PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

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toronado455
Posts: 376
Joined: Mon May 15, 2006 12:24 pm
Location: CA, USA

PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W

Post by toronado455 » Sat Sep 01, 2012 11:56 am

Is the PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W a good PSU?
This review states choke chirping at 50% load:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5844/pc-p ... iii-400w/5
Is that the same as coil whine or something different?

herby
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:00 pm

Re: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W

Post by herby » Thu Sep 27, 2012 8:51 am

I have one in my NAS pushing a pretty low load: 60-90w most of the time. It's pretty darn quite, but not absolutely silent. Fortunately, I never draw enough power to get to where the reviewers were complaining about noise.

In my NAS right now:

a Hitachi 5K3000 seeking is loudest,

then
the Gelid Slim Silence CPU heat sink,

and the Scythe Slip Stream (SY1225SL12M @ 9v), and Silencer Mk III, are about equal,
the Scythe might be a little louder.

YMMV

toronado455
Posts: 376
Joined: Mon May 15, 2006 12:24 pm
Location: CA, USA

Re: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W

Post by toronado455 » Thu Sep 27, 2012 12:18 pm

I installed one in my new build. I only just booted the system for the first time a few days ago. I still had the case open (top and both sides removed) and had only the CPU fan running (Scythe PWM) and no other fans or spinning hard drives installed yet, and just an SSD boot drive, and the PSU was absolutely silent, or at least could not be heard above the ambient noise level in my home. The modular connectors is a nice feature. This is my first PSU to have those. The white finish is nice and goes well with my white PS07 case. I haven't had a chance to test PSU under load yet, but so far I'm quite happy with it.

herby
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:00 pm

Re: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W

Post by herby » Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:17 am

I'm glad you like it. I've been pleased with mine, especially the price.

Kind of off topic, have you noticed how much it looks like Seasonic's new budget gold line:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Seasonic/G550/3.html

I guess it makes sense with the same OEM and all. They would make for a handsome pair in neighboring cases.

toronado455
Posts: 376
Joined: Mon May 15, 2006 12:24 pm
Location: CA, USA

Re: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W

Post by toronado455 » Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:38 am

I was listening to my system up close in a quiet room yesterday. I have all the fans installed now (3x Scythe PWM + Mugen w/PWM) and I could hear a soft, helicopter-like, whirring/pulsation.

I couldn't quite localize the noise with the case in its position near the floor, so not sure if it is the PSU fan or others. Not really that noticeable from where I sit, but I will listen again next week to try to isolate the noise. (Once I've got the computer back up on my worktable to install the spinning hard drives, I should have an easier time locating the source.) :-)

PFunk
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2012 8:58 am
Location: Minneapolis

Re: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W

Post by PFunk » Wed Oct 10, 2012 2:45 pm

There's a good deal on this PSU today at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817703034
$35 after $20 rebate with free shipping.

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