I was wondering if it's worth replacing the SU380 PSU that comes with NSK2400 case with S12-330. Most people will do that because of low fan noise of the latter. But I noticed that SU380 has slightly higher efficiency than S12-330 by 1-3%. Is this meaningful difference? Or this much is nothing?

I just checked my sleeved S12-430 and it has the bigger heatsinks. Powered it up and the noise signature is pretty bad compared to a sleeve-bearing fan. Is that typical of a ball-bearing fan?

Quoting:"The end result is a power supply that is not the best in its class but is one of several quiet power supplies that become noisier when they are heavily stressed in a medium-to-high powered system"

What are some of the other comparible power supplies? Any of them cheaper?

Yes. All other things being equal (which they often aren't) a sleeve bearing fan will be quieter than a ball-bearing one.

- The Enhance 80 Plus model
- Zalman's latest PSU (ZM460-APS)
- Antec SmartPower 2.0
- Enermax Liberty
- Any of the undercooled Topower rebadges (Raidmax, OCZ, Tagan?, ePower)

But it sounds pretty much like constant clicking, subtle but noticeable.

Yes, that is the classic noise signature of a ball bearing fan. On bad ball bearing fans, it can sound like a diesel tractor.

At the risk of upsetting the apple cart, shouldn't the Antec NeoHE be on this short list too?

It doesn't ramp up as fast in the test rig conditions, it's much closer to an S12-430.

Anyone know if the S12 series 500/600 without sleeves has the soft-mounts for the fan?

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I currently have an Antec SmartPower 2.0 350Watt, and was thinking about buying the Seasonic 330Watt. It sounds like maybe I should just stick with my current PSU for now. (Next step, getting a quieter hard drive, as that's curretly the loudest thing in my HTPC).

Thanks!

I sent an e-mail to Seasonic asking if the "Soft-Mounting Rubber Cushions" are in the S12 version without sleeves and received this reply:

Thanks for contacting Seasonic Customer Service Dept.
Yep, that "Soft-Mounting Rubber Cushions Reduces fan rotation & vibration noise" is our new feature for the new S12 series.
So the old version is without the rubber cushions, however, it's still very quiet. Thanks.

Kevin Han
Seasonic Electronics, Inc. (USA)
1330 Mountain View Circle, BLDG F
Azusa, CA 91702
Tel: (626) 969-9966
Fax: (626) 969-9986

Having disassembled "old" (non-sleeved) S12-330, I can say that there are some rubber thingies (circular, gasket like) glued over fan's holes. Yet, annoyed by not-so-quiet, tractor-like operation (like winguy already mentioned), I've mounted the fan on rubber 'spikes' - noise is considerably fainter now, but Scythe's fan added to Ninja Plus on 5V still seems to be quieter (it doesn't make that clicking noise, I guess it has a sleeve bearing).

Just sharing my experiences.

ps. While I'm at it, could someone elaborate on the statement from the review of ePower Tiger, regarding sleeve bearings not well suited for high-heat applications?

I received another e-mail from Seasonic:

Dear Sir

The previous S12 series does not have this feature.
It is beginning to apply to new packaged S12 series.

Best Regards,
Support Team
Sea Sonic Electronics Co., Ltd.
Tel: +886-2-2659-0338
Fax:+886-2-2659-0530

My A1 S12-330 also had mounts. They didn't look particularly effective, the material seemed very thin and hard, but it was an attempt at decoupling the fan. But maybe the newer A3 units use an updated mounting system, does anybody have any pictures?

Regarding the rubber mounts... they are a means to an end, the end being lower noise. You have no doubt studied the acoustic analysis for previous S12s, and that for the new 330. That pretty much tells you what you need to know.

As frostedflakes noted, the fan rubber mounts are/were thin and hard. The screws holding the fan & fan grill in place are secured very tightly. Whatever decoupling reslience there is in the rubber is completely compressed away. IMO, they make not a mite of difference; the thermal, fan and fan controller characteristics determine the end noise.

Is it possible the new S12 series with sleeves has an improved version of fan mounting with "rubber cushions"?

I know the old Seasonic Super Silencer series had the same "Soft-Mounting Rubber Cushions" written on the box, but the original S12 series did not have that written on the box -- and the new S12 with sleeves does have that written on the box.

The last e-mail I received was from Taiwan and would seem they know what is what.

I can appreciate the 4 SATA connectors as once EFI becomes common place, it's going to be possible to build a system that has only SATA and USB connections. As to any suprise about the inclusion of a PCIe connection, I don't understand why you are. It's pretty obvious to me that they're going to have to provide the PCIe connection of this class of a PSU as everyone is migrating to it as quickly as possible. Give it 5 years and I doubt if you'll be able to locate any new production that uses an AGP slot.

My old ps had an untimely (actually timely) death yesterday, can't find the 430 anywhere online, 380 seems to be available, newegg, zipzoom, etc it's hard to tell if they have the new versions or not. Any recommendations for online or seattle area?

Silicon Acoustics:

http://www.siliconacoustics.com/seasoni ... n-psu.html

Sorry, just realized you are looking for the 430 watt version:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817151023

http://www.case-mod.com/store/power-sup ... 739de04c5f

Actually, it's difficult to tell on many websites which ones have the new series with the pci-e connector, many websites still list the old version with the smaller number of connectors. Plus they are all out of the 430 - except for case-mod.com. Thanks!

I guess you already know this, but just in case, the 430 watt version from case-mod.com is the new version with sleeves.

The recommended psu list has not been updated for the s12 330w.

Anyone got a sleeved S12-380 ? Does it have heatsinks similar to S12-330 or S12-430 ?

I initially misinterpreted the review as meaning that only the cheaper 330W model had dispensed with the fan speed monitoring cable which I now see was erroneous. It’s a real shame to lose that cable as being able to monitor the fan’s speed is a useful way of determining how hot your power supply is running. E.g.
I’ve never seen my S12 430W Rev A1 run higher than its minimum speed. In the recent hot spell in the UK my study has been hovering around 31C; being able to monitor the fan speed would help me to easily determine whether the higher ambient temp is causing the Power Supply to ramp up its fan speed.
As it happened, I could see that my system had little headroom, so with summer approaching I upgraded to a P180 from an SLK3000B, so it hasn’t turned out to be a problem for me.

As an update of the old connectors vs new comparison the new list is in this gif