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About to buy Seasonic SS-300FS...

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2002 9:05 am
by davidhooper
Hi guys,
I'm about to buy the Seasonic SS-300FS PSU. Any last minute good experiences/warnings in the next 15mins before purchase?

I'm getting it for a touch over £50. Zalman ZM300A-APF not available in the UK and the Q-Tech 300W is more expensive. Good decision?

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2002 10:33 am
by MikeC
Yup, they're good reasons :wink:

An interesting SS story, BTW. One system builder recently told me they replace the fan in the SS with a Panaflo to get the minimal noise. The Panaflo doesn't start on starup because the fan voltage is so low. In a few minutes when the PSU HS gets a bit hotter, the themistor gradually kicks up the fan voltage, at which point, the Panaflo starts spinning. Once it begins, the Panaflo pretty much stays at close to minimal speed because only a small amount of airflow is enough to keep the thermistor below the kick up level temp in most systems. They haven't seen any increase in PSU failures since they started this some months ago, so it seems reasonably safe. The Panaflo is considerably quieter than the stock SS fan, so if you decide you want even quieter & don't mind losing the warranty, this might be worthwhile.

Just my 2 cents.

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2002 1:37 pm
by Oz
David - where in the UK are you buying it from? I want to buy one as well, but can't find any good sites! Also, do you know any places to buy Alpha heatsinks (overclockers.co.uk seem to have been out of stock for 3 months)?

Thanks,
Oz
:D

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2002 4:06 pm
by nerotek
which one are u buying the passive or active pfc... btw what's the noticeable difference between the active and passive powersupply... noise level, etc... thx...

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2002 4:31 pm
by MikeC
UK place to buy: http://www.koolnquiet.co.uk/index.php?m ... alog&id=16

No significant user difference between APFC and passive PFC versions. For info on PFC, read the Zalman PSU review.

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2002 9:18 pm
by davidhooper
Oz, I'm getting it from koolnquiet, from the link MikeC suggested. Their online purchasing system is really archaic - last night I placed the order and they mailed me saying "We will contact you shortly to arrange payment"! And I don't think they accept credit cards. Shipping is £8.65 after VAT :(

nerotek, according to the PDF on the Seasonic site, they only make an APFC 300W PSU.

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2002 9:30 pm
by MikeC
davidhooper wrote:koolnquiet... online purchasing system is really archaic... they only make an APFC 300W PSU.
Too bad about the payment setup; maybe they've already had some scammers. VISA's fine print, at least in Canada, basically says any customer whose card you didn't physically imprint can void the transaction and the merchant has absolutely no recourse. :roll: My better half does acc work for some online service orgs; this is their biggest ongoing headache, they're dropping VISA now.

BTW, I thought I saw a passive PFC 300 SS at Silicon Acoustics. (One of our sponsors.)

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2002 12:13 am
by JohnMK
Does the fan plug in to a 2-pin connector inside the SS PSU, or do I have to do some soldering and stuff?

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2002 1:03 am
by ChiefWeasel
Oz wrote: Also, do you know any places to buy Alpha heatsinks (overclockers.co.uk seem to have been out of stock for 3 months)?
www.theoverclockingstore.co.uk
www.chillblast.co.uk
www.overclock.co.uk
www.kustompcs.co.uk
www.tekheads.co.uk
www.over-clock.co.uk

Try some of these sites Oz, hopefully one will have them in!

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2002 9:12 am
by davidhooper
-UPDATE-
They rang me today (on my mobile!) to enquire if I had received their email. I hadn't and still haven't. Though the man said I could pay with a credit card after all. Argh. I'll keep you updated.
BTW, I thought I saw a passive PFC 300 SS at Silicon Acoustics.
Oh, OK then, I stand corrected.
Does the fan plug in to a 2-pin connector inside the SS PSU, or do I have to do some soldering and stuff?
Don't know yet. Will let you know.

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2002 9:17 am
by davidhooper
-UPDATE 2-

I just rang him back. They were having server problems and the email got lost. It will apparently be easiest to supply CC details over the phone to him. Now I gotta wait till my dad gets home to supply the CC details...

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2002 9:20 am
by MikeC
The SS PSU samples had 2-pin headers for fans.

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2002 1:51 pm
by nerotek
hmm, if u were me would u pay $15 more to get the active over the passive?

http://www.siliconacoustics.com/seasonicpsus.html

seasonic ss-300fs $44
seasonic ss-300fs apfc $59

thx...

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2002 2:14 pm
by MikeC
Dunno :?: APFC mostly has to do with the efficiency of power delivery from the electric company to your device. Should not really affect performance, but I don't know enough to be absolutely certain this assessment is 100% correct. Try doing some research for active PFC & see if you agree.

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2002 3:07 pm
by hyum
only if you're "green" should you get PFC. otherwise, forget it, it does nothing for your system performace-wise. as mike said, the benifit is mostly at the power company side. the most i would argue it can do for you is it _might_ improve the power conditioning of your power lines in your house.

one cautious note with replacing the fan with a panaflo. if the panaflo doesn't initially start, motors have a large startup torque to get it spinning. that is, it will usually take a much higher initial voltage to get it running than the lowest voltage it will continues to run once it is already spinning. this startup voltage can vary if you're slowly bringing the voltage up from a stopped fan. in some theoretical cases, this might be when the power supply is already running too hot.

now one way to test if this is okay is through statisical empirical testing with a significant batch, which the system builder mentioned might have done (or is doing de facto with units in the field so far), but you are no longer guaranteed by design. this may be fine for the SS PS (if tested properly by the mentioned system builder), but the same note applies with doing this mod to other PSs. also note the standard disclaimer of risk and danger to your health of high voltage when opening up your power supply, and obviously voiding your warrenty.

having said that, i personally have removed both fans from my antec true power PS, replaced the exhaust fan with a panaflo, and brought the fan header out of the PS with the rest of the power cables on a 4-pin connector. on this particular PS and panaflo, it starts up at 5.5V consistantly (which is the starting voltage of the fan header on this PS). this may or may not be typical of panaflos or this PS. now i can plug the cable either into 12V, or the temp. controller fan header the antec PS supplies. i've also "tuned" the temperature controller fan headers by partially covering up the intake with tape so that temp. response partially feedback from the CPU temp.

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2002 9:58 pm
by MikeC
re - the Panaflo in the SS PSU. Almost all the Panaflos I've used start at 5V or just under, some as low as 4.5V. The fan start voltage in the review sample SS300 is a little over 4.3V; another half volt will be more than enough to get it to start. I suspect this would happen fairly quickly in a system with a hot CPU right next to the PSU. It might be worth a quick test run.

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2002 1:50 am
by Oz
For the cheaper model at silicon acoustics:
SiliconAcoustics.com wrote:The SS-300FS model reduces cost by forgoing PFC
I interpreted this as "it doesn't have PFC at all". But does it still have passive PFC?

Oz

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2002 2:27 am
by nerotek
both have PFC... just cheap one is 'passive' and the more expensive one is 'active'... as for me, i probably get the 'passive' and mod with panaflo... hopefully i won't regret it when i chuck away my warranty... :)

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2002 9:19 am
by davidhooper
-UPDATE 3-
My father refused to supply his CC details over the phone (?!) so I gave my debit card details instead. The guy works from home, is very nice and apparently sources stuff from France for cheap prices. He said the PSU should be with me tomorrow or Friday.

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2002 9:00 pm
by JohnMK
Replaced fan with Panaflo 80mm L1A withi good results. Fan does NOT start initially, but after a few minutes it always gets going. I'm definitely not concerned about the unit failing any time soon . . .

Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2002 8:25 am
by davidhooper
-UPDATE 4-
Received this morning. Came with no box or manuals :( (!) Installed easy. Very quiet, tho not as quiet as I would have liked. I'd give it 6/10. Now, to replace that northbridge fan!

Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2002 8:39 am
by Oz
Mine came this morning as well :D. I like it! I'd say 7 or 8 out of 10 for noise (so far). Anyone know any good programs to test stability of the system (recording temperatures as it performs different tasks etc.)?

Oz

Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2002 9:41 am
by MikeC
Look under SOFTWARE in LINKS on left menu on main SPCR menu.

in uk too

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2002 8:14 am
by gehan
im in the uk too.

do you lot recommond the semisonic (or whatever it was) above the quietpc psu?

or would it be worth waiting for the zalman to be released in the uk

or does the semisonic with the different fan work amazing

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2002 10:12 am
by davidhooper
Hmmm, depends on price/availability. I found the Seasonic cheaper. The noise is OK, tho I'll mod it when the guarantee runs out.

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2002 12:58 pm
by nerotek
i got mine too... the seasonic 300W (passive) is so damn quiet... so quiet i might not even switch out the fan with the panaflo... :)