Antec PP412X PSU owned - should I switch?

Keyz316 · Post by **Keyz316** » Thu Jan 16, 2003 9:11 pm

Hey guys... I'm really glad to have found this site/forum... a good resource for silent computing is always a welcome find

Anyhow.... I have an Antec PP412X power supply (came stock with my Antec SX-840 case).... and yeah, it sounds pretty noisy to me (checked the best I could with my casefans & cpu fan very briefly unplugged and the PSU sounded like a pretty serious low-end noise source - the highend being made up for by my 2 harddrives hehe).

So I'm considering switching to a Nexus 3000 or similar, and wanted to make sure that this would actually make a significant enough difference to be worth the $75 (the whole antec case/psu only cost a tad more than that hehe). I still need a number of other goodies to get quiet enough (two of those 85 buck drive enclosures, better casefans, maybe even liquid cooling if all else fails) so I have to make my dollars count.

Considering what I've read now on the forum, I "definately" don't need the 400W of power the Antec PP412X offers (see my system specs below)... So I think the Nexus 3000 should do fine power-wise for me (PLEASE correct me if wrong hehe)...

Oh I should add... my temps are pretty high... right now it's pretty cool room temperature and very light cpu load... getting 28C case temp and 52C cpu temp....

Anyhow.... hope you can advise. Thanks in advance!

My System
AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (not overclocked)
Zalman CPNS6000-cu CPU cooler + arctic silver II
2-4 casefans (antec and sunon)
Two harddrives (40gb maxtor D740X and 120gb western digital with 8mb cache)
Echo Mia pro-audio soundcard
Matrox Millennium G400 dual (upgrading to Radeon 9000)
Network card
Sony Spressa scsi CDRW (switching to a new IDE one soon)
Tekram scsi card (getting rid of)

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Jan 16, 2003 11:26 pm

The Nexus is super quiet but whether it's worth $75 is a question only you can answer. Guaranteed, if you make that swap, you'll end up having to go the whole 9 yards with quieting the rest of the system. If you don't, you won't hear much the benefit of the PSU change. The old weakest link rule applies here -- loudest noise.

You could start more cheaply if you're the handy type -- just try swapping out the original AntecPSU fan for something quieter -- anything 80mm rated for ~0.12A or lower. Even 0.15 will do in a pinch. Or just order up a handful of Panaflos. You know you'll end up getting them anyway...

Keyz316 · Post by **Keyz316** » Thu Jan 16, 2003 11:54 pm

Thanks

Yah I intend to go all the way... I use my computer for recording music/audio... or at least I "want" to... the dern noise thus far has made that all but impossible. I can't really understand why mine runs so hot though... I'm afraid I'll get it nice and quiet at a reasonable temperature for now.. but when summer rolls along uh oh.... hehe -- for noise testing I unplugged the casefans and put the Zalman cpu cooler on silent mode (1500rpm) and at idle my closed-case cpu temperature was 60C, and casefans on was 57-58C but much louder..... that's when I discovered that almost all the rest of the noise is from the harddrives and the PSU hehe (the Zalman on silent really is almost silent... but it barely gives acceptable cooling at that level).

You know there's a problem when a friend walks into your room for the first time, pauses, and says... "Wow, that's a loud computer!"

Peace.

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 12:21 am

Your temps sound a bit high. Have you tried undervolting the CPU? You might also check overall case airflow to check whether the CPU is getting any of the benefit of those case fans. Sometimes it is not.

The Z6000 HS has a soft clip that is easly bent. Perhaps it is not applying enough pressure. Check the Socket A heavyweight HS roundup review in the Cooling section of the main site. You'll see this problem discussed. A quick test, if you use MBM5, to check and see if there's not enough pressure:

1) set mbm to sample the temp every second
2) open up the case, move the fan a bit so you can gain access to the top center of the HS.
3) let the CPU temp stabilize
4) press firmly with a couple of fingers on the center top of the HS so the pressure is going squarely on the CPU.
5) watch the CPU temp monitor

If the temp drops more than a degree or so within say 10 seconds, chances are the clip is too loose. With one Z6000 clip I had, the test above saw the temp drop 3-4 degrees within 15 seconds.

The Z6000 usually ships with 2 clips. Swap this one for the other and see if the temp improves. If the other clip has never been used, it maye be stiffer. You could try bending it, but this just means it can bend back -- probably even more easily because you've weakened it more by bending it.

Anyway, even after all this, you may still want to get a better HS for quieter effective cooling anyway.

powergyoza · Post by **powergyoza** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 8:09 pm

I have the same model as you. Isn't a loud one? Like Mike said, if you're handy with tools and electronics, then you can mod you PSU to be as quiet (i'd argue even quieter) as the Nexus. And for less $$ too. Did you see my posting "3 excellent PSU mods?"

powergyoza · Post by **powergyoza** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 8:12 pm

I have the same model as you. Isn't a loud one? Like Mike said, if you're handy with tools and electronics, then you can mod you PSU to be as quiet (i'd argue even quieter) as the Nexus. And for less $$ too. Did you see my posting "3 excellent PSU mods?"