Zalman ZM400A-APF, worth upgrading?

[tonalt]

The loudest component in my system is that Zalman PS. Since Seasonic powersuplies are not yet (or ever?) available in Finland, the best alternatives are:

NB-Fortron UltraSilent 400 Watt (119€)
Nexus Silent Power 350W Special Edition NX-3500 (60€)

I bet NB-Fortron is much more silent than my Zalman, but is it that more silent? NB-Fortron is really expensive.. One review here (in Finnish):
http://metku.net/index.html?sect=view&n ... n400/index

Nexus makes more noise than NB-Fortron, but it's much cheaper. On the other hand.. if I'm going to upgrade, I will buy the best available

Btw, how much Seasonic Supertornado Active-PFC 350W costs? Anyone wants to make a deal to export one for me?

[sthayashi]

I think most people with the Zalman modify their fan in order to achieve better quietness. You may want to consider doing this too, since it will be relatively cheaper than buying a new power supply.

[wumpus]

all power supplies MUST be modified to be truly quiet, IMO. Fortron, Zalman, you name it.

Pretty easy mod though, just a drop-in replacement requiring splice of 2 fan wires.

[james22]

What fans are recommended for the Zalman?

The consensus seems to be Paflow L1A or Papst?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's NOT a good idea to put a thermistor-controlled fan like some of the Silenx or Acoustifan's... right? Since the Zalman PSU already reduces the voltage of the fan depending on temperature.

James

[wumpus]

I used panaflo L in my 300 and 400 zalman power supplies, and I was very happy with the results.

The other power supply "mod" that can help a lot, is to move the fan thermistor farther away from the power supply heatsink or coil that it is glued to. That effectively reduces fan speed as temperatures increase.

Moving the thermistor wasn't necessary for the Zalmans, though.

[tonalt]

I really don't want to mod my PSU. But if I'm going to, is it really enough to just replace the exicting fan with panaflo L1A? Nothing else to be done?