My comments on Silverstone ST30NF fanless PSU

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

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davidstone28
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My comments on Silverstone ST30NF fanless PSU

Post by davidstone28 » Sun Sep 19, 2004 3:57 am

Image

Ordered one of these from www.scan.co.uk for just under £100 and have been trying it out over the last couple of days.

Originally I wanted to get the Etasis version with the protruding heatsink since it seemed to cool about 1 degree better than the Silverstone branded version. However, I wasn’t convinced that the protruding heatsink would fit the rear panel on my Lian-Li V2000. Since I didn’t want to remove the rear panel and thus lose 2x80mm fan mounts (which might be needed to suck air away from the PSU), I went for the SilverStone version. I suspect that they ditched the protruding heatsink just for this reason – greater case compatibility.

The PSU is heavy and appears solidly built. 6 molexes and 2 SATA connectors. Good manual with lots of wiring diagrams and stuff about ripple / noise. Interestingly, the manual says the following:-

Input Voltage 200V – 240V
During operations the maximum load should not exceed 300W. The total load on +5v and +3.3v shall not exceed 180W. The total load on +5v and +12v should not exceed 35A”

Input voltage 100v-120v
“During operations the maximum load should not exceed 250W. The total load on +5v and +3.3v shall not exceed 140W. The total load on +5v and +12v should not exceed 30A”


My PC specs are:-

Athlon XP 2500+ oc’d to 3200+/2.2ghz @ 1.775v
2 x 256mb PC3200 dimms
Nvidia Geforce 4 Ti4200 128mb
1 x SoundBlaster Live PCI card
2 x optical drives
3 x 7200rpm HDDs
1 x FDD
4 x fans (2 x Nexus 120mm @ 7v, 2 x Panaflo 80mm @ 5v)

Tested the system over a couple days by continuously running a mixture of P2P, WinAmp tunes, DivX playback, CD ripping, 3D games, combination etc

3.3v line: 3.290v
5v line: 5.020v
12v line: 11.850v

The PSU is silent. No coil whine, buzzing, or any other unsual sounds. Silence is truly golden (although now that everything is so quiet, I've noticed that my Maxtor DiamondMax 9 HDD actually emits a faint high pitched whine. The Samsungs are fine)

The PSU case definitely gets very hot. Even after about 3 hours, if you put your hand on the top cover, its not really possible to keep your hand there for more than about 5 seconds. After about 10 hours, it’s enough to give you a very mild burn if you hold your hand there long enough. However, at no time did I notice the rear LEDs of the PSU turning from green to red.

The greatest cause for concern by far, is the effect which the PSU seemed to have on the rest of components in the case. I didn’t realise this until a long gaming session (UT2004, Zero Hour etc) and system starting making alarm / beeping sounds. Initially I wasn’t sure what it was but when I alt-tabbed out of the game and into WinXP to the check the temperatures, CPU temps had hit 61 degreesC (the BIOS alarm was set to sound at >60 degrees) and the HDD temps were hitting 47 degreesC (or 51degreeC with the front case fan turned off).

However, the PSU does run very very hot, and in my system at least, appears to have a hugely detrimental effect on the temperatures of the rest of my components. How much of this is due to the PSU itself or the upside down layout of my Lian-Li case is difficult to tell. I might try swapping everything into my Aopen tower to see whether the effect is still the same. Based on my experiences so far, I can't recommended a fanless PSU / Lian-Li V2000 combination if you are planning on a quiet air cooled system.

The SilverStone PSU pumps out a huge amount of heat in all directions and there’s simply nowhere for that heat to go. Although a heat pipe is supposed to transfer heat into the rear panel of the PSU, it’s difficult to see what significant benefits this has, because the PSU is still inside the case. I would be concerned about running the PSU in an unattended 24/7 environment or in a system which doesn’t have very good component / case cooling.

I think this PSU highlights one of the weaknesses all fanless PSU and that is you simply shouldn't have them inside a case unless you have very good system cooling installed - which seems to defeat the whole point of have a fanless PSU in the first place. Unless of course, its a silent watercooled setup.

I look forward to the release date for the Zalman external fanless PSU ;)

-----

**** UPDATE ****

Did some more testing.

In the scenario above, I’m starting to experience some system instability. In particular, CPU/GPU intensive games such as Command & Conquer Zero Hour tends to crash more often than the system that I had before (same system in a stock Sonata case with stock Antec 380S PSU). Basically, after a long gaming session (which stresses the CPU, graphics card and memory), the system dumps me out of the game and into Windows. This occasionally happened with the Sonata/380S but seems to happen more regularly now.

Rear panel of Lian-Li V2000 removed.

I removed the rear panel of the V2000 PSU compartment so that the PSU is no longer completely enclosed and instead is exposed to outside air (but with no fans blowing or sucking). Gaming peak temps dropped to 59 degreesC (CPU) and 42 degreesC (HDDs). Although there is slight improvement it still appears that some heat from the PSU is still going up towards the motherboard compartment, rather than going sideways out of the case and then up, where it doesn’t heat up the rest of the system components. Still, it was a noticeable improvement.

Lian-Li V2000 laid on its side.

Rear panel of the V2000 reattached but this time the whole case was laid horizontally on its side (all case panels inc rear panel are installed), so that heat from the PSU travelled up onto the side panel of the case rather than towards the motherboard compartment. Slight improvement in temps, although not by much - Gaming peak temps were 63 degreesC (CPU) and 43 degreesC (HDDs). Still seems that heat has nowhere to escape to.

PSU completely removed case.

This was very interesting. The whole PSU was removed from the case and placed on the floor behind the case, so any heat coming from the PSU would not get into the case. The effect on system temperatures were significant - Gaming peak temps were 54 degreesC (CPU) and 40 degreesC (HDDs)

Conclusion

There’s no doubt in my mind that removing the PSU from the case or at the very least, removing the rear panel, so air can get into the PSU is an absolute necessity with this PSU / case combination.

** UPDATE **

Been running this PSU now 24/7 for over a week - P2P during the day and overnight. PSU is half inside the case with the rear case panel removed. Haven't experienced any problems - all seems rock solid.

Am going to try it fully inside the case with 2xNexus 80mm fans to see if that achieves the same effect as the rear case panel removed.

**** FINAL UPDATE *****

I put the PSU back into the case, re-affixed back the rear panel on my Lian-Li V2000 case (which has an upside down layout) and installed 2 x 80mm Nexus fans in the fan mounts immediately above the PSU on the rear panel and switched on.

The 2x80mm fans @ 12v (fairly quiet) largely negate the heat effects which the PSU previously had on my system components. I say 'largely' because it's still not quite as good as the PSU running without fans and hanging half-in / half-outside the case. All components are now cooler than they were in my Sonata w/Antec 380S PSU. Haven't cut any of the restrictive case fan grills either.

Temps are now (idle/load):
CPU (48C/53C), HDD (30C,32C). Excellent.
Stock Sonata
CPU (51C/56C), HDD (42C,44C).

So these are my final conclusions based on this PSU / Lian-Li V2000 combo:-

1. PSU (without 80mm fans) installed normally in V2000 overheats the CPU and components above it.
2. PSU (without 80mm fans) half inside the case, rear panel removed is good.
3. PSU (without 80mm fans) outside the case is very good.
4. PSU (with 80mm fans) inside the case, rear panel on, is quite good.
5. PSU in V1000 (smaller version of V2000) is probably very bad because of the small enclosed PSU compartment (v. little airflow and no fans).
6. Cutting the 3 restrictive case fan grills on the V2000 will probably improve case temps, CPU temps, HDD temps and PSU temps (Lian-Li fan grills are very restrictive).

The best compromise for noise is having not additional 80mm fans running, the rear case panel removed, and the SilverStone hanging half in and half out of the case.
Last edited by davidstone28 on Tue Oct 26, 2004 12:08 pm, edited 19 times in total.

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Post by Bluefront » Sun Sep 19, 2004 5:15 am

Thanks for the info.....Were you using that Black Knight case? If so where were the 80mm fans? How much air was blowing out of the case?

I have been trying to find the Etasis in the USA (no luck so far). At Least with the Etasis, with it's external heatsink, some of the heat is dumped outside the case. I suspect an aluminum case would help here......as would a passive vent hole cut in the case above the PSU.

Lesson to be learned....Passive PSU or not, the heat off the PSU has to go somewhere, preferably outside the case.

OT....do you know if the place you got your Silverstone ships to the USA?
Last edited by Bluefront on Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Ralf Hutter » Sun Sep 19, 2004 5:44 am

Bluefront wrote:OT....do you know if the place you got your Silverstone ships to the USA?
Why not order it from somewhere in the US? Sundialmicro (right here in the heart of Sunny SoCal) carries it and I'd guess that other US online merchants either do carry it, or will shortly carry it.

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Post by Bluefront » Sun Sep 19, 2004 6:24 am

Actually Ralf.....I'm trying to acquire an Etasis EFN-300, available in the UK and Europe, but not in the USA (so far anyway).

I'm trying to avoid the exact heat problem davidstone28 is experiencing with his Silverstone.

davidstone28
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Post by davidstone28 » Sun Sep 19, 2004 7:39 am

I think you'll find that the differences between the Etasis and the SilverStone are negligible.

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Post by Bluefront » Sun Sep 19, 2004 8:42 am

well....not exactly. The Etasis has a heatsink sticking out the rear of the case. If you divert the airflow of your rear case fan upward, you in effect have created an actively fan-cooled PSU without any additional fans.

Like this.....

Image

Bluefront's Fan-cooled Fanless PSU. Patent-Pending..... :lol:

Just imagine this Etasis is sitting in the above case...

Image

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Post by ONEshot » Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:07 am

Wait... the v2000 places the PSU below the main components, right? Therefore the heat should naturally rise, going right into your CPU etc. I think that the SilverStone was designed to be at the top of the case, thereby allow convection to do its thang without interrupting everythin else.

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Post by Trip » Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:24 am

Bluefront, won't the PSU take in hot air and spit out even hotter air into your case?

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Post by Bluefront » Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:48 am

Trip....that case fan is blowing out. It's ducted to the CPU which has no fan. The output temp never goes over 33C, so it would be cool enough to lower the temp of the Etasis external heatsink by quite a bit......hopefully avoiding any internal case temp problems.

If it would work....I'm certain it would.....you'd be able to eliminate the CPU fan( I'm already doing that), and eliminate the PSU fan, using that one case fan for all the cooling.

A passive duct above the PSU would vent the rest of the heat from the PSU right out the top of the case. Somebody should try this...I will as soon as I can find an Estasis in the USA.

From what I can tell there is little/no airflow through the external Etasis heatsink. It's just a big aluminum heatsink with heatpipe connection to the hot internal heatsinks of the PSU.

davidstone28
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Post by davidstone28 » Sun Sep 19, 2004 1:30 pm

Interesting. I just wonder whether the effect would be noticeable though. I always thought that in order to cool heatsinks you need the fan / airflow quite close to the heatsink in order to generate negative and positive pressure to whisk the heat away.

Maybe something like the Thermaltake would be a better option (assuming that the duct has an effect)?http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/ ... index.html

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Post by davidstone28 » Tue Sep 21, 2004 2:41 am

Original post updated.

wim
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Re: My SilverStone ST30NF Fanless PSU has arrived - initial

Post by wim » Tue Sep 21, 2004 2:57 am

davidstone28 wrote:The PSU case definitely gets very hot. Even after about 3 hours, if you put your hand on the top cover, its not really possible to keep your hand there for more than about 5 seconds. After about 10 hours, it’s enough to give you a very mild burn if you hold your hand there long enough.
hmm... i'm thinking that it would be a fairly easy/safe job to stick a kind of homemade waterblock to the PSU chassis and put this thing inside reserator loop. since the PSU supposed to work by conducting heat to the chassis rather than convection, there's the advantage that you don't have to open up the case and void 3 year warranty with this mod. just an idea for a completely fanless system.

davidstone28
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Re: My SilverStone ST30NF Fanless PSU has arrived - initial

Post by davidstone28 » Tue Sep 21, 2004 4:17 am

wim wrote:
hmm... i'm thinking that it would be a fairly easy/safe job to stick a kind of homemade waterblock to the PSU chassis and put this thing inside reserator loop. since the PSU supposed to work by conducting heat to the chassis rather than convection, there's the advantage that you don't have to open up the case and void 3 year warranty with this mod. just an idea for a completely fanless system.
I think a water block would definitely help, as would a fan blowing directly onto the PSU. The only problem with waterblocks that I can see is that the sides of the PSU are ribbed, so I'm not convinced you would get a particularly good contact.

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Post by Tibors » Tue Sep 21, 2004 12:53 pm

I can't really see it in the pictures. Are the tops of the ribs square or rounded.

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Re: My SilverStone ST30NF Fanless PSU has arrived - initial

Post by wim » Wed Sep 22, 2004 5:11 am

davidstone28 wrote:The only problem with waterblocks that I can see is that the sides of the PSU are ribbed, so I'm not convinced you would get a particularly good contact.
yeah i saw that... what i had more in mind was building a waterblock into the side of the PSU (so that the base/top was one of the edges of the waterblock)
sounds like it might work well since you say the case gets so hot.
there are otherwise qualms about homebrew-watercooling a PSU because of safety issues, but this one would be fine

davidstone28
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Post by davidstone28 » Sun Sep 26, 2004 6:40 am

Tibors wrote:I can't really see it in the pictures. Are the tops of the ribs square or rounded.
They're slightly round/square shaped. Better explained in MIke's photo:-

Image

I suppose you could attach water blocks to the side flat section but I'm not sure this would be the most efficient location and neither would you get good contact because of the SilverStone logo:-

Image

** UPDATE **

Been running this PSU now 24/7 for over a week - P2P during the day and overnight. PSU is half inside the case with the rear case panel removed. Haven't experienced any problems - all seems rock solid.

Am going to try it fully inside the case with 2xNexus 80mm fans to see if that achieves the same effect as the rear case panel removed.
Last edited by davidstone28 on Mon Sep 27, 2004 9:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by mpteach » Sun Sep 26, 2004 12:40 pm

You could machine a a ribbed water bock which could perfectly fit the top. Im not really sure why you would want to though. If you are running a fanlesss reserator, why not just place the psu exnernally also?

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Post by davidstone28 » Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:26 am

**** FINAL UPDATE *****

I put the PSU back into the case, re-affixed back the rear panel on my Lian-Li V2000 case (which has an upside down layout) and installed 2 x 80mm Nexus fans in the fan mounts immediately above the PSU on the rear panel and switched on.

The 2x80mm fans @ 12v (very very quiet) largely negate the heat effects which the PSU previously had on my system components. I say 'largely' because it's still not quite as good as the PSU running without fans and hanging half-in / half-outside the case. All components are now cooler than they were in my Sonata w/Antec 380S PSU. Haven't cut any of the restrictive case fan grills either.

Temps are now (idle/load):
CPU (48C/53C), HDD (30C,32C). Excellent.
Stock Sonata
CPU (51C/56C), HDD (42C,44C).

So these are my final conclusions based on this PSU / Lian-Li V2000 combo:-

1. PSU (without 80mm fans) installed normally in V2000 overheats the CPU and components above it.
2. PSU (without 80mm fans) half inside the case, rear panel removed is good.
3. PSU (without 80mm fans) outside the case is very good.
4. PSU (with 80mm fans) inside the case, rear panel on, is quite good.
5. PSU in V1000 (smaller version of V2000) is probably very bad because of the small enclosed PSU compartment (v. little airflow and no fans).
6. Cutting the 3 restrictive case fan grills on the V2000 will probably improve case temps, CPU temps, HDD temps and PSU temps (Lian-Li fan grills are very restrictive).

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Post by pangit » Tue Sep 28, 2004 5:26 pm

ONEshot wrote:Wait... the v2000 places the PSU below the main components, right? Therefore the heat should naturally rise, going right into your CPU etc. I think that the SilverStone was designed to be at the top of the case, thereby allow convection to do its thang without interrupting everythin else.
I agree with ONEshot, and am surprised nobody else has mentioned it. This was not designed to go into an unconventional bottom mounted position where the heat will just rise and circulate within the case. As Mike says in the review:
It would be particularly beneficial to cut an opening in the case to expose the top PSU panel.
It has been mentioned that using fanless PSUs in PCs needs to be part of an overall cooling/silencing stragegy, rather than just chucking it in and expecting it to work. Having said that, I was surprised how much it affected the rest of your temps, and even in a conventional top mounting position it would probably affect them a fair bit without case mods. After all, not everybody wants to cut a top vent in their shiny new case!

I'm glad you've now got a setup that has brought the temps down, but it seems that adding extra fans to compensate for the extra heat has defeated the concept of a fanless PSU somewhat! :shock:

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Post by DonQ » Sun May 28, 2006 3:40 pm

pangit wrote:
ONEshot wrote:Wait... the v2000 places the PSU below the main components, right? Therefore the heat should naturally rise, going right into your CPU etc. I think that the SilverStone was designed to be at the top of the case, thereby allow convection to do its thang without interrupting everythin else.
I agree with ONEshot, and am surprised nobody else has mentioned it. This was not designed to go into an unconventional bottom mounted position where the heat will just rise and circulate within the case. As Mike says in the review:
It would be particularly beneficial to cut an opening in the case to expose the top PSU panel.
It has been mentioned that using fanless PSUs in PCs needs to be part of an overall cooling/silencing stragegy, rather than just chucking it in and expecting it to work. Having said that, I was surprised how much it affected the rest of your temps, and even in a conventional top mounting position it would probably affect them a fair bit without case mods. After all, not everybody wants to cut a top vent in their shiny new case!

I'm glad you've now got a setup that has brought the temps down, but it seems that adding extra fans to compensate for the extra heat has defeated the concept of a fanless PSU somewhat! :shock:
I got a ST30NF for my Antec P150/AMD XP 2.2 GHz/ rear Yate Loon 120MM/ fanless 6600GT AGP and I found that air was being sucked in through the rear of the power supply and everything in the case heating up ~ 3-5 deg C. I increased the speed of the Yate Loon but that somewhat does defeat the purpose of the fanless PSU. The weather here (WI, USA) is hotter so I can't say if the 3-5 degrees is due to weather; but the air coming in can't be a good thing. Maybe the air is being sucked by the venturi effect of the air being blown to the rear by the Sharkoon HPS1 heatsink/fan...

I was thinking about covering the bottom holes of the ST30NF so that air doesn't get sucked in through the bottom (maybe some sheet metal), and the "momentum" of the air coming in through the front (top slot in the P150 is open) create pressure and force air through the back of the ST30NF (which is what I was hoping all along). Or possibly put a fan in front to blow the air through the PSU. While that would seem to defeat the purpose of a fanless PSU, I only really need it silent when I meditate, otherwise the my system is VERY quite. Can someone tell me if the Phantom 500 has holes on the bottom? I think the heating up is more the air blowing in that the heat of the PSU itself.

I'm beginning to think that the ST30NF would be better in a P180 and I should go back to the Neo HE430 for my P150. Thoughts?

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Post by amjedm » Mon May 29, 2006 9:51 am

DonQ wrote:I'm beginning to think that the ST30NF would be better in a P180 and I should go back to the Neo HE430 for my P150. Thoughts?
I believe David is now running his fanless psu in a P180 with one of the Tricools on the lowest setting and then further undervolted with a fan controller.

I'm thinking of putting a Noisetaker 420 or Zalman 400 minus fans in the P180 with either the 38mm Tricool on lowest setting + further undervolted (like David) to 5v or another fan.

To answer your question, IMO the fanless psu would be better suited to the P180. The Neo minus fan would be a good candidate for a fanless psu in the lower chamber, again with the chamber fan. Someone correct me if they think I haven't a clue.

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Post by davidstone28 » Fri Jun 02, 2006 4:05 am

** QUICK UPDATE **

As amjedm has correctly pointed out, I've moved this PSU into a P180 based system:-

Silverstone ST30NF 300W passive PSU (European version):-

- Athon64 3200+ (Venice core) overclocked from 2.0ghz to 2.6ghz @ 1.4v
- Nvidia Geforce 7900GT (overclocked from 450/1320 to 570/1600)
- Asus A8N SLI Premium motherboard
- 2 x 512mb DDR DIMMs @ 2.8v (Crucial Ballistix)
- Creative Audigy 2 (PCI)
- 2 x 120mm Antec tricool fans on lowest settings
- 2 x 120mm Nexus fans
- 3.5" fan controller connecting all fans with fan control set to 50%
- 1 x 250gb Samsung P120 PATA HDD (Nidec)
- 1 x 160gb Samsung P80 SATA HDD (JVC)
- 1 x 200gb external Samsung P120 PATA HDD (Nidec) connected using USB2.0 only
- 2 x optical drives (DVD-RW and CD-RW)
- 1 x USB keyboard (Logitech DiNovo)
- 1 x USB mouse (Logitech MX610)
- Cool 'n Quiet disabled

I use a Nexus 120mm @ about 5v in the PSU chamber of the P180 to cool the PSU. I would be slightly nervous about running a completely fanless PSU in the P180 without using a PSU chamber fan simply because the chamber is so small, so there's probably a greater likelihood of heat build up which may (or may not) have an affect on long term longevity.

The PSU chamber of the V2000 is alot bigger, so I would be less concerned about heat build up. Having said that, I always used to run 1 x undervolted Nexus 80mm fan above the PSU (it has space for 2x80mm fans) partly as a safeguard, but primarily to keep CPU/GPU temps in check.
The reason for this is that the main chamber (motherboard/CPU area) of the V2000 isn't that great for airflow or cooling IMO. There's one 120mm rear exhaust but with all the mini-holes in the case, you don't quite get the suction effect as you do with Antec Sonata or P180. The motherboard is also upside down, so the graphics card is above the CPU and above the rear exhaust. Any stray heat from the PSU therefore has more of an effect on CPU/GPU temps than with the P180.

Personally, I would be slightly wary about running a completely fanless PSU in a tight/small case without any sort of airflow but having said that I haven't heard any stories about the 30NF failing.

Neither of the undervolted Nexus fans (deep within the case in the P180 and in the V2000 at the rear) are audible over the noise of an unenclosed Samsung Spinpoint P120 at idle.

All in all, I think the SilverStone PSU has been superb - its been running 24/7 now for over 18 months powering fairly high end components (3200+/6800/7900GT etc) without any problems.

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Post by Pipps » Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:06 am

This is a brilliant report. Thank you for helping out future fanless PSU owners! :)

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Post by efcoins2 » Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:49 am

I hope you realise this thread is 5 years old

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Post by Pipps » Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:12 am

Yes!!! :)

Good threads always deserve a bump! ;)

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Post by Ksanderash » Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:02 pm

Does anybody know if there are any news in the fanless PSU world?

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Post by Pipps » Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:06 pm

The only news that I can report of is that the Etaris fanless PSU seems to no longer be available and the Silverstone is now over £100 GBP. So now good news, no. :?

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Post by dutchie » Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:39 am

Just to report that my Etasis EFN-300 has been running fine since Feb 2005! Has been used in my main PC all this time. In fact it outlasted the motherboard, which recently bust.

Now I wonder if it will run my intended new setup. i7 2.8Ghz 1156. The killer is I want to use a fanless GeForce 9800GT graphics card and it may be too much.

Although according to the Silverstone employee we had on here years ago, the Etasis and Silverstone 300W PSUs are built on a core industrial 560W unit!

So perhaps it could run my new setup fine.

Cheers,
Dutchie

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Post by dutchie » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:11 am

Well my Etasis EFN-300 has been powering my new setup fine without a problem since December.

Intel i7 860 2.8GHz cpu and for graphics the ATI 5770.

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Post by ronrem » Tue Apr 27, 2010 12:34 am

rather odd.....

The POINT of a fanless system,where one pays more for the fanlessness...should be to have a whole system operate with...say...ONE fan ..TOTAL.

One mentioned above.....put the fanless PSU IN THE CASE......and below the mobo. Awww. You want it OUTSIDE the main chamber with rather open venting. You put it in the box....then put a FAN with it..and what's the POINT?

I also saw a rig described with a high power/heat CPU..overclocked,and a high power/heat vid card ...also overclocked. Then......THREE HDDs and 4 fans. So.....in THAT setup.....a relatively quiet FANNED PSU would have made nearly no difference. He could have ommitted one of the case fans

The IDEAL way to use a fanless likely is in a homebuilt case or one modded to the task. I would not bother for a "gamer" rig with a "space heater" dual vid card and a OC'd high watt CPU. You can't get the system on that silent enough for a fanless PSU to matter

Where it MATTERS is if you have a cool CPU,passive HS,very quiet HDD or SSD,and a big LOW RPM fan,maybe a 140,maybe a 250. No vid card fan or chipset fan. ONE slow mover fan for everything.

PSU live outside,on top,maybe in amesh or louvered chamber. The lone case fan ought to be near the CPU area,but near the PSU should be a case passive vent (outlet ideally) so there's some airflow around the PSU.
This may mean sealing up air leaks (in a modded case) or building with a PLAN so air pumped in has certain paths out.

The typical off the shelf case really does not tend to have a plan that's tuned to SILENT.

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