What power supply to get?

NetTechie · Post by **NetTechie** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 7:56 am

Ok, I may be the 100th person to ask this question here, but maybe someone can give me a quick answer? What is the best power supply that is silent, but delivers enough power to run 3 hard drives, 2 dvd/cd drives, 5 pci cards and a high powered video card, basically a fully loaded system.

Will 300 watts do the job? I have been looking at seasonic tornado, nexus 3000, and am impressed with thermaltakes ammount of positive ratings they have on their official site. I am trying to decide if I should go with a lauder supply, to get the higher watts and possible more steady voltage = higher system stability (VERY important to me), or if a lower power quieter supply will do the job well.

I am willing to mod a power supply if need be, and put in a quiet fan... however I'd rather leave that warranty intact, since power supplies DO fail sometimes. Money is not a big object at this point, however keeping it under $80 would be prefferable. However, I'll look at anything under $150.

I'm building a complete system right now, P4 2.66 ghz, w/1gb ram, and have not gotten the cpu cooler yet. I know power supplies and cpu coolers work together to a certain extent, any suggestion of a good cpu cooler to go with a power supply you suggest?

Ultimately I want as quiet as possible system, for gaming, 3d work, photoshop, and many other very high drain processes. Cosmetics like LED's are not high priority, however they are a plus, since the case will be windowed. All suggestions are appreceated!

Thanks in advance for any help!!

Talz · Post by **Talz** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 9:37 am

That's a lot of stuff, I'd actually look at a quality 400 watt Zalman or Seasonic. Better to buy a little big than to cheap out on power supplies. As to which model exactly, look around here to see the pros and cons, Zalman's is the best unmodded though, IMO. As for heatsinks the Zalman 7000's are very nice and should be at least somewhat interesting in a window.

joecuba · Post by **joecuba** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 9:57 am

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article28-page1.html

m2 · Post by m2 » Sun Mar 07, 2004 11:35 am

I have a globalwin, higher power, very quiet, but pricey.

http://www.globalwin.com.tw/products/power/index.html

sthayashi · Post by **sthayashi** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 12:33 pm

You could probably get by with a 350W power supply. I can read off my AC power usage right now. 240W with a dual Athlon XP 2400+ computer running two instances of F@H. I have 4 hard drives in here, 3 pci cards, 1 DVD+/-RW drive, and a Matrox G400 fro a video card. I suspect your machine will pull as much power as mine is, so you may be able to get by with a smaller and cheaper power supply.

NetTechie · Post by **NetTechie** » Sun Mar 07, 2004 11:19 pm

How about 120mm fan based psu's? Zalman seems like an ok product, but can you get quieter?

Globalwin, any good reviews of them?

erikm5150 · Post by **erikm5150** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 10:20 am

NetTechie wrote:How about 120mm fan based psu's? Zalman seems like an ok product, but can you get quieter?

Globalwin, any good reviews of them?

i just saw a review of a globalwin psu here:
http://www.bit-tech.net/review/299/

RaNDoMMAI · Post by **RaNDoMMAI** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 5:43 am

I dunno if this helps or not

but my forton 350 is not very quiet.

I just got it not even a month ago and it humms and at one feet or under i can hear clicking.

I am looking at a coolmax tarus CX and a silenx right now to replace.

the coolmax is only 43 bucks for a 400W PSU
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 023&depa=1

~RaNDoM

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 7:54 am

NetTechie wrote:Ok, I may be the 100th person to ask this question here, but maybe someone can give me a quick answer? What is the best power supply that is silent, but delivers enough power to run 3 hard drives, 2 dvd/cd drives, 5 pci cards and a high powered video card, basically a fully loaded system.

Will 300 watts do the job? I have been looking at seasonic tornado, nexus 3000, and am impressed with thermaltakes ammount of positive ratings they have on their official site. I am trying to decide if I should go with a lauder supply, to get the higher watts and possible more steady voltage = higher system stability (VERY important to me), or if a lower power quieter supply will do the job well.

I am willing to mod a power supply if need be, and put in a quiet fan... however I'd rather leave that warranty intact, since power supplies DO fail sometimes. Money is not a big object at this point, however keeping it under $80 would be prefferable. However, I'll look at anything under $150.

I'm building a complete system right now, P4 2.66 ghz, w/1gb ram, and have not gotten the cpu cooler yet. I know power supplies and cpu coolers work together to a certain extent, any suggestion of a good cpu cooler to go with a power supply you suggest?

Ultimately I want as quiet as possible system, for gaming, 3d work, photoshop, and many other very high drain processes. Cosmetics like LED's are not high priority, however they are a plus, since the case will be windowed. All suggestions are appreceated!

Thanks in advance for any help!!

I don't know about how much power you need, but the Nexus NX-3000 is very quiet and no revving up problems.

rperezlo · Post by **rperezlo** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 10:41 am

BeQuiet 400W. I have it and all I can hear is it clicking softly if less that two inches from it.

sthayashi · Post by **sthayashi** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 12:16 pm

rperezlo wrote:BeQuiet 400W. I have it and all I can hear is it clicking softly if less that two inches from it.

Where did you get the BeQuiet? To the best of my knowledge it's not sold in North America and that might be a problem for the person who asked.

rperezlo · Post by **rperezlo** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 12:25 pm

It's difficult to obtain even in Europe, except in Germany. I live in Spain and I've only seen it in one very specific shop that imports directly and sells to other shops.

Sorry about that. No teasing intended, but after reading all the posts on power supplies, placing my trust on what the shop technical support told me and watching the result, this would be a blessing for all of you. Forget PS with 12cm fans, this one has 2 x 8 cm fans and I can not hear if unless 1 inch away from it.

Again, sorry. All this is pointless if you can't buy it.

sthayashi · Post by **sthayashi** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 12:56 pm

No apologies necessary. I'm just dying for that company to make one for the market outside Germany. Tagan comes close, but from what I've read, it's not BeQuiet.

What power supply to get?

What power supply to get?

Re: What power supply to get?