Seeing how fanless PSUs seem to have higher failure rates than fan-powered ones, it's worthwhile to do a user poll for ALL fanless PSUs we've reviewed.

Aside from answering the poll, please also post how long you've used it and in what conditions. Also, please provide the serial number, purchase date and source of purchase if at all possible.

You must be an owner or user of an Silverstone ST30NF or Etasis EFN-300! (They are essentially the same.) DO NOT POST if you are not a user. Otherwise, polls such as this will become useless and skewed. Anyone found to be breaking this rule will be immediately banned from SPCR.

ALL Silverstone ST30NF users are encouraged to post, including those who have no problems, NOT just the ones who have experienced trouble.

Keep your posts CIVIL and ON-TOPIC! This thread is not an excuse for Silverstone-bashing.

Everyone, please read the RULES ABOUT PRODUCT USER FEEDBACK POLLS before posting!

SPCR's review sample failed after 24/7 folding @ home use in a ~125W AC power draw system for about 4 weeks. The temp at the rear PSU heatsink ranged 48~52C, and the ambient room temperature was 22-25C. It was a low airflow but well vented system which had previously used a 5~6V Panalfo 80L fan PSU. The Silverstone failed quietly, with no trauma to any other components; the system froze, and then would not boot up again. The power/function LED lit up RED when the PSU was powered, either in the PC or on the test bench with any load. It would not turn on.

This unit was retuned for diagnosis to Silverstone, who reported back a few weeks later:



Another sample has been in use in a couple of test bench systems for about 3 months with no problems. However, it is usually in open air and only faces heat that is generated within the PSU.

I have bought this PSU in November 2004 and for two months it powered my low-power setup (P4 2 GHz, Radeon 9600, two HDDs) without any problems. The case was perforated and completely fanless (rebranded Codegen Briza), Zalman Reserator used for watercooling.

Now I use it (for two weeks so far) to power my new quiet gaming/multimedia machine:
Yesico OpenAir case (top and side panels perforated)
ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe
A64 3200+ @ 2,3 Ghz, 1.4V, Cool And Quiet disabled
2x512MB OCZ Gold Revision 3 @ 460 Mhz, 2.5-3-3-10/T, 2.7V
MSI GeForce 6800 256MB (native PCIe) at stock speeds
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS
Seagate 7200.8 400GB SATA HDD
Plextor PX-716A
It is completely fanless, CPU, GPU, chipset and HDD are cooled by Zalman Reserator with an external pump.

The PSU runs fine without any problems, I have never seen it to signal overheating and the computer was stable through 4 hours of Prime95. ASUS Probe indicates a bit low 12V line (around 11.7V), but it seems not to cause any problems. I will eventually replace the PSU for some stronger model (Yesico 550?), but so far I am very happy about it.

I will the serial number of the PSU as soon as I open my computer again (I have done it recently much more than I would have liked

UPDATE: The Silverstone PSU has been powering the above configuration for almost three months now and I haven't encountered any problems. I thought about replacing the PSU for a stronger one, but I don't see the need any more

First of all, I would like to thank MikeC for recommending me to post in this excellent forum. I work for SilverStone and we've noticed recently that many of our customers are growing more concerned about the reliability of fanless power supplies due to an alarming rate at which our competitor's PSUs are failing.

To many of you on this forum, fanless power supplies may seem less reliable for obvious reasons with one of our own ST30NF failing in Mike's hands. Incredibly, this was one of the very few we had to return to the factory for investigation. For us, the ST30NF is one of our most reliable product ever made. Since its introduction in April of 2004 and with Etasis branded unit in May 2004 (both were released months ahead of our competitor's model, btw), there have been a total of 4 returns to the factory with 8 returned units currently in our branch offices. I cannot disclose the exact number of units sold, but the return rate is well below 0.5%

Both ourselves and Etasis made sure from the very beginning that our fanless power supply was as reliable as possible, that's why we gave it a very conservative rating of 250W/300W despite of the core being built from an industrial 560W unit: http://www.etasis.com.tw/dbase/upload/EPAP-560.pdf So far it appears our design direction for the ST30NF is the right one as reliability has become the most important issue for those seeking a fanless power supply. I hope by clarifying here we can help reassure those of you thinking about buying the ST30NF that our unit is clearly in a different league among fanless power supplies!

I bought my etasis, in september 2004. It's been a while since ive posted here since my system is qiuet. The psu is mostly on 24/7. I have two 120mm papst fans running at 700 rpm(back outlet) and 450 rpm (front inlet). Kontrolled by speedfan.

My case is becoming a bit dusty, since it's been a while since i opened my case (I havent had any reason to )

As for the reliability and noise of the PSU:

Noise: Non, nada, not ewen whine or buzzing or anything.
Quality: Unmatched ( also i don't have to worry about dust in the psu, and i don't have to worry about any fan ramping up either).

As for the heatsink in the back and it's temperature, it is comfortable to have your hands on it, id say about 30 c. If i turn off all my case fans, it gets a bit varmer. However I have yet to see any red light. But due to other components I use the case fans since they don't add any noise. My Raptor is the loudest component I think Its hard to be sure.

So I would say Silverstone and Etasis have got it right with this one.


Oh and a question to the silverstone rep: Wy does'nt your PSU have the back fins? Is it because of marketing related issues or something?


And finaly a tip to the rep. The LC03V could definatly use more than one 60mm fan in the back. I use an Enermax noisetaker in it, I would be concerned about using my etasis in it, because of the low airflow. (AMD XP Cpu mind you).

Final werdict of the reliability and noise of the etasis /sst fanless PSU:

Hi ting, when we were developing the fanless power supply with Etasis, our goal was to create a fanless PSU that will fit anywhere. We had envisioned that many of our customers will be using it in HTPC settings so it was critical (we believed) that there were no extra heatsinks coming out the back of the case.

An Etasis distributor in Europe liked our fanless power supply so much, they commissioned Etasis to build a version for them that would supposedly look "cooler." And this is how we end up with two versions of this power supply.

As for having two fans in the back of LC03v, we have been buildling a new version that included two 60mm fans for several months now. If you were to purchase one today, it should already have them.

I have had one Etasis fail on me after three weeks (started buzzing which was also picked up by my amplifier). Have had a replacement now that looks like different stock (different packing material and also a Euro 2 pin plug included). Will see how this one goes, only went in yesterday. I was interested in Destroyers post about the Briza clone, am also thinking of going down that route and cutting the case fans. At the moment my CPU fan only kicks in occaisionally as it is undervolted etc.

Thats about what i thougt



I thinkt it does Also, the fins in the back makes me feel a bit safer. Also, putting my hands on it gives me an idea of how close my temps are from the maximum which the unit can sustain. (so far its far from it ),



I Purchased mine in january . Purhaps you could send me an extra hole The consumer laws in norway are quite strict, however a change in spesifications is probably not cowered. However it is okay for the moment, and i could just use an 80 mm fan adapter if it gets worse.

But probably its next upgrade will be amd xp2600 --> A64 3000 which runs a lot cooler

Well another month has passed and I am now reasonably confident that the replacemnent Etasis is going to survive so have cast my vote. This one does seem to be a different production run and it does activate my OneClick power panel (which the other one did not). I have also replaced the case with a Codegen Briza with all the holes in the panels. Removed the air filters and have two slow running fans, one nexus at the bottom pushing air in over the seagate HDDs (which run hotter than my new Samsung) and a panaflo also blowing in at the back. The idea was that two inward blowing fans would encourage convection up and out the top of the case. Because the thing is undervolted it runs cool enough that the CPU fan rarely comes on now and the inward blowing panaflo at the back provides a bit of breeze across the CPU. The thing has been on all morning doing light web surfing and ftping a website and it is running at 39 degrees case temp and 46 CPU temp. CPU fan has not kicked in at all this morning. I am being a bit cautious with summer on the way as well. Have had it running with only the CPU fan coming on as needed, but I will stick with the case fans for the moment to help things along.

Got my Etasis since a week now. Rock stable. Silent (can hear some very slight buzz with the ear on the case though). Gets very slightly warm at the cooler under load. But even with 28° room temperature, it doesn't show any signs of overheating. So far, I'm very pleased with my purchase.

i replaced my murdered sl350s with a brand spanking new silverstone st-30nf today put it in the computer and it works... cos i'm typing on it running prime95 in the background. been going for more than an hour now and the back is hardly warm at all. (i'd say still lower than room temp).

when i turned it on for the first time i was a bit worried, the temp light came on red and i heard a not-that-quiet whistling sort of sound. i tried to boot the computer up but it failed to get to the windows boot screen. reset the computer with ctrl+alt+del and now everything is absolutely fine and dandy!

as a precaution i removed all of the acoustic dampening material around the psu, taking the advice of reports that the psu can get very hot. it's ironic how i'm removing this awesome material from my computer in order to make it more silent (i removed the material from my left panel before because i wanted a window and i didn't have any cpu/gpu/nb fan noise due to external watercooling)

given that i've only run the unit for a few hours, i'll hold back on the vote until prime95 completes a successful 24 hour run. i've set cpu speed and voltage back to stock to ensure that the results aren't skewed.

very happy with it so far.

update: woke up this morning to see that prime95 had done its thing. psu was still cold to the touch. awesome psu

update 2: while typing update 1, mozilla crashed, something which only really happened with my bad psu recently. i hope this unit has sufficient power, it really should. i guess it's partly to blame on a php script which i was trying to load in the background (off apache set up on this computer). disabled it and it's fine now.

weird.

SST Guy: good to see you seem to have much confidence in the ST30NF product, this is reassuring. some questions..!
1. is a red temp indicator warning that it is unsafe to operate the PSU at the current temperature, or simply a warning that it would be unsafe to touch the casing at the current temperature?
2. given the cooling system inside the psu uses a heatpipe, should the orientation during operation restricted in any way? my ST30NF is currently running on its side (with the peak output vs. voltage plot facing down, and the silverstone engraving facing up).
3. what is the official stance on whether the ST30NF can be run truly fanless, i.e. without the benefit of indirect ventilation from case or system fans? does silverstone's warranty cover such operation? if not, does this situation change should the psu be isolated from system heat as well as secondary airflow (i.e. where the psu only has to dissipate heat generated by itself, fanlessly)

wim,

1. The red LED will indicate temperature as unsafe for operation or other faults. Usually when you see this, the PSU should have already shut down by itself or it will soon

2. The orientation of your ST30NF should not affect its performance

3. The ST30NF can operate normally as long as its red indicator does not come on. If you can keep the sourrounding temperature to 25C, it should have no problems delivering its rated wattage even if there is no airflow around it. We are confident with the protection features built into the ST30NF so as long as you are not intentionally abusing the PSU, the warranty will cover it.

good to hear. thankyou for the feedback SST Guy.

alrighty then, i've had my ST30NF for a month now and absolutely no bad issues to report. two thumbs up from me! i love this one, and i'm pretty hard to impress. am so happy with the psu that, i'm almost ashamed to admit, i've stopped bothering to read through all of spcr's psu reviews..

that's good to hear wim! my silverstone's been going strong for almost 2 months now and until i got the topic reply notification for this thread i'd pretty much forgot about my psu altogether.

i let my psu run with the cpu at stock speed for a month to make sure everything was ok - now i'm back up to overclocked speeds with the cpu drawing theoretically twice as much power as it did before, no problems still.

and i have to confess that i don't bother reading spcr psu reviews anymore either - especially the latest one about the psu with 2 fans! like, really, fans are so 20th century already

hi, i have the etasis power supply with the following gear:

silverstone Lascala LC01 desktop case
abit av8 mobo
A64 winchester 3200
crucial 9800pro
2x512 crucial ballistix
1 optical drive
etasis fanless psu
zalman reserator 1 (cooling cpu and gfx, bios shows cput idles about 48c load at about 55c)
0 fans (zero fans in whole set up)

i will have to check when i get home but i think i got it around jan or feb this year.

edit: i actually got this psu in october 2004.

My SilverStone SST-ST30NF 300W Fanless Power Supply PSU just died.

Only took 2 months to fail on me.

Lights in the back of the PSU no longer turn on. I have tried a new power cord to the PSU and directly plugging it into a wall socket instead of my APC UPC, same problem.

Had my technician check it out, he said the PSU is dead.

So in total, I have gone through 2 Antec Phantoms and 1 Silverstone within 5 months.

I have a Sonata 2 case with a great heatsink and 2x 120mm fans, so I don't think cooling is the problem.

My personal opinion is fanless PSUs are just not ready for the market. This will be the last fanless PSU i will purchase.

My gear:
p4 3.0
radeon AIW 8500
2x120mm Nexus Fans
1XZalman CPU Cooler CNPS7700
1x Asus Mobo (can't remember the model)

Bought the silverstone Mid June.

To SSTguy:

I would like to know what my options are now if possible. Thanks in advance.

bugger sorry to hear the bad news, geminite...



i'd have to say you make a very good point there. it would be very understandable if your psu's failure was due to overheated parts, since cooling by heatpipe/convection only does so much, especially when compared to airflow. i hope you can send your unit back to silverstone so that they can find out what went wrong with it! it's well within the warranty period.

if my silverstone fails soon *touch wood* i'll claim it under warranty and if a refund is possible, i'd get an s12. if it doesn't fail for a while then hopefully there are more reliable fanless units out there by then!

I had (still have - but dead ) one of the early Silverstone faless PSUs and it had many issues (it failed I had it repaired ) some of the problem may have been that I was using it in a fully fanless system (only a dual CPU PIII ) and heat build up in the case may have been a contributing factor -
Gave up on the Idea of a completely fanless computer after this .
I posted about this when it happened so a search may show it up (it was in answer to sombody elses thread )

3 months of at least 12/7 use, sometimes 72h in a row or so, no issue whatsoever.

geminite, we offer a 3 year warranty on ST30NF. Please contact the branch office closest to you for information on returning and exchanging this power supply.

I've had a Silverstone for about 6 months now, no problems. It was the first thing bought in a staged upgrade, and for the first couple of months it was running in a case with no case fan (old 900MHz AMD CPU, low-spec GPU, single hard drive.) It ran hot-to-touch (painful after several seconds) which probably wasn't a good idea, but it didn't fail.
It does make a humming noise, but only noticable with case open and my ear about 15cm away from PSU.

The ST30NF works quite stable (from what I was able to test; I have only installed it for 3 hours), but it produces a very annoying noise when 3D applications are loaded; it's not like usual coil noise; it's more like a bad tempered fan; like something is loose in the PSU and is vibrating like crazy; any idea about what I should do ? I replaced an Enermax EG495 and while at idle it was definitely louder, in load it's noise signature didn't changed at all and it was definitely quiter and more pleasent than the ST30NF;

EDIT : a quiter buzz can also be heard when I am dragging windows

EDIT : while using RTHDRIBL, the buzzing is at its worst; 3DMark2006 is far quiter, but still very annoying; ATITool Artifact scanning is somewhere in between 3DMark and RTHDRIBL

the noise you are describing sounds like gpu blitter - electrical noise from the graphics subsystem leaking into your sound output. does it stop when you turn your speakers off?

Just like to say, had mine running passive for some time now, Its great, Does get a bit hot, but have never had a thermal cut out. No noises.

Love the finish on the case. Looks pretty sexy. A purchase I have so far bee n very pleased with.

Bought it in September last year. Have been running

Athlon 2100xp undervolted and underclocked
1024MB Ram
Seagate 120gb HD
ATI 9600 AIW
V-Stream dvbt100 digital tv card
MCE

Up untill recently. The case is a custom job with no fans and lots of mesh cutouts.

In the last few weeks I have been powering a Sony PLaystation 2 off of it at the same time. No problems (runs a bit hotter obviously)

I've had mine since april 2005. It was a bit expensive, but I've never regretted the hole in my wallet. It's been stable as a rock.

It gets cooled by slow flowing exhaust air that is heated by the rest of the system.

It gets warm to the touch, but never hot. I haven't measured, but it stays below body temperature even in summer. See system in sig.

- Salmon

The speaklers were off; I had three other PSUs in this system and none of them had such problems

This Silverstone is simply the best PSU I've ever used (and I've used a lot).

Runs dead silent, no coil hum, buzz, etc and is one of the few power supplies that matches and even exceeds its rated load. I have it in a P180 with a Nexus 120mm fan at 5v and a 74GB Raptor in the front of the lower chamber.

Just amazing that it can run my dual core CPU at 2.7Ghz, 2GBs of RAM at 250mhz, my vid card oc'd at 550/650, five hard drives (4 internal including Raptor, 2 300GB MaXlines in RAID 1 and a Maxtor Diamondmax 250GB and 1 external esata drive enclosure with a 500GB WD SE16 drive) and not break a sweat.

The PSU was bought from sharka computers in October of last year and is running 24/7. Also had the 6pin PCI-E connector.