Fortron is definitely very good PSU with efficiency being one of the highest under load and being quite high already at 100W load and has 6 Molex and 6 SATA which would be quite nice amount. Also noise level should be very low up to around half of maximum output power.
But apparently Seasonic M12 is about as silent as S12 which should be about as silent as actively cooled PSUs are.
As biggest plus compared to S12 serie Seasonic has added more connectors, 10 Molex and 8 SATA connectors but at least in 500W model 6 molex and 6 SATA connectors would be highest possible combination with two additional connectors for other of them when not using floppy connectors.
Modular configuration would be both good and bad thing, while it would allow configuring amount of cables, I would need about all cables which can be fitted at once (except second PCIe) so in the end it wouldn't make inside of case so much neater. Also if cable connectors wear looser that's going to add extra resistance which is never good thing.
Case is Coolermaster Stacker with 80mm fan in "roof" so warm air leaking back to inside case from hole of second fan wouldn't matter. (same with small holes FSP)
Fortron Epsilon or Seasonic M12?
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Just installed an Epsilon 600 and while the air woosh is pretty silent the fan has some whirring noise that is clearly audible. I'd guess that changing out the fan should solve that, but it's an operation I'd prefer to avoid for at least a while. And on the other hand my current case has thin Alu sides that I have yet to get around to dampening, so it's likely that some of the fan noise is amplified with my current setup.
I picked the Epsilon over an S12 because the latter began to feel a wee bit old designwise, but I'm not familiar with the M12 so perhaps it's the overall winner.
I picked the Epsilon over an S12 because the latter began to feel a wee bit old designwise, but I'm not familiar with the M12 so perhaps it's the overall winner.
Some thin steel cases I've seen are already so prone for resonances and such that I wouldn't wonder if lighter aluminium is still more effective for amplifying any small resonances.mkk wrote:Just installed an Epsilon 600 and while the air woosh is pretty silent the fan has some whirring noise that is clearly audible. And on the other hand my current case has thin Alu sides
Sides of CM Stacker are aluminium but I was already intending to line case with dampening mats... while BeQuiet isn't as good as thicker Noiseblocker Platinum it's more easily available and price is such affordable that I can buy two sets (one isn't entirely enough for CM Stacker) and install extra pieces as second layer into places where there's space, like left side. (in fact 2x thickness of Noiseblocker would be problem in right side)
If you need tests of noise absorber kits here's one:
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/hard ... tten-sets/
And I think Fortron (/OCZ GameXstream which is identical to Epsilon, except for blue leds in fan) would be propably very good choise basing to what reviews have stated from them.
X-Bit labs: This PSU is among the quietest ones ever tested in our labs at loads lower than 300-400W and is definitely quieter than any earlier produced power supply from FSP...
BigBruin: The fan is a Protechnic Electric MGA12012HB-025, which boasts a 2500RPM. While the manufacturer of the fan says it has a 38dBA rating, the GameXStream has a 17dBA rating. The 17dBA rating is much more likely as the power supply could not be heard while running. I had to check it several times to make sure the fan was spinning.
(heh, reminds me about when I assembled computer with Barracuda ATA IV... at first boot I had to check did I remember to connect cables into HD)
Neither I'm after absolute silence, PC isn't in same room I sleep and in any case I would keep it on at nights very rarely.
(btw, funny how certain sounds make falling asleep easier... like when being as passenger in a car)
So I guess making choise basing to prices and availability wouldn't be so bad, at least until these PSUs have been compared directly.
Actually X-Bit lab's review has fan speed diagram and they measured 1500rpm@450W, 1600rpm@500w, 1800@600w and they didn't get it to rise above 2000 even at nearly maximum load.Howard wrote:FSP probably correctly rates the fan at 38dBa. That's the noise output at 12V, which will be supplied to the fan only rarely.
So I think it would be quite silent at normal loads and two graphic cards is definite maximum I'm ever going to accept (idea of putting older card to secondary slot for calculating physics is quite rational) but even that shouldn't cause so heavy load when gaming considering power consumption of Conroe is full class lower than that of NetBursts.