400W SilenX PSU

LushMD · Post by **LushMD** » Sun May 11, 2003 11:45 am

I am attempting to retrofit my computer in order to make it (much?) quieter. Unfortunately, prior to learning of this site, I was duped into purchasing an Enermax "Whisper." I had initially planned on picking up a 400W SilenX PSU from silenX.com. However, given the recent drama regarding unethical practices and all ( http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=4504 ), before I drop $110 I was just wondering if any of you (obviously, this excludes anyone even remotely affiliated with SilenX.com) would care to share your experiences ordering from SilenX.com? Specifically, I am interested in both the quality of their service/support as well as that of their product. Many thanks in advance. Take care.

PS I have searched the forums for this information. Unfortunately, as many of the previous threads were tainted by input from slienx.com employees/reps, I thought that it wouldn't hurt to start fresh, as it were. Once again, many thanks.

wu299 · Post by **wu299** » Sun May 11, 2003 12:13 pm

During the whole ordeal, I actually did buy a 14dba 400W silenx PSU from silenx.com. The transaction went smoothly and the PSU arrived in less than 2 days (granted, I am located in LA). The PSU has been good to me. It is, in fact, very quiet. I was having stability problems with my computer, howeever, that problem turned out to be related to corsair RAM and my motherboard rather than the PSU. So I've been running the CPU for a couple days now with no problems.

My Silenx is one that I think is probably identical to the ones you can buy off exoticpc.com, given that it does not have the blue fan isolators on it that silenx.com now shows on its website.

The voltages off the rails have been very consistent even when I'm running my computer at full load and the temp my motherboard is reporting is around 26C with intake and exhaust 120mm panaflo fans running at 7V each.

I am very satisfied with the PSU i received and I hope this helpsm but with all that said I would say you should definitely try to keep in mind the deception silenx played on these forums. IMO, it was very poor taste. Good luck

starsky · Post by **starsky** » Sun May 11, 2003 4:37 pm

After my rant in the Who is Digitaliz forum, I am going to put my money where my mouth is an buy one. I have PM'ed Silenx and asked for shipping prices to Australia.

Due to the events mentioned above, I have spent the time setting up a paypal account, as forgiveness is easier than Trust, especially when it involves my Credit Card

I will report back on my experiences.

My Sonata Power Supply is seriously bugging the crap out of me!
Particularly since I upped my memory to 1gb.

Since I upped my memory my box is more stable... Uptime now 4 days.

Keranthor · Post by **Keranthor** » Sun May 11, 2003 9:35 pm

[quote="LushMD"] before I drop $110 I was just wondering if any of you (obviously, this excludes anyone even remotely affiliated with SilenX.com) would care to share your experiences ordering from SilenX.com? Specifically, I am interested in both the quality of their service/support as well as that of their product. Many thanks in advance. Take care.[/quote]

I ordered 2 300Watt versions from them before the above story erupted (New versions with rubber mountings).
I must admit, that their service is one of the best I saw in a long time. Very fast response to enquiries. Shipping charges are reasonable (not the ones quoted on the site) and they even declared it as a commercial sample. so I did have no custom charges. Took about 10 Days to get mine to Europe. At this point I would still recommend them.

Regards
Marc

elitezoid · Post by **elitezoid** » Mon May 12, 2003 7:47 am

I've also ordered a 400watt SilenX PSU, although I'm not very happy with the way that Peter Kim has conducted himself in this forum, his service to date has been very good. He has been very helpful and always replied to my questions very quickly, I've had my psu sent to a US location, and at the moment it's being forwarded to me in the UK. When I get it installed I'll post my experiences of it.

starsky · Post by **starsky** » Mon May 12, 2003 4:53 pm

It seemed Silenx/Peter couldn't respond to my PM from the forums. I think his messaging has been blocked..... could have been a glitch though.

Either way he responded by email with Shipping costs to Oz, I have prurchased and paid with paypal, and it is on its way.

In theory it is 4-6 weeks delivery for ground mail to Australia, but my experiences have been 1 week because they put everything under 1cubic meter on a plane anyway.

I'll keep people informed.

LushMD · Post by **LushMD** » Mon May 12, 2003 8:40 pm

Well, I decided to pick up a couple of SilenX PSUs (one for my latest computer and another for a system that I am planning on building). In any case, as I ordered 2 PSU units, Peter offered free 2nd day air shipping (considering that I live in Philadelphia, that is no small discount). Upon receiving the units, I will post info re service and quality. To date, all service has been top-notch.

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Tue May 13, 2003 4:11 am

I have ordered 5 14dBA temp controlled Jaro fans from SilenX, I know I shouldn't after everything that has happened. The UK is already restricted what we can buy and can't buy, so for me SilenX was offering the service I needed who is willing to ship to the UK, unlike most US companies.

The service has been excellent, very responsive and helpful. I underpaid the shipping cost and he was willing to pay the little extra for me. Others would ask for the last cent/penny and refuse to ship until they get it.

sorenbro · Post by **sorenbro** » Tue May 13, 2003 7:37 am

I ordered my SilenX 350W 14dba PSU after reading all the positive comments in the forum. I'm not sure if they were all written by a silenx member, but have heard good things about their service from people not affiliated with silenx, and have recieved excellent service.
I ordered last week, and since I live in Denmark (EU) it will take 4-10days so I'm looking forward to recieve it and compare it with my Chieftec 360W with a papst 12dba fan.

However I feel a little tricked into buying this PSU, and I'm not sure if i dared if the truth was been unraveld. Now I'm not that sure how it really compares to other silent PSU's, and would probably have bought a nexus 3000 from a local shop if I could do it over.

But i really hope that it will be quieter than my current PSU, cuz I can't return the PSU all the way to the US.

As a last remark I must say that Peter (digitalx) seems very knowledgable and sure knows alot about PSU's, but I dont know if he really tried all the PSU's that he says the SilenX beats.

wemagor · Post by **wemagor** » Tue May 13, 2003 6:12 pm

I bought a SilenX PSU from ExoticPC which is apparently identical to the ones SilenX sells. I wanted to buy from SilenX at first, but I had some minor problem (I think it was that their site wasn't secure for credit cards, or something minor like that).

Anyway, I called ExoticPC and they were very friendly and knowledgable. The PSU arrived on time and everything went smoothly.

I bought this PSU to replace my Nexus NX-3000 (which I will put in another PC). It is slightly quieter than the Nexus, but that silence comes at a big price. Currently, my temperatures are CPU: 48 CASE: 44 (degrees C). These are high temperatures for doing essentially nothing.

This power supply simply does not move enough air to adequately cool a case that doesn't have a case fan, so be aware of that. For comparison, the temps with the Nexus while browsing the web were CPU: 44 CASE: 43. It's not a huge difference, but actually the Nexus doesn't move much air either. There's always a tradeoff, unfortunately. If your case is in an enclosed area and/or you are playing 3D games you could have temperatures that are bad for your PC.

xarope · Post by **xarope** » Tue May 13, 2003 6:28 pm

I just received my shipment of 1x14dBA PSU and 8x80mm silenx fans. Wanted to try the fans first so I replaced my 2xintake fans which are a major bother for me (since they are covered by an air filter and hence make an irritating whining noise), and lo and behold blessed "silence"!

So if nothing else, my perceptible noise level in the PC has dropped to enough that even if I didn't replace my 470W verudium PSU, I'd be happy sleeping next to it (FYI, my PC is about 2 feet away from my right ear at night).

NB: my case fans were attached with hard plastic attachments, not screws, but Peter Kim of silenx also includes these blue silicon fan isolator mounts, so I used them, not sure if that's a factor in reducing the irritating noise too.

I've also noticed that with both intake fans running (I had only 1 running due to noise before), my case temps are lower (typically 44'C, now 40'C, with 3x80gb 7200k rpm drives in the hdd bay behind the 2 intake fans) but I'll check again when I get home tonight.

NB: I do live in sunny singapore, where it's 100%humidity and always hot, and I am using the old palamino XP1800+ CPU, in case you guys wonder why my case temps are so high.

Hopefully tonight or tomorrow, I'll replace the 470W PSU with the silenx PSU and see how it goes.

P.S. Man these blue silicon fan isolators are a pain to fit!

starsky · Post by **starsky** » Wed May 14, 2003 12:13 am

Hang on .. did I hear that right - 8 Fans !!!!

What are you doing man, you running a celeron 300 at 6 gigahertz or something ?

xarope · Post by **xarope** » Wed May 14, 2003 1:28 am

Heh, nothing so dramatic. I'm just getting ready for my next upgrade to a barton 2500XP+ w/Nforce 2@400MHz FSB, so might as well buy more case fans in case I get a different case.

sorenbro · Post by **sorenbro** » Wed May 14, 2003 3:59 am

UPS just dropped a note in my mailbox, and they will come back and try to deliver the package tomorrow. That means the package is here

So only days delivery, looking forward to hooking the PSU up

LushMD · Post by **LushMD** » Wed May 21, 2003 8:49 am

Just wanted to let you all know that I recently received my SIlenX PSUs. I will install them sometime within the next week and post my results. As something of an aside, I would like to comment that although I found Peter Kim's customer service to be quite good, I found his packaging ability somewhat lacking. Specifically, my PSUs arrived packed in styrofoam "peanuts" without any box/other barrier between the PSU untis and the peanuts, with the result that several pieces of styrofoam managed to find their way inside my PSU units. Although I was able to rectify the problem using plastic tweezers, I feel that at $110 per unit, they should have been better packaged. Well, the rant's over

. Take care.

David Cole · Post by **David Cole** » Wed May 21, 2003 10:19 am

I fitted my Silenx 14db 400w today to replace a Quiet Technology 300w.
At first listen, no whine, more hum. Plenty of heat. Will see how it runs over time.

starsky · Post by **starsky** » Sun May 25, 2003 8:18 pm

LushMD: Have you got some initial opinions for us yet ?

LushMD · Post by **LushMD** » Sun May 25, 2003 8:30 pm

starsky wrote:LushMD: Have you got some initial opinions for us yet ?

Sorry starsky. It will be another week or so until I can build my system (still waiting for a few components to arrive). I will definitely keep you all posted though.

starsky · Post by **starsky** » Sun May 25, 2003 8:36 pm

Thanks LushMD, just trying to get excited... as mine is in transit

Vaeltaja · Post by **Vaeltaja** » Tue May 27, 2003 12:43 pm

Last Friday, the 23rd of May, I ordered two of the 400W, 14dBA rated power supplies from silenx.com. Today, Tuesday the 27th of May, the package arrived in the mail, much sooner than I would have anticipated!

I have not yet been able to plug the units to my computer (the cases, ordered a day before the PSUs, are slated to arrive this Friday, if UPS is to be believed

) so I can't comment on the units in action yet. They certainly look and feel good and sturdy, though.

LushMD, it seems that the folks at SilenX have rectified the little peanut problem, as both of the units were in very neat, heat-sealed plastic bags protecting them from the peanuts. All in all the experience has left be quite impressed with the packaging, and the flexibility and swiftness of shipping. I never received an email confirming shipping, but that didn't truly bother me.

LushMD · Post by **LushMD** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 2:25 pm

Hi All, just thought that I would post a quick update. I installed one of the SilenX PSUs into my new system yesterday and, much to my dismay, I observed a high-pitched whine emanating from the PSU (coil whine?). I recently replaced this PSU with the other one that I ordered. Initially, the second one also whined, but the whine went away quickly and has not returned since then. I have contacted SilenX about replacing/returning the PSU (I hope that their customer service is good...we'll see). Take care.

PS As my system just crashed (damn XP), I cannot do any further testing (for the next week or so, until I have time to fix it).

starsky · Post by **starsky** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 7:59 pm

Thanks for the update.... Still waiting on mine to arrive... it is a long way to Australia

Vaeltaja · Post by **Vaeltaja** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 7:07 pm

A small update on my personal experiences with the two 14dBA power supplies we bought. Both are now installed and seem to work quite well even in not so ideal conditions in an enclosed space. So far I haven't observed any extraneous sounds from the PSU except the low hum audible from within close proximity of the back of the case; the 5-volted Panaflo intake fan drowns out the PSU noise for all intents and purposes from the front.

On a different note, incidentally our elastic band-suspended Barracuda IV:s are also behaving nicely for a change and are quite quiet without coil whine

LushMD · Post by **LushMD** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 8:23 pm

Hi All: Alas, the SilenX woes seem to continue. As I mentioned in a previous post, the first (of two) SilenX PSU emitted an annoying, high-pitched whine which was audible from over six feet away, even when the case was closed. Thus, I decided to RMA this PSU and, for the time being, use the other one. The second PSU also emits a whine, but it cannot be heard when the case is closed (rather, there seems to be an intermittent beeping which can be heard once every 5-10 min). The thing that is stumping me is that is that it seemed to me that my system was actually faster with the first PSU than it was with the second (I don't know how this could be though). Some rather casual indices are that with the first PSU it took ~30 sec. from the time that I hit the power button to when I saw the Windows XP logon screen (whereas this time was 35 sec w/the second PSU; this result was repeated 5 times for each PSU). Also, w/the second PSU folding takes ~5 min. per frame (which indicates that a 500 frame WU would take somewhat less than 42 hrs), which seems absurd given that my older, slower (and, unfortunately, not yet silent) system can complete such a WU in less time. I realize that this defies all logic (at least as far as I can tell), but does anyone have any suggestions? Initially I was tempted to RMA the motherboard, but now I may just RMA the PSUs. Please let me know what you all think. Many thanks. Take care.

PS The remainder of my system consists of the following: Athlon
XP2500 Barton, Abit NF-7S rev 2.0, 2x256 Corsair XMS DDR400,
ATI Radeon 9500 Pro, WD SE 160 GB HDD, WD SE 120 GB HDD,
Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM, Samsung 48X CDRW, SLK-900U...
PPS In the meantime, I will pursue some more formal benchmarks.
PPPS I apologize for the length of this post.

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 12:09 am

LushMD wrote:The thing that is stumping me is that is that it seemed to me that my system was actually faster with the first PSU than it was with the second (I don't know how this could be though).

That does some strange.

Could it possibly be your first psu is faulty and causing too much fluctuations in the voltage?
This might have an adverse impact on the cpu trying to cope with the varying voltage.

Put a old psu back in and see what you get.

dr150 · Post by **dr150** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 1:54 am

I noticed that my CPU temp went from 55c to 60c when I replaced my Enermax 300w with the Silenx 400w, thereby setting off the motherboard alarm!.........This has prompted me that I must get a new copper heatsink, arctic silver 3, and fans--at least another $70 just to make this POS jibe with my system. That's a near $300 outlay for silence? You gotta be kidding me!

On top of this, the Silenx only carries ONE FDD cable! For anyone that uses cards (i.e. Adaptec Duoconnect Firewire/USB2 card) which are powered by a FDD cable, this could be a severe limitation, as the first and only FDD cable goes to the 3.5" FDD of course!

The Silenx unit also does not carry the brown 2 pin connector.

It seems these guys need to go back to the drawing board and add more cables to their unit. This is an AMATEUR mistake! They are also disingenuous as no cable specs, etc are posted on their site. Just extremely limited information. I guess this is done on purpose so users take a blind faith jump to purchase the unit. Had I known the limited cable connections, I would have *never* bought the unit. Now I have to spend fruitless money to return it.

I think I'll RMA this for a Zalman unit which is reportedly quiet, efficient, and comes with 2 FDD cables! I bet you that it also moves more air!....

elitezoid · Post by **elitezoid** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 2:14 am

Hey guys,
I've got a SilenX 400watt 14dBA coming and I'm starting to get a little concerned about all the reports that case temps are rising with this PSU.

Is the increase in temps due to low volume air flow i.e. that could be fixed with adding an exhaust fan, or does this PSU itself produce more heat, thus adding to overall temps??
I would also assume that a PSU that produces more heat is less efficient?

dr150 · Post by **dr150** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 2:42 am

The Silenx 400w is pretty efficient at 74. It has a good sized heat sink. It's just that it really, really, really doesn't move that much air.

My old Enermax was pretty quiet and that thing pushed some air out of the case.

Right now, my Volcano 6 cpu is farting the most sound by far. A Panaflo upgrade is in order. While I'm at it, I may as well get a top-rated copper heatsink. The money bleed never ends!

My advice for anyone considering the Silenx is to NOT buy it IF you need FDD cables, 2 pin cables, and if your case is already running hot. This PSU will just make the case hotter--for sure. If your cpu/case temp is cool by a good margin and can afford a heat increase, then it may be worth it.

Again, though, my old Enermax fan is pretty quiet, thus the Silenx doesn't provide any flexibility for me regarding limited power cables of the right kind, increased temps, and $120 in extra cost!

starsky · Post by **starsky** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 8:19 pm

dr150: What Brown 2 pin connector is missing? What is a brown 2 pin connector for?

re the floppy connector, I knew this before purchasing, because I asked. I have gone and bought a splitter so I can power my Audigy.

Note: Mine still hasn't arrived. Today would make 5 weeks.... 1 more week to go ...

dr150 · Post by **dr150** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 11:27 pm

I've read reviews that low fan powered PSU's burn out quickly. If that's the case, then that's a wad of cash blown!

I don't want to be one of these guys whose PSU burns out b/c of crappy engineering.

We'll never know about Silenx's reputation for reliability until 2 more years. Hopefully that will last. I'm really hoping!!

400W SilenX PSU

400W SilenX PSU

Re: 400W SilenX PSU

My experiences