Nexus Value 430 PSU: Affordable Silence

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Monkeh16
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Post by Monkeh16 » Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:51 am

MoJo wrote:
Monkeh16 wrote:I've done this, it's a damned good idea. However, you don't want crimp ones.
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/SATA.html
Yeah, the crimp ones don't work too well with smaller gauge wire. By my calculations you should be able to safely go down to 20 gauge for multiple connectors and 22 gauge for individual ones.
That and I've yet to see a decent right angle crimp connector. Plus crimpers are expensive, whereas the IDC ones just need a small screwdriver ;)

Scoop
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Post by Scoop » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:54 am

A dream unit for any single GPU gaming rig. You can pretty much have you SATA DVD on one cable and an SSD on the other connector on that cable lying around wherever. Then have two 2TB sata drives on the other cable. I think that's probably enough for most users' storage needs.

thejamppa
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Post by thejamppa » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:06 am

I just installed mine on today.

First thing when I installed it on P182 was: OMG that's so small! Basicly 2cm's of PSU rack in bottom was visible with fore most rubber insulator fully exposed. That's full 4cm's shorter than my previous modular psu.

2nd thing was: OMG I really can't hear anything...

In short: That's one heck of an small PSU, inaudiable and with very long cables. Only 4-pin / 8-pin PSU power cord is too short for P182 but So far I haven't seen any PSU with enough long Aux power cable without extension.

Monkeh16
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Post by Monkeh16 » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:47 am

thejamppa wrote:Only 4-pin / 8-pin PSU power cord is too short for P182 but So far I haven't seen any PSU with enough long Aux power cable without extension.
I'm almost certain I'm not using one with my Modu82+, and I don't think I use one with my Liberty either.

Matija
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Post by Matija » Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:36 am

Sweet PSU... Sadly, not available in Croatia, and I'm guessing it never will be.

merlin
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Post by merlin » Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:03 pm

I certainly like Nexus products such as this, but they have one huge negative at least in the USA. There's only some boutique venders that sell their products. That is a negative for a lot of computer buyers who aren't interested in purchasing from multiple places or don't like the prices from boutique sellers. Newegg would be the first place I'd hope they would add distribution to, but I really think they need to expand their general availability.

Zenphic
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Post by Zenphic » Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:49 pm

It doesn't look like any Canadian store carry the power supply yet either. :(

Shaman
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Post by Shaman » Sun Mar 22, 2009 6:14 pm

thejamppa wrote:I installed it on P182
Are you depending on the PSU alone to cool the hard drive(s)? Did your hard drive temperature(s) increased? (seeing as the PSU fan runs at an incredible 370rpm most of the time)

Zenphic
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Post by Zenphic » Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:12 pm

NCIX has the Nexus Value 430 in stock if anyone in Canada is interested. It's selling for 109$. Hopefully it will have some discounts soon and perharps other retailers will have it to give NCIX some competition.

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=37345

doveman
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Post by doveman » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:46 am

Will this be sufficient for a PII X3 710 with 2 4830 or 4850 cards?

I think the 4850 draws about 110w at load, so assuming the 710 draws around 100W, that's 320w/26A. I think that should leave enough headroom for a couple of HDs, a DVD drive and the MB but I wanted to check before I buy it. What would the 710 draw if overclocked to say 3.2ghz?

In reality, I'll probably only be running one 4830 or 4850 but I'm trying to buy components that will give me some options if I'm blessed with some extra cash or get bored and want to start tweaking :)

FartingBob
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Post by FartingBob » Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:31 am

doveman wrote:Will this be sufficient for a PII X3 710 with 2 4830 or 4850 cards?

I think the 4850 draws about 110w at load, so assuming the 710 draws around 100W, that's 320w/26A. I think that should leave enough headroom for a couple of HDs, a DVD drive and the MB but I wanted to check before I buy it. What would the 710 draw if overclocked to say 3.2ghz?

In reality, I'll probably only be running one 4830 or 4850 but I'm trying to buy components that will give me some options if I'm blessed with some extra cash or get bored and want to start tweaking :)
Well for starters, the Phenom 2 tri-core does not use 100w. Its rated for 95w, which is the same as its 4-core brothers. So presuming that they would run at 80-90w under realistic load, this chip with 1 core disabled will likely pull at most 75w.

So lets say you buy a second 4850 (which do indeed peak at 100-110w), and decide to spend all afternoon running multiple simultaneous benchmarks (because that is the only thing that will get your CPU and both GPU's running at absolute max), you'll still have over 100w of headroom.
Under gaming you'll probably stay around 250-300w actual usage for the whole system.

the fan on the nexus ramps up quite a bit between 150 and 200w, however how often do you need it to be absolutely silent (compared with just really quiet) while gaming? when idling/light usage is when you need fans to be really quiet, and you could build a 4850 CF system that idles below 150w.

Mats
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Post by Mats » Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:49 am


doveman
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Post by doveman » Wed Apr 01, 2009 5:40 pm

Absolutely brilliant info guys. I used an online PSU calculator to estimate the power requirements for an overclocked Q6600 B0 system (it doesn't have the AM3 CPUs listed yet, but I thought they might have similar power requirements as both are rated at 95w) and it came to over 450w (viewtopic.php?t=53174), so I was resigned to having to pass on this excellent PSU.

Thanks to you guys, I'm happy to go and buy a Nexus now before they all disappear :D

And you're quite right FartingBob, I don't need silence when gaming, just reasonable quiet so that I can play without cranking up the volume late at night if I don't feel like wearing my headphones.

tackle
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Post by tackle » Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:03 pm

For all swedes out there:

I contacted inet.se and asked if they could add this to their stock. They did so in a few hours! Don't forget the sweclockers free shipping!

Mats
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Post by Mats » Tue Apr 07, 2009 3:29 pm

tackle wrote:Don't forget the sweclockers free shipping!
How?

Riffer
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Post by Riffer » Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:36 am

Zenphic wrote:NCIX has the Nexus Value 430 in stock if anyone in Canada is interested. It's selling for 109$. Hopefully it will have some discounts soon and perharps other retailers will have it to give NCIX some competition.

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=37345
IMHO a tough sell with the Seasonic M12 II 430W at the same price.

stromgald
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Post by stromgald » Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:01 am

It sounds like an excellent product, and I might even consider it when I build another "high-end" desktop machine. But, for HTPC and home server usage (which I'm looking to build next), it's a little too expensive to be considered "value" IMO. The price of silence is subjective, and this one seems a little too high for my tastes.

kittle
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Post by kittle » Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:57 am

Riffer wrote:
Zenphic wrote:NCIX has the Nexus Value 430 in stock if anyone in Canada is interested. It's selling for 109$. Hopefully it will have some discounts soon and perharps other retailers will have it to give NCIX some competition.

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=37345
IMHO a tough sell with the Seasonic M12 II 430W at the same price.
I went and got the seasonic version:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817151057

and its very quiet. the system is setup on my desk as a testbed with everything open (no case). and I have to look carefully to see if the fan is spinning to tell if the PSU is even turned on.

dhanson865
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Post by dhanson865 » Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:47 pm

Riffer wrote:
Zenphic wrote:NCIX has the Nexus Value 430 in stock if anyone in Canada is interested. It's selling for 109$. Hopefully it will have some discounts soon and perharps other retailers will have it to give NCIX some competition.

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=37345
IMHO a tough sell with the Seasonic M12 II 430W at the same price.
I could see you preferring the Corsair VX450 due to quality or availability but the Seasonic M12 II is louder than the Corsair and the Nexus Value. The Nexus value is more quiet than either the Corsair VX450W or Seasonic M12 II 430W.

I'm not sure why you'd prefer the Seasonic just because it is the same price as the Nexus?

stromgald
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Post by stromgald » Fri Apr 10, 2009 2:29 pm

dhanson865 wrote: I could see you preferring the Corsair VX450 due to quality or availability but the Seasonic M12 II is louder than the Corsair and the Nexus Value. The Nexus value is more quiet than either the Corsair VX450W or Seasonic M12 II 430W.

I'm not sure why you'd prefer the Seasonic just because it is the same price as the Nexus?
Isn't the Seasonic M12 modular? That helps with the cablegami issue.

It might be a little blasphemous around here, but maybe the Seasonic is "quiet enough"? :wink:

When you get down into the sub 19dBa range, it's hard to tell the difference anyways. I doubt you could measure a difference in that range without an anechoic chamber.

dhanson865
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Post by dhanson865 » Fri Apr 10, 2009 3:07 pm

Code: Select all

Model       Output (W)        150     200     250     300     400
         Noise (dBA@1m)
Corsair VX450W                                        26      35
Nexus Value 430               11      16      18      18      19
Seasonic M12II-430                    24      28      35      41
I don't have anechoic chamber numbers for the other two PSUs in that table so I chopped out the ones from the reviews that are below 24 dBA. The higher dBA numbers should be relatively safe to compare. Make no mistake the Corsair VX450 is quieter than the M12II-430 its just that the lower numbers are low enough that I excluded them to prevent comparing vs chamber numbers for the Nexus.

I guess if you know you'll never ever have heat issues in your residence and your case with your components and you'll never ever go above 200 watts I'd easily say that there are other PSUs that are quiet enough.

But knowing the fan ramps up so quickly on the M12II anyone that might use the higher wattage would want to look for a PSU that is known to stay quiet at higher loads. I'm not saying it has to be the Nexus, if you look back at prior posts you'll note I'm looking forward to new PSUs to come out from Seasonic this year that should do better. I just don't think the M12II holds up well vs modern options.

Zenphic
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Post by Zenphic » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:13 pm

You might also be able to consider the less expensive Corsair CX400W instead of the VX450W. According to Anandtech's recent 300W to 450W power supplies roundup, it's slightly quieter than the latter:

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3487&p=38

dhanson865
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Post by dhanson865 » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:32 pm

Zenphic wrote:You might also be able to consider the less expensive Corsair CX400W instead of the VX450W. According to Anandtech's recent 300W to 450W power supplies roundup, it's slightly quieter than the latter:

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3487&p=38
If you trust that article the Silverstone Element is the quietest PSU. I still have a hard time trusting anandtech for sound measurements considering some of the articles I've seen there.

Riffer
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Post by Riffer » Sat Apr 11, 2009 7:55 am

Actually, this could be an interesting PSU. Is X-Spice the actual manufacturer, or is there a further OEM?

I just mentioned the Seasonic, because that is a reputable PSU manufacturer, and there are some extra features. By all reports, the fan in the Nexus (used on the X-Spice PSU's as well) is extremely quiet.

It could be an interesting head to head comparison.

Mats
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Post by Mats » Sat Apr 11, 2009 8:53 am

Riffer: Thank you! How did you know it could be a X-Spice?
It seems to be pretty much identical to the X-Spice Kira CS 430w, exept for the fan.
That's too bad, otherwise it could have been a good alternative with lower prices and more models. It is 80 PLUS certified.
But, the fans have the same model number even though one of them is a transparent LED-equipped model:
Nexus Value 430 −
Image
X-Spice Kira CS 530 (click for larger pic) −
Image

If this fan is just as good as the one in SPCR's review then I guess no one could complain about its noise, however, this review says:
In regards to noise, the Kira isn’t the quietest power supply of them all as it whines slightly – as though the fan’s bearing are squealing. Therefore it’s certainly not silent, and is slightly off-course from being mulnaz.

Riffer
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Post by Riffer » Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:01 am

I don't know if X-spice is an actual manufacturer, or someone else makes them. They are China based is all I know. If they do actually manufacture, they add another potentially good manufacturer into the mix.

Mats
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Post by Mats » Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:25 am

You're right. They don't have to be the actual manufacturer, maybe there's some other OEM behind both.

A picture from Jonnyguru.com gave me an UL number, which seems to belong to X-Spice.
It's possible that they have some other OEM involved, but at least the UL didn't reveal any more info.

samuelmorris
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Post by samuelmorris » Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:50 am

No longer available in the UK :( :cry:

Do you think this'll be a temporary situation or will I have to look elsewhere for my new ultra-silent PC?

I can get one imported for $130, but that much for a 430W PSU is criminal.

judge56988
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Post by judge56988 » Fri Apr 17, 2009 9:49 am

samuelmorris wrote:No longer available in the UK :( :cry:

Do you think this'll be a temporary situation or will I have to look elsewhere for my new ultra-silent PC?

I can get one imported for $130, but that much for a 430W PSU is criminal.
Try here

samuelmorris
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Post by samuelmorris » Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:28 am

Excellent. They were out of stock there the other day, as they were anywhere else that sells them (Surprisingly few places do)

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