Hi,

I'm looking to buy a new silent power supply for my PC. What would you recommend?

Here's some spec on my PC and usage.

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 gHz
4 GB 800 mhz RAM
Echo Layla 3G PCI interface
Korg Kontrol Pad
M-Audio Keystation 88ES

VSTi’s:

Garritan Steinway Pro, True Pianos, Sampletank 2XL, Garritan Personal Orchestra, Superior Drummer 2.0, EzDrummer + Jazz, Vinatge Rock, Nashville & Latin Percussion EZX’s, ManyBass, Many Guitar, VB3, Mr Ray mkII, Steinberg Virtual Guitarist, Plugsound Rn’B Toolkit, Plugsound Fretted Instruments + lots of freeware

I also use IR reverbs etc.

This is a tricky one DF.

A 'silent' PSU is possible if it has a big heatsink sufficient to dissipate all the heat it generates itself, but then you'll still have to remove the extra heat generated by your CPU, expansion cards, hard drives, and so on, by fitting a case fan to extract it.

I'd go for a 'quiet' PSU (mine's a Seasonic 400-watt PSU model), temperature-controlled fans, and a decent case that makes sure you hear as little as possible of the fan noise.


Martin

--------------------
YewTreeMagic

Lots of good QUIET pc power supplies at quietpc.com.

If you want a genuinely SILENT psu try the silverstone 450 fanless. I've used one for a year or so now and it works fine. Won't be ideal if your case requires the PSU fan for venting the case though.

BTW when did 'silent' stop meaning silent i.e. noiseless and start meaning 'a bit quieter than very noisy'? Maybe at the same time as tiny PC speakers started to be 'rated' at 800watts

Thanks for the replies.

I would like a decent budget quiet power supply preferably under £50.

Any suggestions?

I'm very happy with my Seasonic 400-watt PSU, and when I bought it in December 2006 it only cost me £40 including VAT.


Martin

--------------------
YewTreeMagic

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductID=602557&source=froogle< /a>

is also good.

Been running a E7200 with 2GB RAM and an 8800GT

Now it runs an E6600 with 4GB RAM and an 8800GT..3 hard drives a dvd drive and a PCI firewire card..Wodks fine.
cheap and efficient, too.

You cannot get a silent modern (300 watts +) PC power supply for under £50. They cost £80 plus at least. Perhaps you mean 'quiet'.

Any model with a fan will not be silent. Any model advertised as 'silent' with a fan is being dishonest. All modern PC power supplies need some way of getting rid of the heat they produce, so they either use a fan or a large heatsink (or rarely watercooling). They produce heat because they are not 100% efficient at converting your mains electricity to power your PC can use. The best seem to be 80-90% efficient, and these come at a premium.

Even if the supply has a large heatsink instead of a fan it's going to warm up the PC so you'd need some way of handling that heat.

I have an Antec Phantom 500 watt. It has a fan which only comes on when the PSU reaches a set temperature. You can get similar PSUs, but browsing quietpc.com they've stopped selling them. Also Antec's website has removed the Phantom line, although you can still buy it on the internet.

Quote Martin Walker:

---

I'm very happy with my Seasonic 400-watt PSU, and when I bought it in December 2006 it only cost me £40 including VAT.


Martin

---

Hi Martin

I've got a S-12 Seasonic 430W PSU in my PAQ PC.

Do you think it is powerful enough to run ALL six expansion slots plus the GPU

I want to have the following on a Q9550/DP35DP mobo.

Radion HD4350 ATI passive cooled GPU (16x PCI-e 2.0)
UAD-1 (PCI)
UAD-1 (PCI)
RME Host card (PCI)
Powercore Express (PCI-e)
Duende (PCI-e)
UAD-2 (PCI-e)

I also have a Powercore firewire on the firewire bus but that is self powered.

I also have 2x Seagate 1TB HD's
1x Pioneer CD-ROM

My concern is the S-12 not being powerful enough and also I wonder if a larger power supply would run quiter if it was more highly rated or doesn't it work that way?

Everything runs great at the moment with all the above except the I haven't bought the Duende or UAD-2 yet - I'm worried that might be to much for my S-12.

Any thoughts

Best
Trebor

Bump

Mr Walker Sir, or anyone else who knows for sure, think I'll be OK?

I didn't want to start a new thread, just for this question - if I can tack it on the end of this thread

Trebor

Hi,

The actual power demand from your complete system but without the UADs Duende and PoCo is under 150 at full blast.

The UADs, at least,and the PoCo and Duende, I beleve, are passively cooled with fairly small heatsinks, which limits their power output (given ethat they don't overheat) to about 15W each.

Maybe you can get an accurate power consumption for these devices from the manufacturers website, but by my calculations total demand on your system maxes out at under 250W.


Peter

--------------------
PaQ

Peter

Your right - UA state their UAD-1 consumes 14W (not sure about the Powercore)

Thanks for your reply, just what I needed to know.


Trebor

Low noise psu's - Zalman, Bequiet! or Corsair (hxuk) range, being personal choice after testing in the 500W - 800W ranges (and in that order of preference). All have 140mm fans built in the current ranges and the Zalmans heatpipe design is quiet effective.

Think they are all proberly more in the £80 - £100 price range, but they all come with at least 5 years warranty and having seen the results of cheap psu's on the rest of the system when they fail I tend to only go with the better brands in the market place these days.

--------------------
ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog

Quote Trebor Flow:

---

Hi Martin

I've got a S-12 Seasonic 430W PSU in my PAQ PC.

Do you think it is powerful enough to run ALL six expansion slots plus the GPU

---

Sorry Trebor Flow - only just read your query, as you posted it on a Saturday evening

Excellent response from Peter though, although he ought to know if he built your PaQ PC


Martin

--------------------
YewTreeMagic

Thanks to all for the replies

Actually Martin, Peter only supplied the case - I put the DAW together myself (nightmare actually - but that's another story.

The DAW is now supper stable and works great - it's just the PSU is getting noiser as I load up the expansion cards.

I had this problem with my last PC - it had a Blue Storm 500W PSU in it.

It appears to me, that so far with the PSU I have had (being the Bluestrom 500W and now the Seasonic 430W) they are all super quite with nothing installed except the GPU, then when I start installing all my DSP card slowly but SURELY the PSU get's louder and louder as more power is need and more heat is created = NOISE!!

Peter's case is fantastic - and looks fantastic too, it really is great at keeping noise supressed BUT my current PSU is letting the team down a bit, as it's creating too much noise powering all my DSP cards. (I think I'm a bit unusual in having 5 DSP cards and an audio interface)

I think I'm just a victim of physics here - but after talking with Peter, we thought that maybe a bigger supply like 800W might be over the top in terms of power needed but would hopefully run quiter for the same given load.

I think the theory being the difference between a mini going down the motorway at 90mph and a BMW 6 series at 90pmh (well you get the idea :-)

I think I will give Peter K's idea a go and have a look at the Zalman range.

Thanks
Trebor

Ok I'm looking to order a power supply today. My old one is a Nexus NX-4090. Apparently I need a pin adapter to plug it into my mobo (I think).

Question is what would you recommend of similar quality (preferably better) for around £50 - £60?

For under £60 quid the only thing I can think of that'd I'd go with is the 450W Corsair CMPSU-450HXUK which is a bit more powerful than what you have now (your current one's a 400w isn't it?) I think, with a good warrenty and quiet.

I'd save another tenner or so through go with a Bequiet! or Zalman personally through.

--------------------
ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog

Hi Peter. Thanks for the reply.

Which Bequiet or Zalman psu would you recommend close to my budget?

My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2.

The gigas can be a bit awkward with Zalmans sometimes and as I'm not use to that board i'd say the Bequiet (it's the cheaper of the two anyhow).

450W Be Quiet Dark Power PRO BN071

Comes in at just under £70

--------------------
ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog

How does the Corsair CMPSU-450HXUK and the Be Quiet Dark Power PRO BN071 compare to my old Nexus NX-4090?

I noticed that the idle sound on my Nexus is 16.2 dB!

I've been doing a bit of reading and have decided to go for the Corsair CMPSU-450HXUK. I spoke to one of the salesmen at SCAN and he said the Corsair and the Be Quiet psu's would be on par performance wise! The 5 year warranty was also a deciding factor!

Having never used a Nexus brand psu before, I can't tell you. Can you Quantify that 16db reading through. At what distance is that measured? Is that your measured reading or marketing hype? Is it under full or partial load?

Very few if any of the class leaders will quote sound measurement ratings these days as they are pretty much subjective, and will vary wildly depending upon techniques used to test them and on system enviromentals.

The Bequiet! 430 (a previous generation psu) against the Silverstone Element @ 200W pull was about 5 db louder. The current dark power series increases the fan size, and is far more efficient (87% as oppose to 80%) meaning less heat and less rpm required.

The Element is the bench mark used by silent pc review, and I've tested against it in a quiet room and it seems quieter underload (once again, all subjective).

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article677-page5.html

I don't belive for a second through that the Nexus does anything like 16db under half load through.

*edit*

In fact your very psu is tested on that site!

The nexus does 30db under 200w load meaning that the Bequiet and the corsair will both be quieter than your current nexus.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article204-page3.html

The Bequiet! is the quieter of the two through.

*Second Edit*

You've already purchased! Doh.

The Corsair is only about a Db more under testing we've done here, and to be honest you won't tell the diffrence without setting up a microphone and monitoring it properly. The extra 2 years on the warrenty through, is well worth it, and I know you'll be more than happy with it.

--------------------
ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog

Thanks Peter! Look forward to trying it out on Monday!

Hi guys,

I've been really busy doing some serious upgrading to my system over the past year and have been extremely pleased with the results!! Following my latest upgrade (new cpu cooler) I've now noticed that my current power supply is the noisiest part of my PC.
At the moment I'm using a Corsair 450w.

Other components in my PC have also changed :-

Mother Board :- Gigabyte GA EQ45m
CPU :- Intel Q9550
CPU Cooler :- Gelid Tranquillo
Silent Case :- Fractal Design Define R2
Graphics :- Gainward nVidia 8400 GS

I would finally like to upgrade my Corsair 450w power supply to something quieter.

What would you recommend for my current setup?

i have a be quiet dark power pro 1200w in my server and its very quiet but its huge.

i guess that's overkill for what you need but they have fan volume/db level on all there power supplies if that helps.

http://www.be-quiet.net/be-quiet.net/index.php?StoryID=17&ProductID=10 &websiteLang=en#

I like Bequiet's but they have this crazy imcompatability with some Gigabyte boards where they will reboot if you try and copy more than a couple of gig's from drive to drive. I've seen it on all the X58's and some of the older p45's. I don't know if that would affect the OP but I've grown a little wary of them these days

--------------------
ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog

Quote dickiefunk:

---

I would finally like to upgrade my Corsair 450w power supply to something quieter.

What would you recommend for my current setup?

---

Personally I go with Enermax Modu's all the way but they are not a cheap option. The build qulity is outstanding through and they are very quiet.


The current SPCR recomended list has the Nexus 430 as it's overall best low power psu.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs

If you think you can get away with 430W again (i.e. no major upgrades in the future) I'd be tempted to say go with that as I have it in my media center and it's great and indeed quiet to silent. It's not got a lot of overhead through and I still went with a Modu 82+ for my audio rig.

--------------------
ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the continued advice

I've been checking out the psu's you mention and the Enermax Modu 87 500w (£102) and the Nexus Value 430 (£60) look to be the best options.

Have you had a chance to try these out?

Yeah, the Nexus has a very, very low rpm fan that never really picks up so remains pretty much silent. It's not a firm I've dealt with a lot through so I don't know how reliable they are which is why I don't whole heartedly recommend them. From what I've read they are supposed to be an ATNG power design with uprate cooling and ATNG's are reasonable builds but nothing special from what I've read.

They could be great but I've learnt in the past that great psu's can suddenly turn to trash half way through the expected life cycle so I don't get too excited until they have proven themselfs in the field.

The one i've been playing about with has performed well through, and I think i about a year old now. A fairly safe bet on a low powered machine and I think your's would be alright with it.

The Enermaxs on the other hand I've had a lot more experiance with. I built a P4 machine about 7 years ago that has pretty much been on 24/7 the whole time since then and in that time it's gone from a gaming box to a vsti processing box to a server system and it's never had a power related issue.

They build and design all their PSU's from scratch and whilst they cost more than most other firms they rarely break inside of their expected life cycle, they are quiet as you like and they give a very good stable power output.

I would have acturly said go for the 525W Enermax Modu82+ as that's about £80 and is the one I use on our audio systems here where I can.

The one you listed is rated as being 5% more efficent so should give off less heat and have a longer life expectency as well as costing slightly less to run but I don't know if it's worth the extra £20 odd for the pleasure!

--------------------
ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog

Hi Peter,

I noticed that whilst the 525W Enermax Modu82+ is a little quieter than my Corsair 450w it is noisier than the Nexus and 525w Enermax Modu87+.

This has certainly given me something to think about!

Hi:

I'm with with Pete Kaine and also recommend Enermax - they are built extremely well and VERY quiet.

I have done proper electrical measurements on PC power - unless you run some insane overclocked multi graphics gaming rig you should never trouble a well made 500W PSU in terms of consumption.

The reason I have an 850W Enermax is that at anything up to half load the fan is at absolute minimum; and only speeds up gradually at loads over 400+ W.
My DAW is therefore as silent as I can reasonably get it - which is great.
I have a core i7 940 12G RAM with 4 HDD + 2 opticals and a PCI sound card. 12 out of 14 USB in use.
My case does not use the PSU for cooling as the PSU gets air from outside; the case is cooled by case fans as it should be.

I'd rather have an overspec'd PSU that runs well below rated load than stress a lower spec. model; and you get 5 years guarantee.
I regularly monitor my case and component temps and things are cool and quiet even on the hottest days.
As the one you want is modular that can also help with tidier cable runs.

Got mine from SCAN when I rebuilt the DAW and its seen many hours use every day since.

Pest

--------------------
Imagine what you will know tomorrow...

Thanks for the reply.

My budget is very tight so the 800w Enermax at £170 is too expensive.
The 500w Enermax is £96 and this may also be outside my budget making the Nexus Value 430 the only option but I'm selling a few things so may be able to stretch to the Enermax 500.

Thought I should mention that I will be using the following external hardware I'll be using :-

Focusrite Saffire Pro24 DSP firewire interface
Cubase 5 USB key
M-Audio Keystation 88ES USB controller keyboard
Korg Pad Kontrol USB controller
2x Viewsonic 19' monitors

The internal hardware is:-

Gigabyte GA EQ45m S2 mobo
Intel Q9550 cpu
Gelid Tranquillo cpu fan
2x WD Caviar Black HD's
Gainward nVidia 8400 GS 256mb passive graphics card
Pioneer cd/dvd drive
2x 2gb DDR2 RAM (adding more soon)

Would the Nexus Value 430 be powerful enough?

Hi dickie:

No I wasn't suggesting you get an 850W PSU; I was recommending Enermax as the best quality IMO.

Yes the 430W model will be powerful enough but I would definately get the Enermax 500 if you can.

Enermax


Regards - Pest

--------------------
Imagine what you will know tomorrow...

My brother recently wanted to upgrade his computer (for gaming) so I got him a be quiet 700W PSU. I'll tell you now that thing is pretty much silent when he turns his computer on, it gets louder under load but is still pretty decent. Haven't actually seen the Enermax or Corsair models running but doubt they are quiter as this is not their main purpose. Would definately recommend the be quite range!

--------------------
-If it's not broke, don't fix it!

Quote OldSchoolProducer:

---

My brother recently wanted to upgrade his computer (for gaming) so I got him a be quiet 700W PSU. I'll tell you now that thing is pretty much silent when he turns his computer on, it gets louder under load but is still pretty decent. Haven't actually seen the Enermax or Corsair models running but doubt they are quiter as this is not their main purpose. Would definately recommend the be quite range!

---

I use to use them, but I find them problematic with Gigabyte boards (arm load sag under mid to long term constant load). The current Bequiet! range are Topower (P8) psu's with uprated fans and the only real benifit of the Bequiets over the Tagans & Mushkins which are based around the same range is that the fan is never really run above 2/3 load so comes across as being quieter.

The good Corsair models (some TX) are based around the Seasonic 650 MII which were at one point a few years back pretty much the best quiet psu's going and are worth getting on those grounds, althrough just plumping for the seasonic would be the better choice if you were doing that.

The Nexus are oem units uprated by Nexus who are a silent fan company and do some of the better fans on the market right now. It down to those that the units are quiet as that is the selling point (like the Bequiets!).

Then the's Enermax. Most of the other brands you've heard of use a selection of OEM plants in Taiwan and mod those standard designs. Enermax develop solutions and build in house and they set out to build the best unit they can from scratch. Yes they cost more than most other firms but that's because they don't cut corners on the process.

PC power & cooling use to be like this and built outstanding psu's but since the OCZ take over it seems to have slipped a bit. Seasonic and Antec are both in house and solid buys as they develop and sell through to other firms and do the job right althrough in Antecs case they don't tend to focus so much on the cooling noise levels.

--------------------
ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog

I have just been speaking to a guy over at Quiet PC and he recommends the Scythe Kamariki psu. It does looks like it is very quiet on the chart on their website :-

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/powersupplies/kamariki4

The 550w version looks like it would be quieter than the 450w until it goes over 450w.

I can't seem to find any reviews on the Scythe Kamariki?

Any thoughts on this one?

Hi,

I don't know if this is pushing the forum rules, but I do think it's relevant, so my apologies if I'm in the wrong.

I have an unused Corsair 650w supply that I bought from Scan. It didn't fit in my Antec rackmount case, but I didn't try fitting it until it was too late to return it.

It's this model - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650W-Corsair-CMPSU-650TX-SLi-XfireSingle-12 V-Rail-80plus-Efficient-120mm-Quiet-Fan-ATX12V-v22

and I've just noticed it's dropped quite a bit in price since I bought it a few months ago!

PM me if you're interested.

Aled

--------------------
Bill Withers while Tom Waits, and Stan Getz

Quote dickiefunk:

---

I have just been speaking to a guy over at Quiet PC and he recommends the Scythe Kamariki psu.

Any thoughts on this one?

---

As they are the UK distro for Scythe I'd question how bias'd they might be on the matter!

They sent us a sample. I tried it, and wasn't that impressed with it. It got slung it in a system under my desk when the Hiper power in it died and is still going 6 months later.

The's a review here: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/762 which states it's from a range based around the Topower unit that the Bequiet! uses or might be based around a sirtech unit, but the's not a lot in either of those quality wise.

--------------------
ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog

Quote Pete Kaine:

---

As they are the UK distro for Scythe I'd question how bias'd they might be on the matter!

---

To be honest from the dealings I've had from Quiet PC over the years they haven't been biased towards Scythe.

Quote Pete Kaine:

---

They sent us a sample. I tried it, and wasn't that impressed with it. It got slung it in a system under my desk when the Hiper power in it died and is still going 6 months later.

---

Have you been able to compare the Scythe to the Nexus Value 430 and Enermax Modu87?