Best quiet power supply without moding

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Fri Oct 04, 2002 10:01 pm

Im curious as to the best power supply Under $100 US. Im getting a 2.53p4 with 512mb ram a sound blaster audigy, gefore ti 4200, western digital special edition 80gbhd, lite on 40x burner and a 52x cd-rom, 1 120mm and 4 80mm case fans in a coolmaster 410 case. So im guessing 300w psu would be enough and was thinking about an enermax 365 whisper adjustable, or antec true 330. Anyone have experience with these and also recommendations on other power supplies. I dont want to mod my power supply but i want it to run my system stably, while remaining quiet and cool, although id rather it ran cool and give up some quiet.

siliconacoustics · Post by **siliconacoustics** » Fri Oct 04, 2002 10:52 pm

If cool is more important then quiet then either of the PSUs you mention should suit you fine. Having said that, I think you are in the wrong place. I'm sure that overwhelmingly the participants in this forum would determine that quiet beats cool in almost every situation. I don't think that either of those unmodified PSUs would receive a consistent recommendation in this forum. There are PSUs that actually are quiet; as opposed to those you mention which are merely marketed as quiet. PSUs made by Q-Tech, Zalman and Seasonic are contenders.

Jonathan
http://www.siliconacoustics.com

quokked · Post by **quokked** » Sat Oct 05, 2002 7:24 am

yeah I agree with silicon acoustics

If I were u though I'd go for the enermax adjustable one as seeing that u're looking for the balance more on the cooling side then u can twiddle till u find the right balance

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Sat Oct 05, 2002 8:42 am

i was concerned that some of the other power supplys by seasonic and zalman are said to run hot and i would think that would shorten there life. That is all that i was concerned about, Ill have more than enough air flow through the case to keep the processor cool. Does anyone have experience with both enermax and antec true power supplys, i wanted to know which one is quieter, and what you think about them.

Post by **MikeC** » Sat Oct 05, 2002 9:58 am

The quality difference is not that appreciable, but the TruePower series run quieter and stay that way, and have the nice feature of 2 fan leads that carry the same low voltage for other fans that can be connected. The default fan feed is 5V; it doesn't go up till the PSU is delivering ~150W (under typical case temp conditions). In my test systems, the Antec TP PSU fans never sped up. BUT I did (and still do) have coil whine noise issues -- which appear to be some kind of interactive problem with the P4 test setup that did not show up on the XP/T-bird platform. It may have been a bad batch.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Sat Oct 05, 2002 10:29 am

how much a coil whine are we talking about, is it audible when the case is closed up or are you talking about it whining with your ear right up next to it?

Post by **MikeC** » Sat Oct 05, 2002 1:27 pm

Loud enough so I can't ignore it. But like I said, I really don't know why & whether this has been widely observed in other Antec units. Antec says they have not seen such feedback. If the rest of your components are standard (noisy), and your environment does not have as low an ambient noise level as mine, then perhaps it would not be audible.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Sat Oct 05, 2002 2:51 pm

Thanks for the feedback. Also, what would you recommend as your favorite non modded power supply? Seasonic, Zalman?

Post by **MikeC** » Sat Oct 05, 2002 3:30 pm

They're both good; they are both at the top of the recommended list.

But if you want to do nothing at all to the unit, then the Zalman may be the better choice - wire grill, slightly less ticky fan, nifty 5/12V splitter feed for fans.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Sat Oct 05, 2002 4:16 pm

So which Zalman would you recommend for my setup that i posted ^up there. Im thinking i need at least 300w maybe even 350, just to be safe.

Post by **MikeC** » Sat Oct 05, 2002 6:45 pm

They make only one, so that choice is simple. If you really need/want the extra insurance, Seasonic does make a 400.

Try getting power (wattage or amps x voltage) info for all the components. Add them up as per typical recom. (AMD's, probably similar to Intel): 100% of CPU power drow + 80% of total power draw for all the rest = recommended PSU power. That's the conservative method.

Chances are, 300W will do fine. AMD's "power desktop" system in their guidelines draws ~260W max (and I think they're being cautious - ie, it draws less).

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Sat Oct 05, 2002 8:25 pm

ive been reading seasonic reviews and they seem pretty nice. why didnt you recommend seasonic? Yea 300 or 350 is probably enough for me i think.

Post by **MikeC** » Sat Oct 05, 2002 8:38 pm

Because of the extra couple features on the Zalman I mentioned, plus the fan -- at least in my sample -- sounds "smoother" even though it tends to speed up a bit faster. I like the Seasonic a lot; measured slightly higher efficiency, despite claimed specs. It's a toss-up. They're both very good even unmodded.

In one of my systems, I have a Seasonic with metal grill cut away, with a Panaflo fan swap; the fan doesn't start running till the system has been on for a few minutes because the starting voltage is too low (4.3V) but as the PSU & thermistor heats up, the voltage rises & the fan starts. It is virtually alomost always inaudible. Same thing can be done with a Zalman, a Panaflo in that will start with powerup.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Sat Oct 05, 2002 9:28 pm

well ill keep looking around and researching and tell you how it turns out okay.

slau · Post by **slau** » Sat Oct 19, 2002 4:13 am

I always found the Zalman to be louder than I liked - Does this panaflo modification require any soldering, cutting wires etc?

What model is the panaflo?

Thanks

Post by **MikeC** » Sat Oct 19, 2002 6:57 am

The ubiquitous "L" (low power) hydrowave bearing model. AT least it's ubiquitous around these fourms & SPCR

slau · Post by **slau** » Sat Oct 19, 2002 8:22 am

Silly question really

Thanks