Next PSU choice. Elan/Phantom/Seasonic

[oliroe]

Hi there

My setup is as follows

Lian 6070
Abit AV8
Athlon 64 3400 with thermalright heatsink and 120mm fan
1 gig Geil RAM
Sapphire 9800pro with Zalman cooler
1 Raptor + 2 x 7200 HD's

Basically my main problem is noise from my Enermax Noisetaker which keeps ramping up and down every 3 mins. I've decided to buy a new PSU and am considering one of these

Elan Vital Greenerger 450W - £120
Phantom 500 - £105
Seasonic 430W - £90

Considering my PC isn't the coolest, (NB temp of about 40) which would you consider the quietest for my system. Very tempted by the Elan as I've heard great things about it

Thanks in advance

Oli

[spolitta]

Seasonic 430W is one of those PSUs that once you buy and install it you can tottaly forget that there is a PSU in there. It works like a charm and with good air managements it will barely ramps up even in hot days.

[Locklear]

unless you can cool the phantom it will ramp up, and trust me when i say that's an ugly thing to listen to. When i push my system the phantom is continously ramping up and down because of the heat, and it's a major annoyance to me atm.

[oliroe]

Thanks for that

I've heard that unless the Elan gets anywhere near the 450W the fan doesn't need to come on. Was going to buy the Phantom but considering the temp inside my case I don't think there's any chance of it running without the fan

The Elan also gives me the choice of putting it in a HTPC at a later date

[teejay]

IMHO, a passive PSU should go in a case that has ample airflow; not necessarily due to a high level of forced airflow, but the case should "breathe" easily, to allow the heat from the extra heat source - which is basically what a fanless PSU is - to escape without adding noise. The way I see it, the fans in the Phantom 500 and the Elan Vital are a safety feature, installed to prevent overheating. As soon as the fans start to turn on regularly, you know the corresponding units are getting too hot for passive operation, which in turn means that the complete setup they are in is not suited for a passive unit.

Having said all that, I'd get the S12, which still is the quietest fanned unit money can buy... or so the experts here say.

[derekva]

For what you are powering, you could get away with an S12-380. I'm running an S12-330 with an Opteron 144, an ASRock DUAL-939, (2) 80GB Seagate 7200.7 SATAs and a Zalman-cooled GeForce FX5950 Ultra (supposedly draws 115W!!!).

Are you running a 939 or 754 system? The 3400+ is a socket 754 part but the AV8 is a socket 939 part. Either way (the 3400+ 90nm socket 754 CPU is a 67W part and the 3500+ 90nm socket 939 CPU is also a 67W part - same as the Opteron 144), an S12-380 should be more than sufficient for your current hardware.

If you are planning on upgrading to an SLI/Crossfire system at some point, though, then go for the S12-430.

-Derek

[oliroe]

Thanks for that. Maybe I have an Athlon 3500 if the 3400 didn't come as 939.

Currently my PC is in my bedroom but when I get my own place I want to build an HTPC with an LCD HD TV in my living room. My plan is to use my PSU in the PC I have at the moment and then use it for a lower powered HTPC so was thinking the Elan as there's a good chance it may run fanless

[Staats]

I am running a phantom 500 currently with no ramping, even while running stress tests. I don't have a P180, but I've ducted my old Antec 1080B. I seperated the PSU bay and the 5.25" bays from the rest of the PC with solid foam insulation. There is a small area for the neccesary cabling to pass through, with sufficient foam surrounding the cables. A nexus 120mm fan is blowing on the PSU. The plastic shroud in the front of the PSU has been removed, and the stock 80mm fan has been disconnected. I tested the system under load with the fan connected and it never turned on, so I disconnected it since it is not needed.