Are the new PC Power & Cooling Silencers quiet?

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

Post Reply
thegoldenstrand
Posts: 112
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:41 pm

Are the new PC Power & Cooling Silencers quiet?

Post by thegoldenstrand » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:06 pm

They seem to prefer 80mm fans..

Interesting design to pull air through the power supply and space fan a little further from components..

Any reviews of the new 610 and 750W Silencers from PC Power & Cooling?

Sure wish we had more high powered AND quiet alternatives, has PC Power & Cooling finally come up with one?

darthan
Posts: 237
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:28 pm
Location: San Francisco

Post by darthan » Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:19 pm

Well, the reputation of PC P&C is that they make high quality (workstation quality) power supplies, that have proper industrial cooling. So the chances of them making a power supply that is genuinely quiet are slim. But why would you need a 750W power supply anyway? Unless your system involves multiple processors there is nothing a S12-500 or S12-600 can't handle and those are very quiet.

EsaT
Posts: 473
Joined: Sun Aug 13, 2006 1:53 am
Location: 61.6° N, 29.5° E - Finland

Post by EsaT » Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:27 am

Isn't Seasonic M12 700W (modular cables, second fan for helping cooling) or S12 E+ 650W (fixed cables, similar to S12s) enough?


Also at full rated power none of these high power PSUs are going to be really quiet, it's possible only with normal Windows desktop loads. (at least until Windows Fatty comes with its 3D provoked desktop keeping GPU hot also at idle)



They use 80mm fan's because in that cooling layout (theoretically best, but propably leaves very low airflow areas to sides) you can't use bigger fans.
Now smaller size means less airflow at same rpm meaning more noise and because of higher rpm noise is also more higher pitched which becomes disturbing more easily.


BTW, IIRC Enermax demostrated their 1kW Galaxy PSU in some PC Tech event by using it for powering four SLI PCs.

jaganath
Posts: 5085
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:55 am
Location: UK

Post by jaganath » Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:57 am

smaller [fan] size means less airflow at same rpm meaning more noise and because of higher rpm noise is also more higher pitched which becomes disturbing more easily.
Exactly.

thegoldenstrand
Posts: 112
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:41 pm

Specs show 22-55 CFM airflow from fan

Post by thegoldenstrand » Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:21 am

That is a lot lower than the Seasonic..

The distance of fan pulling air through is claimed to decrease noise by ten dba compared to having fan closer, requiring power supply to be deeper by an inch and a half to make it quieter.

I have a Cross Fire system.. 1900XTX..

I have five and sometimes six hard drives going at one time..

PSU is LOUDEST part of my system, but the Seasonic S-12 600 is considered to have some problems with my level of system with shutdowns, etc..

So.. I am considering the S-12-650.. thinking that might just do it.. but as a power enthusiast.. I have always wanted to see a quiet solution for a big psu from PC power and cooling.. based upon the price they charge for it.. either it is a great deal or it is using cheaper components than the other psus they make or both.

I am not going to sweat paying $200 for a psu.. just want one that has as little ripple as possible and that will be below say 35 dba for most loads with obvious need for more air and noise when using at full tilt.. so say max.. 45?? PC Power and Cooling Specs say 28-42, but then they say 30-44 for their louder ones.. so.. just want to learn more.

I tried and OCZ GameXStream thinking maybe OCZ would quiet a pretty good psu from FSP, but.. they actually increased the noise.. not accepable for me.

I too am waiting for the Seasonic S-12 650.. just considering the different options as I need the psu yesterday, not tommorrow.

Mike

EsaT
Posts: 473
Joined: Sun Aug 13, 2006 1:53 am
Location: 61.6° N, 29.5° E - Finland

Re: Specs show 22-55 CFM airflow from fan

Post by EsaT » Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:52 am

250W for GPUs, 100W for CPU (or do you have NetBurst-heater?), one 100W more for HDs and rest, that should be quite close to practical maximum peak power consumption.

You should get something like this:
http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews/powerangel/
And then remember it shows also power loss in PSU but you might be still surprised by numbers.

M12 model might be better at higher loads, that extra fan should help lot in cooling of front part of PSU which doesn't get so good airflow with one fan in bottom. (also it doesn't add any extra noise despite of being smaller fan, actually in XS-forums someone said M12 600W was quieter than similarly rated S12 he had previously)
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfis ... 9-d-p.html

thegoldenstrand wrote:The distance of fan pulling air through is claimed to decrease noise by ten dba compared to having fan closer, requiring power supply to be deeper by an inch and a half to make it quieter.
If there's that big difference in noise caused by airflow turbulence fan itself propably won't be really quiet anymore, especially smaller diameter fan.

Also advertised noise levels don't tell anything, they might as well be mesured with PSU and dB-meter in different buildings on different sides of road.
Even similarly measured dB-numbers aren't absolute truth because higher frequency noises tends to be more disturbing, human ear is more sensitive to those than low frequencies and then there's that "processing between ears" with individual settings.

Bar81
Posts: 261
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2003 4:19 pm
Location: Dubai

Post by Bar81 » Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:09 am

They're not even quiet. I used to have one, it's loud.

thegoldenstrand
Posts: 112
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:41 pm

Thanks for the feedback!

Post by thegoldenstrand » Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:57 pm

Quiet is important.. Actually it was my thought that with basically the same set up and more efficiency and less heat released by the new Seasonic versus the old.. it could be safely quieter and have fan used at lower speeds the the previous versions of the S-12.

I think I will get the S-12 650.. love that efficiency.. more efficient at 120W of output than just about any power supply and still capable of lots of power.

Awesome power supply.

Virgulino Ferreira
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2006 8:22 pm

Re: Are the new PC Power & Cooling Silencers quiet?

Post by Virgulino Ferreira » Mon Sep 25, 2006 8:39 pm

thegoldenstrand wrote:Any reviews of the new 610 and 750W Silencers from PC Power & Cooling?
PCPC used to brag about rating their power supplies at 50oC.

It strikes me odd these new models being rated at 40oC. Should we de-rate them by 80%?

Post Reply