My 5 year old Seasonic S12-380 i getting weak for my PC so i am considering replacement. The priorities are:

1) Silent (if it is just as quiet as my Seasonic i would be very pleased)
2) Quallity build (Seasonic is 5 years old and still working like a charm)
3) Modular (i dont need much cables so this would be convinient but if it gets loud faster i dont want it)

The PSU in question are:

1) CoolerMaster Silent Pro 500W/600W (i really like flat cables) / Seasonic M12 520W
2) Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold 600W
3) XFX 450W / 550W Core edition (i heard they are basically S12-II by Seasonic and i cann get them cheap)

The PC specs will be:

AMD Phenom II X4 B55 @ 4GHz
Gainward Geforce GTX 560 TI Phantom
3xDDR3 ram @1333MHz
1xSSD
1xHDD 2.5"
1x DVDRW

The stores in question are:

http://www.portio.hr
http://www.links.hr

Any suggestions or comments are welcome.

Coolermaster is unknown in terms of silent computing. So Seasonic/Seasonic-made PSU seems to be a safe bet in your list.

Well coolermaster can be hit and miss at times overall though I rate them quite decently at least on recent experiences.
The coolermaster silent M PSU's are good I've got one in my own build (just to try something different) and I've used some for other builds I've done.
So far so good no problems, they are very quiet, reliable (to date) long warranty and the flat cables are very good for case airflow I've got on great with them.
I went for a 600w one myself I think the 80 plus bronze ones are decent price wise you get a good bang per buck and a quality PSU for the money, I don't really think it's worth going for the higher 80 plus gold ones cost wise.

So not unkown when used in real pc's
BTW I would mention as per many manufacturers CM PSU's are designed by the company, but built by major PSU makers so I would not have any concerns in that respect.

Hi noisekiller, is your Seasonic PSU actually giving problems or noise or are you just concerned it's not powerful enough?
I've tested my PC, GTX560 Ti & i7-2600K @4.5GHz on my Seasonic S12-II 330w PSU! It runs fine and under folding@home pulls 330w AC which is about 280w DC from the PSU. I would think your S12-380 was up to the job when new but maybe less so now and if it's an S12 not an S12-II then will have older connector mix on it too and I can see a new PSU being worth while.
Don't have much to add on recomendations front, if available maybe check out Be Quiet! PSUs too.
Seb

The Cooler Master Silent Pro M has been reviewed at SPCR. It was well regarded and got the "recommended" sticker.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article936-page1.html

fwiw (and not to nitpick)
but, i dont see the "spcr recommended sticker" on that article... http://www.silentpcreview.com/article936-page7.html
although it looks like SPCR liked it enough, maybe it should get a sticker/badge....?

Oh, there's something wrong with the article or the article in this link.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs

But I believe that list hasn't been update for a long time.

Why do you think your existing PSU is too weak?

I've recently bought a Be Quiet Straight Power (80+ Gold). They're quiet too. :p

Well my PC acted weird with GTX550 Ti - suddenly it slowed down and restarted...and that happend three times in period of few days...everything else is ok...so i figured the PSU is too weak...



Quiet yes but for that price i will take Seasonic any time.

As for Coolermaster, i cann get them cheaper then Seasonic , that is the only reason why they are in this mix...i read test at johnnyguru.com and here and i know that the Seasonic S12/M12 is high end and Coolermaster M500/600 is more mid-end (ripple/crossload results are bad)..and i am worried about low quallity caps in Coolermaster...

There is no worry with a 5 year warranty on the CM PSU
I would point out that the review on this site..is a bit dated and these units are now rated at 80 plus "bronze" not the normal 80 plus.
I'm not sure where the concern is regarding capacitors as most of the Caps are made in Japan.

I think folks can get hung up on things at times most of these "decent" PSU's are made by major manufacturers who are respected and make good quality products, they're backed with a warranty too I can't see a problem with that.

The last Seasonic failure I had it blew up and almost caught fire. I'm not telling people to "not buy" their PSU's I'm just saying you can have a problem with a maker and model and it might not represent things on a broader scale fairly. Who makes the best PSU's well I can't tell you, but I suspect the differences between the good ones isn't that big.

Taepo is low cost Chinese brand i think...

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?na ... 3&reid=134

This and the ripple are my only concern about this PSU, otherwise i would bought it. I like flat cables and the price here is reasonable. Is this CM as sillent as Seasonic S12 series?

The choice has been made...CM SilentPro M500. I got it for a reasonable price, and it's modular...and i am happy to report - silent...just as my Seasonic...so - recommeded

It was last updated Feb 19, 2011.

Why would you even consider getting a coolermaster??????????? My experience with them is that they are LOUD LOUD LOUD.
Get one of the recommened Seasonics on this list of SPCR Recommended PSUs
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs

Like i already wrote - it is dead silent. If i unplug al other fans and disks in my PC i still cannt hear it from 30 cm.

My coolermaster is very quiet so I'm not sure where this "loud loud loud" comes from.
Not the silent M series thats for sure. I think some folks stick to a list and ignore some good products because it's not on the SPCR recommended list.
This is a useful site but the lists are out of date quite a bit.

What good is a brand if you have to buy it in order to find out how loud it is? Why would you not buy something that has been tested by a reputable testing organization?

When it comes to silence SPCR is the best testing organization. What is silent to you, might be loud to others. SPCR permits you to contrast and compare more PSUs than you ever could alone.

Look at this comparison chart:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1062-page6.html

Why would you not buy something listed on the chart? If you don't, you really don't know what you are buying.

Also note the warning here. It warns that there are substantial variations of performance from even seemingly related PSUs:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs
"Caution: Not Brothers Under Their Skin
When it comes to the noise they make, PSUs of the same brand, even of the same series, are not that closely related sometimes. While some PSU brands are pretty consistently quiet (Seasonic is a good example), individual models still vary. Some brands are less consistent. This is especially true of brands whose power supplies are made for them by OEMs, often more than one at the same time, for the same or similar series. Which brands have their PSUs made by other companies? Why almost all of them — all but three names on our recommended lists: Seasonic and Fortron-Source / Sparkle (closely related), who actually manufacture their own products. Enermax used to, but some of their products are now subcontracted out; we don't know what percentage or to who. "

Because other products might be good (enough) too and cost less.
For example, I recently bought a Be Quiet 80+ Gold PSU not on that list and I'm very happy with it.

Usually, I'd follow SPCR's review/recommended list. But I've met an interesting PSU -- Superflower 350W 80Plus GOLD -- on the market recently at a very reasonable price. It's really tempting for me...

While I can certainly understand the thriftiness of getting something cheaper that is approximately the same quality, how do you know if something is "good enough"?

Consider the following:
- the average lifespan of a good PSU is significantly longer than other components
- (related to above), the decline in value over time of a good PSU is much slower (low volatility in prices means any investment has higher expected future value)
- presumably, the well-known brands have a reputation to uphold among the silent computing community, so if your PSU doesn't perform up to the specs in reviews, they might be more willing to replace a "bad" (not defective, just not quiet) unit at no cost
- the other components depend on the PSU operating properly, so a warranty on the PSU is mostly meaningless, because if it takes out the rest of your stuff when it dies, what good is a replacement PSU from the same manufacturer?

Personally, I'm willing to shell out the extra 20-40 USD for a PSU that has been reviewed to high standards and is well-known among the community.

You probably know... Superflower and Kingwin are one and the same. That product looks good -- a Chinese review here: http://www.itocp.com/htmls/02/n-1602.html Efficiency is >90% & while there's no comment about electronic whine, the fan ran at 700rpm steady. It looks like a worthwhile product, for sure, as no one makes high efficiency <400W ATX PSUs.

FYI, I recently took delivery of a Seasonic SS-350TGM, which is an 80+ Gold TFX ("thin form factor") PSU. Same form factor as the PSU used in the Antec NSK1480. http://www.silentpcreview.com/article998-page3.html Preliminary testing is promising -- it is a semi-passive design & the 80mm fan does not start at turn-on. Not completely free of electronic noise, but it's at a very low level. Haven't tested much more, but this could be a boon for small PC/case makers.

- It's not like you're buying Sweex instead of Enermax...
- PSUs can die without taking out anything else.
- The average lifespan of normal PSUs seems to be pretty good too.

That said, I read other reviews and the specs on the site of the manufacturer. Of course those aren't guaranteed to be reliable, but you can often tell whether a company thinks about noise and quality.

Given the low availability of low wattage of gold PSU on the market, I DO want to pull the trigger and grab a Superflower 350W GOLD at a bargain 65USD.
I guess I'll get one sooner or later.

I purchased this baby recently. Will update its efficiency & noise compared to my Seasonic 300SFD during weekend.
I expect GOLD baby will dominate my Seasonic & Enermax babies in terms of efficiency...

Ok, now - i have moded my case and the beast was out in the open in front of me. The loudest thing? My Samsung 2232BW PC monitor. Not that only i could not hear it , not one of my friends could. On blind test Seasonic X-560 series vs. CM - on 30cm distance - there is NO DIFFERENCE...only thing that i cann barely hear is sandwiched 2.5" Samsung drive...so yes...i am very pleased