see my system is a Shuttle SA76G2. The specs are:

Shuttle SA76G2
AMD Ahtlon X2 5050e
2GB
2x2TB
LG DVD Drive
3450 GPU

Would a Pico PSU work with that setup? I noticed most of the Pico PSUs I saw had only two power connectors. I could probably get by with just powering the drives. I can use the external drive for my laptop to install software, which is about all I do these days with them.

[quest_for_silence]

Let's see my system is a Shuttle SA76G2. The specs are:

Shuttle SA76G2
AMD Ahtlon X2 5050e
2GB
2x2TB
LG DVD Drive
3450 GPU

Would a Pico PSU work with that setup? I noticed most of the Pico PSUs I saw had only two power connectors. I could probably get by with just powering the drives. I can use the external drive for my laptop to install software, which is about all I do these days with them.

Providing that not all Pico-style PSUs are created equal, I guess that anything around 150W will be plenty of juice (with reference to those value and the necessary adjustments) for the above quoted parts.

About the connectors, if I have well understood you, then I think that you just need some splitter adaptor cables (a few dollars each).

[FredGarvin]

OK, I finally had time to get this thing put together correctly. My final specs are:

Case: SilverStone GD05B
Mainboard: Biostar MCP6P
CPU: AMD Athlon x2 5050e
Memory: 2GB PC6400
Hard Drives: 50GB Vertex 2 SSD, 2x2TB 5400RPM
PSU: Enermax ECO80+
Heatsink: Scythe Big Shuriken SCBSK-1000

All I've got to say is this thing is fantastic. It's very quiet, almost inaudible. One of my 5400RPM drives, the Samsung, is a little noisy when it wakes up, but that's a minor niggle. I did play around with the BIOS and got the fan down to 600RPM. The temps are a bit higher, but I guess that's to be expected.

I'm actually in the process of buying the same set of parts so I can covert my Shuttle HTPC, which has a very noisy PSU, into the same box. Thanks for all the help. I wouldn't have made without you.