Most Reliable Fanless PSU?

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

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee, Devonavar

geminite
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2005 4:48 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Most Reliable Fanless PSU?

Post by geminite » Sat Jun 11, 2005 9:53 am

I was just wondering what this forum thinks is the most reliable fanless PSU.

I will never buy another Antec Phantom EVER, I went through 2.

How is the silverstone?

Thanks.

the_smell
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 216
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2003 10:58 am
Location: Sheffield, UK

Post by the_smell » Sat Jun 11, 2005 11:17 am

I've also been through a phantom, :( I'd go for the silverstone (or Etasis since they're the same on the inside) if I ever get a fanless psu again. They seem to be more reliable

tempeteduson
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Jun 05, 2004 12:56 pm
Location: Houston, Texas
Contact:

Post by tempeteduson » Sat Jun 11, 2005 1:11 pm

I know you are looking for the most reliable fanless PSU, but I think a good fanned PSU will be more reliable than any fanless one. After all, the fan is good insurance! Perhaps you should consider a PSU with a large, low-airflow fan, such as a Seasonic S12.

chylld
Posts: 1413
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2003 4:45 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Post by chylld » Sat Jun 11, 2005 3:02 pm

i just bought a silverstone 2 days ago and i love it. no problems at all, i've pretty much forgotten about it already cos i put it in there and it's doing its job so yeh. i've already put it through some stress (prime95, and 3d cad with maya) and it hasn't complained.

which reminds me, i'm supposed to mount a panaflo 80L in my case now to cool the power supply, i really don't think i'll need it though because the back of the unit is barely warm. but i might as well since i'll otherwise have a perfectly good fan lying around doing nothing :)

i've only had it for a short time but from what i've seen so far, i'd highly recommend it.

efcoins
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 155
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2003 3:54 pm
Location: Antwerpen Belgium
Contact:

Post by efcoins » Tue Jun 14, 2005 4:39 am

I think Custom PC summed it up nicely

Quote
Sorry, we won't be stocking the Phantoms again.

We lost a fortune and wasted so much time sorting returns on those damn things - they don't deserve a second chance.

The only fanless PSU we've been *really* impressed with are the Silverstone units.

http://forums.kustompcs.co.uk/showthread.php?t=21594

andyb
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 3307
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 12:00 pm
Location: Essex, England

Post by andyb » Thu Jun 16, 2005 8:59 am

I have always been a Fan (no pune intended) of Antec, and would still buy Antec over Silverstone because I trust them totally.

However, for all those people who don't, Silverstone have now increased their warranty to 3 years to match Antec's.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-30nf.htm

Andy

Uberapan
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 8:30 am

Post by Uberapan » Thu Jun 16, 2005 9:48 am

I've run a silverstone for almost a full year now, and I haven't had a single problem. It's rock solid, and the temperature LED hasn't turned red a single time. Wonderful product.

madman2003
Posts: 182
Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2005 9:02 am
Location: Planet earth

Post by madman2003 » Thu Jun 16, 2005 9:55 am

The big difference is that the phantom is a completely new design, while silverstone themselves admitted they based their psu on an existing model.

The 2005 phantom's seem to have much less problems. The first batch of phantom's had issues, issues probably not related to heat. ONCE you get a good phantom it has the following advantages. (IMHO)

Atx 2.0 compatible (24 pins connecter, dual 12v rails)
More efficient (less heat)
More power (350 vs 300/250)

I can understand that you don't want an phantom, considering your experiences. But you shouldn't deter others, providing they are sure they get a 2005 model. (a warning about the 2004 models is in order)

chylld
Posts: 1413
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2003 4:45 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Post by chylld » Thu Jun 16, 2005 2:51 pm

madman2003 wrote:I can understand that you don't want an phantom, considering your experiences. But you shouldn't deter others, providing they are sure they get a 2005 model. (a warning about the 2004 models is in order)
yeh that was my train of thought too when i was choosing between the two. i was this close to choosing the phantom (esp since it was cheaper) but then i started worrying about receiving a bad unit that had been returned. then i started worrying about if i'd get a unit from an old batch, so i contacted retailers and was reassured that my unit would be from a new batch. then i started worrying if the new batch might still have bad units, since i hadn't read anywhere of antec saying "problem X with the old batch has been fixed for the new batch".

i then started to consider the phantom 500 but since the spcr review stated that it's essentially the same with a fan bolted on, i started having the same worries.

so in the end i just chose the one that had the lowest overall failure rate. i'm an antec fan too (go my bqe!) but with the horrifying failure rate of the phantom overall, emphasised by the spcr phantom poll (>50% failed), it's not hard to see how the product would be avoided in favour of a product with a 0.5% failure rate and the only failed example (mikec's one) being examined and isolated.

i really don't mean to bash antec here, honestly i must have been happier than anyone else when i found out that antec were releasing a fanless psu (the first pictures made my spine tingle!) but i just wrote the above to explain my thought process in eventually choosing another fanless psu. i would imagine quite a few people, from a regular consumer point of view, would make the same decision.

hmsrolst
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 427
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Arlington, VA USA

Post by hmsrolst » Thu Jun 16, 2005 3:10 pm

I've been using the Silverstone for about 4-6 weeks now without any problem. I'm amazed that it runs just barely warm and that it increased my case temps by at most a degree or two.

~El~Jefe~
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 2887
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:21 pm
Location: New York City zzzz
Contact:

Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Thu Jun 16, 2005 5:19 pm

My phantom 350 has been on for 3 months with 12 hours of off time for being turned off.

It's barely barely COOL to the touch. not warm. its sorta cool. I have a 754 2.0 ghz on it as well, 9800 pro ATI aiwonder, 4pci's filled, 1 pci filled with an extra matrox 550 vid card, 1 120 gb NIDEC samsung, and a reserator 1 setup on gpu and cpu. 1 120mm pabst fan on back at about 6-7 volts, passive northbridge, 1 gig of ram.

cant see the problems here. it's the best psu i have ever owned, let alone being the coolest running compared to a seasonic 400 tornado with 5 fans in the case as I had before. soo.....

There are more good stories about these than bad. It still has the highest efficiency rating out there as well.

timmytimmytimmy
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2005 1:17 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by timmytimmytimmy » Tue Jun 21, 2005 4:09 pm

I think with the Phantoms, they either work or they don't. I bought one second hand- it promptly died two days after, I RMAed it and the new one has been working fine. Unfortunately for Antec, there seems to be people who are fed up with phantoms dying on them.

Yes, I am very happy with the Phantom. I did read the thread about it failing, but I took my chances. I thought about getting a really quiet fanned power supply, but I knew I would never be happy till I went fanless.

So, all in all, if you aren't willing and patient to wade through RMA process (perhaps multiple times) until you find a good phantom, its probably not worth your time. If you are patient, when you find one that works, you won't be disappointed.

chylld
Posts: 1413
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2003 4:45 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Post by chylld » Tue Jun 21, 2005 4:29 pm

timmytimmytimmy wrote:If you are patient, when you find one that works, you won't be disappointed.
haha well that's one way antec could market their phantom :)

it's a learning experience for both consumers and manufacturers though. i have no doubt that antec will get it right next time around.

Longbow
Posts: 134
Joined: Sun May 09, 2004 12:14 pm
Location: Middle Earth

Post by Longbow » Tue Jun 21, 2005 8:25 pm

my 0411xx phantom 350 has been working 12/7 in the last one and half month. so far very happy with it. might just be lucky.

len509
Posts: 101
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:28 am
Location: Central U.S.

Post by len509 » Wed Jun 22, 2005 1:00 am

I've had a good experience with the 350W Coolmax. It is reviewed here at SPCR with good efficiency and voltage regulation. It's also cheaper than the both the Silverstone and Phantom. It is barely warm to the touch with my undervolted and slightly underclocked Newcastle 3200+. But like many have stated, you have to make sure you have good airflow in your case for a fanless p/s.

Doomer
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2002 11:44 pm
Location: Finland

Post by Doomer » Wed Jun 22, 2005 1:37 am

I wouldn't buy a fanless PSU that goes inside the case. After Zalman NEPS got cancelled, there isn't one at the horizon :(

perplex
Posts: 298
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2005 1:29 pm
Location: Club Tropicana

Post by perplex » Wed Jun 22, 2005 3:56 am

all Recent phantom buyers seem to have no problems

atomidude
Posts: 99
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2005 3:53 am
Location: Adelaide, Australia

Post by atomidude » Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:49 am

got my first phantom early december, died after 2 weeks. the replacement, made in january, never had a problem. my computer is running stable and quiet ever since.

jermaink
Posts: 265
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:20 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by jermaink » Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:55 am

Are any of you talking about the Phantom 500? Because that seems to have a fan which kick in once temperatures get high enough.

Edwood
Posts: 460
Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2002 4:48 pm
Location: My Secret Laboratory

Post by Edwood » Thu Jun 30, 2005 12:06 am

Phantom 350 bought in December of last year. Still going strong.

Running A64 s939 3500+, Asus A8V Deluxe, 1GB RAM (2x512), Seagate 7200.7 200GB PATA, ATi Radeon X800 Pro, Sound Card, and two 120mm Papst Fans.

Been running with zero problems. I had a SilentMaxx ProSilence 350 die on me within 4 months. They took my RMA'd PSU and never contacted me again. I will never ever deal with anything remotely SIlentMaxx ever again.

-Ed

Dirty-Harry
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2003 6:09 am
Location: Wood Dale, IL USA
Contact:

Seasonic or Phantom?

Post by Dirty-Harry » Thu Jun 30, 2005 6:09 pm

I'm still undecided between a Seasonsic S12 500 and a Phantom 500, any advice from you experts would be greatly appreciated. I've read the reviews, but I've also read comments of SPCR members whom have posted their personal experiences with both.

I'm build a new quiet system in a P180 with an AMD Athlon 64.

~El~Jefe~
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 2887
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:21 pm
Location: New York City zzzz
Contact:

Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Thu Jun 30, 2005 6:15 pm

Here's a pro tip:

it works. the sucker is cool to the touch on a semi-performance system. i can play doom3 or half-life2 on high settings for 3-4 hours in the summer time and it gets slightly warm, like faintly.

try that on any FANNED psu.

yeah.

I thought so.

It helps to have adequate cooling inside the case, not to cool the psu, but to prevent stupid overly hot components from heating up the psu via thermal heat and not from load. I dont think that on load this psu has noticable temperature increases even after never being turned off. I use a zalman water cooler on the 754 chip and the 9800 aiwonder pro card. Yes, there are hotter setups, but really, the difference is kinda small except for an overclocked SLI setup. 1 fan on 6-7 volts 120pabst, does the job for the case.

Shadowknight
Posts: 1283
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2003 2:43 pm
Location: Charlotte, NC, USA

Post by Shadowknight » Thu Jun 30, 2005 7:38 pm

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... 239#191239

Due to a problem with my harddrive, NOT the PSU, my fan controller got disrupted (they were on the same rail). My last post will show you how good the newer batches of Phantoms are.

chylld
Posts: 1413
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2003 4:45 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Post by chylld » Thu Jun 30, 2005 7:51 pm

i'm a bit curious as to how a harddrive can damage something via a power cable? maybe i'm totally clueless, but i don't think a hard drive can send a surge of electricity to the fan controller, let alone one large enough to destroy it!

to me it sounds much more like a power supply problem. when my sl350s was in its dying stages the unstable power made my hard drives do weird things, like constantly restarting every few seconds which isn't a good thing.\

Shadowknight
Posts: 1283
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2003 2:43 pm
Location: Charlotte, NC, USA

Post by Shadowknight » Thu Jun 30, 2005 8:04 pm

No, for some reason I had a loose connection from an extender plugged into the harddrive. The extender came with the Smart Drive 2002. Replacing the extender fixed the problem. Why? I don't know. Regardless, Antec has DEFINETLY fixed the thermal burn out problem with the Phantom.

chylld
Posts: 1413
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2003 4:45 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Post by chylld » Thu Jun 30, 2005 8:10 pm

ahh ok, probably a loose wire in the extender somewhere causing the power to go on/off/on/off? as long as your problems are fixed it's all good :)

not to be rude, but be careful when you use definites. the thermal burn out problem might be fixed in your unit, but it's premature to declare it fixed in all units. people take these posts very seriously when considering their next purchase, and if someone purchases a unit (be it a phantom or whatever) based on such a strong comment, and the unit fails, then it doesn't do anyone any good.

geminite
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2005 4:48 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Post by geminite » Fri Jul 01, 2005 6:21 am

Well, after my 2 dead Phantoms 350, I decided to get a Silverstone Fanless.

So far, it's been great, 3 weeks and 0 problems.

I'll post another status check in a month and let you guys know what I think.

chylld
Posts: 1413
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2003 4:45 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Post by chylld » Fri Jul 01, 2005 6:30 am

i like how you pluralised(?) "phantom 350" into "phantoms 350" - hehe :)

a reminder to everyone to post your results with either the phantom 350 or silverstone/etasis psu's at the following polls:

phantom 350

silverstone

although you might want to wait and test the psu for longer before you register your vote.

wim
Posts: 777
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2004 5:16 am
Location: canberra, australia

Post by wim » Fri Jul 01, 2005 8:47 am

hi, another silverstone here.. no problems with psu yet, everything running as planned, but it's early days yet. the unit does get quite warm, though the heat led has stayed green. i will reserve my 'official' opinion and delay voting in the poll until it's done a few laps around the block. it does have a very slight buzz, but the noise is obscured by any fan spinning at epsilon volts. this thing weighs a a ton! the phantom is a tad cheaper in AU but didn't want one because of i) the failure poll ii) the blue light

luminous
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 717
Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2003 6:31 am
Location: UK

Post by luminous » Sat Jul 02, 2005 9:13 am

Erk.... :shock: I wish I had not stopped reading in here. The last time I had a good read here was when the Phantom was the best thing since sliced bread.....hence I have just bought one.

Then I saw this thread....


Lets hope all goes well :)

Post Reply