I need to replace my Nexus Value 430W to prepare for my new graphics card.

I'm looking at a ATI 6950 or Nvidia 460, which the PSU calculator I used suggests will bring my total power requirements up to around 450W, so a 650W should give me ample headroom to run without stressing the PSU and allow the fan to run fairly quiet even at load.

I can't afford to spend £120+ on a PSU, so I'm looking at the cheaper options, such as Antec Truepower New 650W or Corsair TX650W, which are around £70. Both get a bit noisy after hitting about 400W though.

The Nexus NX-5000 is about the same price and has amazing acoustics right up to 500W, but is only rated at 530W so doesn't leave a lot of headroom for any future upgrades. So it's a tough choice and if anyone has got any other suggestions, I'd be interested to hear about them.

How cheap can you get a Seasonic X-650? Mine is literally a few feet from my ear in a test bench case and I only hear the fan spin during games; It goes fast for a second to get air moving then slows to inaudible.

As a budget option there are the two CoolerMaster Silent Pro Gold models, the 600w priced in the UK at around £70 and the 700w at £80. They are modular, have a five year warranty and are significantly quieter than non-Gold PSUs at these price points.

Unfortunately, they're at least £115 over here

In the SPCR tests, the X-650 is somewhat louder than the NX-5000 and considerably more so than the Nexus Value 430 http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1012-page6.html, but I appreciate you giving me your "real-world" experience anyway.

Thanks, they sound like an interesting option, but I don't think they've been tested by SPCR yet, so I haven't got any real information on how they compare to the others I mentioned.

The non-gold versions certainly are considerably louder than the NX-5000 at lower loads and at 500W, although quite similar at 400W http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1012-page6.html

There are various web reviews of the Silent Pro Gold 600, this one is more detailed than most with regard to noise http://www.kitguru.net/components/power-supplies/zardon/cooler-master-silent-pro-gold-600w-power-supply-review/4/.

Hi, I would just keep the Nexus PSU! I think it very unlikely you'll have any problems powering it from the Nexus PSU or get anywhere near 400w, unless you have a very power hungry CPU (and over-clocked too)
When Anandtech tested it they got up to 330w load under furmark on their power hungry i7 920 based test rig.
I have a GTX260 in my system that has similar power consumption to the GTX460 and I've run my PC off a 330w Seasonic PSU for a while.

I would get the GTX460 and try it, if the Nexus PSU can't handle it (quietly) then look to replace it.

Regards, Seb

I hope you're referring to the GTX 560 and not the GTX 460 (the 560 is usually clearly inferior to the 6950, the 460 is considerably inferior to the 560).
However, which is your current power level? A reference 6950 would peak at games around 140W DC, the 560 is 30-40W higher. An OC card would add 30-50W DC more to those value.
Personally I would not looking for any headroom but just for the best noise level you can afford for your (next) power requirement, otherwise you are likely to worsen too much your current noise level.


I would be cautious about the TX: even if the new Seasonic is better than the previous CWT PSH platform, it shouldn't be a quietness champion (the Seasonic S12II and the XFX Core and XXX should be comparable).


If you like the Nexus, there's the NX-6000 R3, 630W DC.
You may also give a look into some be quiet! unit, particularly the E8 and P8/P9, but they won't be cheap.

Cheers for that, but I only really trust SPCR when it comes to noise testing

Those results don't look that great anyway!

It should be worse than the original Silent Pro M.

I think you're probably right and even the 6950 or 560 would be OK with my Nexus http://www.anandtech.com/show/4135/nvid ... -market/16

I've got an X3 720BE overclocked to 3.2Ghz@1.3v, which is probably not that power hungry.

Even at 300-400W, my Nexus only runs at 18-19dBa. There's a couple of (expensive) 850W that run quieter at 300W, but even they are louder at 400W and the NX-5000 is louder than my Nexus at 300W+, so I'd be best off sticking with what I've got if I can.

To be honest, I haven't really looked at the 560. I was looking at a 6850 or 460 previously and had looked at the 6950 but not Nvidia's latest offerings. I'm looking to spend around £200, so the 560 fits into my budget. Then it just comes down to power/heat and how easy it is to either make the stock cooler quiet enough or replace it with a third-party cooler. Oh, and most importantly, will it run BF3 nicely

I think I read that there's a new round of cards out soon though, so if they're expected to have similar or lower power draw, it might be worth me waiting to see what they offer.

Unfortunately I don't have a suitable power meter to measure my current power draw, but I've only got a slightly OC'd X3 720BE, 8GB DDR2 1066 (although I'm running it at 800Mhz@1.9v at the moment, as I'm having trouble with one of the sticks at 1066Mhz, ultimately I plan to run it at 1066Mhz, which will require me bumping up to 2.2-2.3v) and two HDs.

I've also got an Audiophile 24/96 PCI card, a PCI NIC card, a couple of DVD drives, a front panel USB/SD card bay (which takes power from the PSU) and use a USB-powered 2.5" drive for backups, but most of those won't be in use when gaming, so my Nexus will probably be OK.

The reason why I mentioned headroom is I seemed to recall that if a PSU is running at well below it's capacity it tends to be quieter, but it's the absolute numbers that matter and up to 400W, my Nexus is still the champ



Thanks for the tips. If the NX-6000 is as good as the NX-5000, then it would certainly be my choice if I do upgrade the PSU.

Hi, for cheap power meter try B&Q or Homebase or the like.
Or eBay, e.g. this one ~£9.50
Remember these are AC power and PSU is 70 ~ 90% efficient so power delivered to PC is less.

Regards, Seb

You may do some ballpark math: at stock setting your current system should be at high real loads under the 130W DC mark PLUS the drives (we could estimate under 20W for these, at large: they will spin higher, but you don't game at boot). I think that you won't use DVD or USB when gaming, so we may set them apart, there are the sound card and the NIC, I dunno how much it may draw.
Say 160W.

Therefore your PSU should be around 11-12dB, a pretty good "value".

Then add 140W for a 6950 at gaming, 300W MINIMUM. OC'ing should add maybe 60W for both CPU and GPU?
A Nvidia card is slightly less friendly, a 30W penalty? Around the 400W mark.
Your Thermaltake thing have the PSU on top, so we may use the hotbox scenario: the best PSUs according to SPCR would be:

oc'ed Nvidia/720 (around 400W)
1) your Nexus Value (430W) ~19dB minimum
2) Enermax 87+ (500W) +1dB
3) Nexus NX5000 (530W) - Seasonic M12D (850W) +5dB
4) Corsair AX850 (850W) +6dB
5) Antec TP-750 (750W) +14dB

stock 6950/720 (around 300W)
1) Enermax 87+ (500W) - Seasonic M12D (850W) ~14dB minimum
2) Seasonic X-650 (650W: and the X-560?) +2dB
3) your Nexus Value (430W) - Corsair AX850 (850W) - Antec TP-750 (750W) +4dB
4) Nexus NX5000 (530W) +8dB

We may say also that the quietest 6950 I'm aware of should be not less than 16dB at load, while the best GTX 560Ti (the reference design) should be at least 1dB higher. This is therefore about your noise floor.

Both the X-series (Corsair, Seasonic) and Enermax are expensive, the Seasonic M12D should be too and also a bit outdated, the choices should have been worked out, I mean, shouldn't they?

If you want a wider range of options, I think that you should get rid of your Bach VX (nice case, OTOH) for an enclosure with a bottom mounting for the PSU.

Eventually I'd like to stress that it's only ballpark "math"!

Thanks.

I borrowed something like this off someone but I found it gave strange readings and then I read that you needed a special type to work properly with switching-type PC PSU's, so I assumed I needed to buy something more specialised. To be honest, I might have only tried it with my Dell DA-2 and pico-type board when I was using those.

I'll have a look in B&Q or Homebase next time I'm there.

Wow, thanks for working all that out for me

I'll probably get a power meter before any graphics card, so I'll be able to check my current draw, but probably my best bet will be to run a stock 6950 or 560 with my OC'd 720 and see what room I've got to OC the GPU. It will save me spending £70 on a PSU, which is an added cost I could do without.

Thanks for pointing me to the Enermax 87+ (500W) though. It's even better than the NX-5000, which I thought was pretty good. It's probably only worth considering changing my Nexus for the Enermax if I'm going to be running in the 400-500W area though, as below that they're probably both quieter than the ambient or rest-of-my-PC noise, although I can't be sure as I doubt I've pushed my PC much above 150W, so I don't know for sure what my Nexus will sound like at 200W+. Mind you, I've just checked the price of the Enermax and even the Pro is £98, with the Mod about £117, so I doubt I'll be getting either of those soon.

You're right, I should probably change my case (thank for the compliment!) sometime. I haven't even got around to working out how to suspend my drives in it yet, but they're quiet enough (well not really, but they're not too bad) sitting on foam and good cases aren't cheap (I got this one on a very good offer), so I doubt I'll be getting a new one anytime soon either.

I'm amazed that there's 6950/560's that only produce 16-17dB at load out of the box and if I get one of those it'll save me buying and installing a third-party cooler and voiding the warranty in the process, so I'll definitely look at doing that. I've got a spare Accelero S1r2 lying about, but I've read that they aren't too good with the current graphics cards, so I wouldn't plan to use that anyway.