OCZ or Be Quiet worth getting?

[doveman]

I've seen the following on offer and I need an extra PSU for the PC I'm building for my brother. I'm actually planning to move my current OCZ StealthXStream 400W from my HTPC to his PC. I'm toying with the idea of getting a more powerful PSU for my gaming PC (currently Nexus Value 430W, which will be fine for the 6950 I'm planning on getting, but it might be nice to have a more powerful PSU for more hungry future GPUs), in which case I'd move the Nexus 430W to my HTPC.

OCZ StealthXStream 2 500W £43.99 (1 yr warranty)

530W Be Quiet! Pure Power BQT L7 £44.99 (2 yr warranty)

OCZ StealthXStream 2 700W £59.99 (1 yr warranty)

Obviously the 700W gives me the most headroom for the future. Whilst the 500W and the 530W give me 70 and 100W extra I'm not sure that will be enough for any top-of-the-range GPUs.

The OCZ 400W I've got in my HTPC at the moment is pretty good and is only slightly noticeable when right next to it with the case open, although it's never really been pushed so I couldn't say how it performs then. I would take a guess that the OCZ 700W would be fairly quiet at around 300-400W, but I wonder what it's like above that.

So, would anyone recommend/warn me off any of these models or has anyone even had a chance to test the OCZ 700W at the high end of it's range? If I'm just replacing the PSU in my HTPC, I'd probably just get another OCZ 400W to save some money, as the HTPC doesn't even need that much and I'm happy with my current one, but if I'm planning on getting the OCZ 700W I'd want to know that it's decently quiet.

[doveman]

Ah, forget about the OCZs. I've found other threads dissing the noise levels of the 600W, so even though my 400W seems OK I'm not going to take a chance on the others.

If anyone's got any experience with the Be Quiets though, I'd still be interested to hear your thoughts, although I'm thinking I might be best off just getting another OCZ 400W for £36 for my brother's HTPC or giving him mine and getting a Seasonic S12II-430W for £53 or Corsair VX450 (if I can find one) for my own HTPC (if I find the OCZ 400W is too noisy once I've sorted out the other components!), and stick with my gaming PC's Nexus 430W, which will also be adequate for the near future at least.

[quest_for_silence]

What about something like this: http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product ... -EPR525AWT ?

[doveman]

Thanks, but I wouldn't spend £72 on a 525W PSU. If I'm going to spend that amount, I'd go a bit higher and get a more powerful PSU.

[quest_for_silence]

Thanks, but I wouldn't spend £72 on a 525W PSU. If I'm going to spend that amount, I'd go a bit higher and get a more powerful PSU.

As quiet as your Nexus Value? Which one, for example?
Currently I think you shouldn't be able to find a quiet, quality PSU for a noticeably less amount: you may also give a look at how many pounds a 530W Nexus would cost, I think it shouldn't be so much different. Apart the Antec True Power New, perhaps.

[lodestar]

In terms of your budget, it might be worth considering the Enermax ENP550AWT NAXN from UK retailers such as this one http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-ene ... ooling-fan for around £57. This is from Enermax's Tomahawk II NAXN range http://www.enermax.com/home.php?fn=eng/ ... =42&no=150. It certainly seems to have the potential to be maybe the quietest PSU on the market in this power capacity/price range.

[quest_for_silence]

It certainly seems to have the potential to be maybe the quietest PSU on the market in this power capacity/price range.

It's a major hope for a declared entry level product which isn't 80plus either.

http://www.enermax.co.uk/products/netzteile/naxn.html

Maybe the new Nexus Value? I hope that MikeC or Oklahoma Wolf will make a review soon to assess some objective data.

[doveman]

I'm not saying I could get anything as quiet as my Nexus Value, just that I don't see any point in spending £72 on a 525W PSU, which might not be powerful enough to run a Crossfire setup anyway.

So, assuming I'm not going to do Crossfire, my Nexus Value is fine for a single 6950 and I just need a low-power PSU for my brother's HTPC, and the OCZ 400W will do fine for that at £36 (it might not be SPCR-quiet but my brother isn't as fussed about PC noise as I am).

If I was looking to do Crossfire, I'd be looking at around the 650W+ range to be on the safe side, so the Seasonic X-650 for £120, which is quieter than my Nexus Value up to 400W and stays quieter than most above that or the Nexus NX-6000 (630W), which is a lot cheaper at about £70 and if testing shows it to be as quiet as the NX-5000 will be my top choice, or possibly the Enermax Pro82+ 625W for £83, which is mostly quieter than my Nexus Value up to 300W although it gets rather noisy at 500W+. It might be worth me paying £70-80 for one of the latter two and giving my brother my OCZ 400W, rather than spending £36 on another OCZ 400W though.

[doveman]

In terms of your budget, it might be worth considering the Enermax ENP550AWT NAXN from UK retailers such as this one http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-ene ... ooling-fan for around £57. This is from Enermax's Tomahawk II NAXN range http://www.enermax.com/home.php?fn=eng/ ... =42&no=150. It certainly seems to have the potential to be maybe the quietest PSU on the market in this power capacity/price range.

It might be interesting, but we won't know until SPCR test it

I'm not sure it's worth spending more than £36 for the OCZ 400W for a low power HTPC though. It's certainly a reasonably quiet unit in my experience.

[lodestar]

I think that's the point, if you have found a PSU that works for you, particularly at that sort of price, then you are better to stick with it. There's not much else around for £36, apart from maybe the Corsair 430 CX but it's probably not worth your while to take a chance on it.

[quest_for_silence]

I'm not saying I could get anything as quiet as my Nexus Value, just that I don't see any point in spending £72 on a 525W PSU, which might not be powerful enough to run a Crossfire setup anyway.

A stock CF of 6950 won't draw any more than 290W DC (plus the system).
Oc'ed 6950s should draw more, up to 360W DC a pair: if you mind, you may do your math (surely it won't be quiet, nor cheap).

I think you've already read one of my usual data table from SPCR, but I would add some values for your convenience: PSUs tested at SPCR in last months up to ~500W DC.

Code: Select all

PSU's acoustic performance tested by SPCR in the hotbox in the last months
                 WATTS/DB                   2011
MODEL       90 150 200 250 300 400 500  NEWEGG PRICE
AX-850     <10 <10  12  15  18  25  35      180$
GX-700      15  15  18  20  25  32  35      180$
TP-750      12  12  14  14  18  33  40      100$
X-400FL    <10 <10 <10 <10 <10 <10 <10*     130$
MODU87+     11  11  11  11  14  20  23     >130$
NX5000      11  11  12  14  22  24  25      ---$
CX-400      19  26  32  35  35  35  --       50$
ECO80+     <11  12  16  19  26  32  33      >70$
X-650      <10  11  12  14  16  31  31      135$
CP-850      12  12  12  14  14  26  40      120$
RX-8500     14  14  18  23  28  32  32      ---$
M700W       14  14  18  25  27  27  34      110$
CP700M      15  15  15  15  17  30  34      ---$
VALUE430    11  12  16  18  18  19  --       75$
M12D850     14  14  14  14  14  24  37      130$ #
SG650       15  15  15  18  18  28  36     ~180$ #
DA700       18  18  18  28  23  32  35       92$ #
ECS7001     22  22  22  25  26  35  37      ---$
ZM1000HP ±  20  20  20  20  20  20  26      240$
TX-650 ±    21  21  21  21  23  38  43       90$
PRO82+      13  13  14  15  16  26  36      110$ 
MODU82+     13  13  14  15  16  26  36      145$ 
 
PSU's acoustic performance tested by SPCR out of the hotbox in the last months
                 WATTS/DB                   2011
MODEL       90 150 200 250 300 400 500  NEWEGG PRICE
AX-850     <10 <10 <10 11~13 12 13  17      180$
GX-700      15  15  15  17  21  25  35      180$
TP-750      12  12  12  14  15  27  31      100$
X-400FL    <10 <10 <10 <10 <10 <10 <10*     129$
MODU87+     11  11  11  11  11  11  18      130$
NX5000      11  11   12 12 12.5 14  19      ---$
CX-400      19  19  24  30  35  35  --       50$
ECO80+     <11 <11  12  16  20  23  28      >70$
X-650      <10 <10 <10 <10 <10  16  27      135$
CP-850      12  12  12  12  12  14  20      120$

* = overload
# = price not from NewEgg 
± = not tested in the anechoic chamber 

[doveman]

I think that's the point, if you have found a PSU that works for you, particularly at that sort of price, then you are better to stick with it. There's not much else around for £36, apart from maybe the Corsair 430 CX but it's probably not worth your while to take a chance on it.

Yeah, I was mostly just exploring the higher-power options to cover me for a Crossfire setup, which I'm still undecided about.

[doveman]

I'm not saying I could get anything as quiet as my Nexus Value, just that I don't see any point in spending £72 on a 525W PSU, which might not be powerful enough to run a Crossfire setup anyway.

A stock CF of 6950 won't draw any more than 290W DC (plus the system).
Oc'ed 6950s should draw more, up to 360W DC a pair: if you mind, you may do your math (surely it won't be quiet, nor cheap).

I think you've already read one of my usual data table from SPCR, but I would add some values for your convenience: PSUs tested at SPCR in last months up to ~500W DC.

Thanks for that.

I still haven't got round to buying a power meter yet, but perhaps we can assume that my system (excluding graphics card) needs about 200W, then with stock CF 6950 I'm looking at 490W and OC'd 560W. So a 650W PSU would be fine and avoid running it at full-tilt, which maybe isn't good for a PSU.

Now, when I'm not gaming, the system would be running below 200W, at which all four of the Value430, X-650, NX5000 (and hopefully NX6000) and Pro82+ are quiet enough, although the NX5000 and X-650 win.

Gaming with a single 6950 puts me in the 300-400W range, where the X-650 and Pro82+ win at 16dBA, the Value430 is close at 18dBA and the NX5000 is last at 22dBA.

With CF 6950s, in the 490-560W range, the NX5000(NX6000?) wins at 24-25dBA, the X-650 is 2nd at 31dBA, and the Pro82+ trails at 26-36dBA.

So clearly, for a single 6950 there's no point in replacing my Value430, whilst for a Crossfire setup (possibly) the NX6000 will be best, or if not it's a tossup between the Pro82+ or X-650 (which is louder at 400W but quieter at 500W).

[andyb]

OCZ PSU's have a 3-year warranty - as far as I can tell thats on all models.

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-stealt ... upply.html

I used to use the StealthXStream 1 400W models in the PC's I built when I could get them really cheap for £30 - £35, they were reliable, and pretty quiet, and had a decent amount connections and long leads, although these can of course be a problem in smaller cases.

I have no idea whether their RMA policy is any good as I never had to send one back.

A note, there seemed to be a fair amount of sample variance with the fans, they were all pretty quiet, but all of the fans "clicked" as they span - some more than others - this of course applies to the majority of fans - I would also like to point out that this is likely because the fans span quite slowly, and therefore quietly so the clicking was more noticable, on a louder fan you likely wouldnt notice at all.

I never noticed the fans spin up at all, although none of the machines drew more than 100W DC, so only got to a maximum of 25% of the PSU's output ability.

Finally if you want a really quiet PSU and dont mind spending more money, take a look at the "Coolermaster Silent Pro 500W Modular PSU". In a very quiet environment this PSU wins hands down over the Corsair CX430, and is quieter than the OCZ StealthXStream 1 400W, with no clicking audable from just a few inches away.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/147112

It also has a 5-year warranty - shop around BTW, PSU's seem to vary in price in eTailers in the UK a lot.


Andy

[andyb]

Just noticed the "Gold" version @ 600W is on offer.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/235551

£ 70 inc vat

Good deal if you need the juice.


Andy

[quest_for_silence]

Just noticed the "Gold" version @ 600W is on offer.

It shouldn't be as quiet as the elder Silent M Pro.

[quest_for_silence]

but perhaps we can assume that my system (excluding graphics card) needs about 200W

Perhaps somewhat less. Just to have some reliable-but-not-directly-related references:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1003-page5.html

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article948-page6.html

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article967-page7.html

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article807-page7.html

[doveman]

OCZ PSU's have a 3-year warranty - as far as I can tell thats on all models.

Finally if you want a really quiet PSU and dont mind spending more money, take a look at the "Coolermaster Silent Pro 500W Modular PSU". In a very quiet environment this PSU wins hands down over the Corsair CX430, and is quieter than the OCZ StealthXStream 1 400W, with no clicking audable from just a few inches away.

Thanks for the info about the OCZ warranty. The 1-yr warranty must be the one provided by the retailer but it's good to know that OCZ themselves offer a longer one.

I'm not sure that the Coolermaster's are that great. SPCR only seem to have tested the M700W http://www.silentpcreview.com/article936-page7.html and whilst that's quiet enough up to 200W, in the 250-400W range it's considerably louder than the Value430, NX5000 and Pro82+.

In the 400-500W range, it's pretty comparable to the Pro82+ (+1dBA at 400W, -2dBA at 500W), so if I was going for a Crossfire setup (IE where I'd expect the draw to be in this range when gaming, and below 200W when not), the Coolermaster would be OK, but for a single GPU (where gaming draw was in the 250-400W range), it's not so great.

I think I'll wait and see if the NX-6000 is as quiet as the NX-5000, as it would be an awesome, reasonably priced, PSU if it is.

[doveman]

Perhaps somewhat less. Just to have some reliable-but-not-directly-related references:

Cheers for the links, interesting reading. So yes, more like 100-150W AC, even less DC, so maybe even my Value430 has enough spare for CF'd stock 6950s, but I wouldn't try it as I think it would be running at it's limits. I'd probably still look at a 650W PSU for CF, but it helps when choosing one to know that it will probably be running below 500W.