Suggestion for quiet PS with Athlon 64, Enough +12V ?

Rizban · Post by **Rizban** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:25 pm

I'd like some suggestions regarding the best/quietest power supply that is appropriate for my planned system. I am confused by all the options available

I plan to have an MSI K8N Neo2, Athlon 64 3200+, a GeForce 6800 and three or four HDs.

Looking at the posts and recomendations on this site, it looks like the Seasonic Super Tornado 400W is the quietest supply that could potentially work. However, I've read on the various newsgroups that the Tornado with 22A on the +12V rail is a bit underpowered for the above setup.

Would I be better off with the Super Silencer 460W with 25A on +12V even though it is a bit less quiet and less cool in the review on this site?
I've also looked at the Noisetaker 470W, which looks like it might work even better regarding current available at +12V. However, some on the MSI forum recommend against dual +12V rail power supplies, indicating that they lead to stability problems on some systems.

Could someone with more experience than I with power supplies for a system similar to the one described above offer some suggestions? What is my best bet, balancing a quiet power supply with one that will definitely supply enough current for a system run at stock speeds or perhaps somewhat overclocked?

Thanks in advance for your tips.

DGK · Post by **DGK** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 7:33 pm

I have a K8V with a A64 3200, 1 gig of ram, 3 samsung spinpoints, a 9700 pro and my Tornado 400 has not had a problem yet (I bought it two weeks ago). I am not a overclocker so I dont know how it would do with that but at stock speeds the Tornado works fine - 100% stable. I dont know how much of a difference a more powerful graphics card and another hard drive that your system has would make though. Hope this helps

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 7:41 pm

Hello:

I have built three Athlon 64 systems myself, and I have worked closely with several others. All of them used 300 watt power supplies (Fortron, CleverPower, Seasonic, CaseEdge -- though this one will be replaced because it is not quiet), and one had a 350watt Antec.

All but one had two HD's in a RAID 1 array, which have both HD's spinning pretty much at the same time all the time. The Fortron had (I think) the lowest current rating on the 12v (15A IIRC) and it worked fine. The CleverPower's had low voltage on the 12v legs, and they worked fine.

I liked the Seasonic the best overall, and it has plenty of airflow so you can run with one case fan as long as your case breathes well. If the next CleverPower I buy has better voltage settings (they say that they have corrected this), then I would use it again as long as I have good case air flow, because while it is very quiet (slightly quieter than the Seasonic), it has very low air flow from it's centripetal 150mm fan, and I like the four AC plugs on the back.

[edited typos, emphasis, and spelling]

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 1:41 am

Yes, the Fortron 300W has 15A on the 12V and will run an A64 system with two hdds. But that would be pushing the 12V rail to it's limits. Since you're putting 3-4 drives and a 6800, you'll definitely need more.

Let's do some math. An A64 system excluding the graphics and hdds and optical drives should consume about 8-9 Amps on the 12V line.

For 4 drives, use 3A per drive for startup, that's 12A.

The 6800 uses max 4.5A on the 12V rail.

Your total is: 9 + 12 + 4.5 = 25A on the 12V.

That above number has a some safety margin built into it and remember this is just for startup. After the drives start spinning, that value will drop considerably.

Also note that your choise of drives (Seagates draw around 3A, Samsungs draw around 2.5A) and the number and your choice of 6800 version (the above is for an Ultra, a GT would use around 3A, a plain 6800 just 2A) could easily put your max requirement under 22A.

So for a lower config,
3x 2.5A spinpoints is 7.5A for 3 harddisks instead of 4,
2A for the 6800 plain

That'd make 9 + 7.5 + 2 = 18.5A. Considerably lower.

Rizban · Post by **Rizban** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 7:02 pm

Thanks everyone for the tips. That clears things up for me. Breaking down the current requirements for each component is a great help. It's good to know that I can have a fairly speedy system without loosing the ability to pick quiet components.

Burcakb, where do you find out the current (or wattage) requirement for items such as the model of hard drive and the video card?

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 11:02 pm

For the drives, I looked at the manufacturer's site (duh). They're very open about what voltage lines they use, how much power they draw at various levels of operation.

For the graphics cards, there was some excellent research done at X-Bit labs. There's a link somewhere here in the forums to the articles. I've basically ripped the tables from x-bit and compiled myself a handy reference chart

Ned Slider · Post by **Ned Slider** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 5:34 pm

Here's the X-bit article for you:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/ ... power.html

Ned

Svartberg · Post by **Svartberg** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:14 pm

double post

jtcb · Post by **jtcb** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 5:49 pm

Never heard of CleverPower b4.. It is quieter than Seasonic?

I want to know too. I am planning to build the following and wondering if I should get a Super Silencer 400 or 460. I don't o/c.

Asus A8V Deluxe
AMD 64 3200+ (Windcester)
Zalman 7700 HSF
1G samsung ram
1 Samsung spinpoint 80GB HD
2 optical drive
1 floppy
SB Live 5.1
low end video card
4 80mm fans

phuzer · Post by **phuzer** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 6:46 pm

Anyone know a PSU called COOLER MASTER REAL POWER 450W?
(MODEL: RS-450-ACLY)

All reviews say its a great power supply: rock solid voltage in 12V lines, quiet (perhaps no quiet as supertornado but most quiet than enermax or OCZ),lots of features like 2 rail lines 12v, 1 external voltage meter, Active PFC, efficiency>75% (lot better than other brand PS), good looking, moddeable thanks a 120mm fan. etc...

Well i bought this PS yesterday (arrives the next week). For less than 80 bucks shipped looks great.

But all reviews has made in P4 system (prescot) and i dont know how work with my specs:

-A64 3000+
-MSI K8N Neo2
-1 GB Gskill
-GF4 (next week i´ll change for a 6800 BFG)
-Samsung 80GB Sata
-1 DVD RW
-1 CD -RW
-3 case fan
-Tsunami with a 350w cheap coolermaster PS (from a centurion).

Well if anyone have this PS. Say your comments.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 8:58 pm

Hello:

jtcb wrote:Never heard of CleverPower b4.. It is quieter than Seasonic?

I want to know too. I am planning to build the following and wondering if I should get a Super Silencer 400 or 460. I don't o/c.

Asus A8V Deluxe
AMD 64 3200+ (Windcester)
Zalman 7700 HSF
1G samsung ram
1 Samsung spinpoint 80GB HD
2 optical drive
1 floppy
SB Live 5.1
low end video card
4 80mm fans

The CleverPower is very quiet, though it is on the other end of the *air volume* spectrum from the Seasonic. The CleverPower has a *radial* fan that measures 150mm, and blows a small amount of air out a slot that runs across the top edge of the back of the PS -- and it has 4 filtered AC plugs on the back. I think Mike C. has a unit in for review, so at some point (in their *busy* schedule) we'll see a review, maybe?

(the image is a link to NewEgg)

One note on the CleverPower -- it fits well in an Evercase, but it would take a small bit of modding to fit it in a BQE, for instance. The top 25% of the exhaust grill (about halh the top row of holes) is blocked by the top edge of the opening -- and the left [edit: edge of the power switch] *just* hits the left edge of the opening...

Suggestion for quiet PS with Athlon 64, Enough +12V ?

Suggestion for quiet PS with Athlon 64, Enough +12V ?

Welcome & please read the "What will a 300 watt PS

Thanks

CleverPower PS