Seasonic SS-300SFD

Chocolinx · Post by **Chocolinx** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:21 pm

I know this should be the same powersupply that comes with the NSK3300. I'm planning on buying one for this Micro ATX case I have, and it seems to be the only one that fits the case.

Can anyone comment exactly how quiet this thing can be? Like would it be quieter than a Yate-Loon at 5V? Or a 12CM fan running roughly around 600-700RPM.

autoboy · Post by **autoboy** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:12 pm

I can comment on mine. I have it in a nsk3300 that sits in my bedroom 10ft from my head. My room is very quiet at night. There is a AC Alpine7 running at 500 rpm (barely running), a Sythe 120mm at 600rpm, and a fugitsu notebook drive on foam. The seasonic SS is the loudest component in the case, but I still can't hear a damn thing from it more than a few feet from the case on the quietest night. If you put your ear to the fan, it has some minor clicking and some turbulence noise, is not the quietest fan I have heard, but is good enough for my setup. This fan never ramps up probably because my system uses less than 50W at full load. YMMV. I am happy enough with mine and if you had problems, a simple fan swap would work wonders. Oh, I almost forgot, before i ever installed the system I changed the stamped grill over the fan to the wire grill just for grins.

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 12:05 am

I have an NSK3300 and I find the the PSU fan is way too loud. I plan on swapping it out one of these days. The issue with this fan isn't so much the loudness, as the quality of the noise. It sounds very rumbly. If you listen to the audio samples at the end of SPCR's SS-300SFD review, you will hear what I mean.

Chocolinx · Post by **Chocolinx** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:59 am

So here's what I have planned I guess after hearing your 2 comments.

1. Remove the top cover (fan included)

2. Have it run fanless

3. Depend on a 120MM fan to cool it (Yate-Loon 500 RPM rougly 3.5V)

Would you consider this at all a good idea? Or is it too dangerous to leave the cover open? o_O If not I could just remove the fan grill and fan, and put the 120 on top of the PSU and still have it spin at 500-600.

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 2:45 pm

You are better off just replacing the fan with a quieter one. Get a < 2000 RPM 80mm fan based on a "fluid bearing" (Scythe, Panaflo, etc.) and run it at 5 or 7V. Run it straight from the PSU like a case fan, bypassing the 2-pin connection to the fan controller. I think Seasonic heavily overspeced the included fan (it's 3500 RPM) under the assumption that it would be needed to contribute to cooling in many of the cases small enough to need a SFX PSU. Obviously that is not the case in the NSK3300, with its separate chambers, nor is it in you situation.

Chocolinx · Post by **Chocolinx** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 10:07 pm

jessekopelman wrote:You are better off just replacing the fan with a quieter one. Get a < 2000 RPM 80mm fan based on a "fluid bearing" (Scythe, Panaflo, etc.) and run it at 5 or 7V. Run it straight from the PSU like a case fan, bypassing the 2-pin connection to the fan controller. I think Seasonic heavily overspeced the included fan (it's 3500 RPM) under the assumption that it would be needed to contribute to cooling in many of the cases small enough to need a SFX PSU. Obviously that is not the case in the NSK3300, with its separate chambers, nor is it in you situation.

It's true I don't need the fan for cooling my case internally, so wouldn't it make more sense to leave it fanless? Or does it still really need fan there? Free airflow wouldn't be enough to cool it? I rather not have to go out and buy another fan. I have 120mm Yate-Loons lying around I'd like to use them lol. If you check out SPCR's review of the SS-300, you'll notice that it starts the fan at 3.5V, which would mean a nexus wouldn't even start till the watts hit around 150W, which would be 5V ish.

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:39 pm

Chocolinx wrote:It's true I don't need the fan for cooling my case internally, so wouldn't it make more sense to leave it fanless? Or does it still really need fan there? Free airflow wouldn't be enough to cool it?

How long do you want the PSU to last? I have read a few reports PSUs with the fan removed living 1-2 years, but none of greater lifespans. There is a big difference between having a fan directly on the component vs. cooling from incidental airflow (often 10-15 degrees). Do you want to spend $10 now on the fan or $60 later buying the next PSU? An alternative to using a fan would be to try and duct the PSU to the case fan (becomes complicated if you are also passive on the CPU heatsink).

Chocolinx wrote:I rather not have to go out and buy another fan. I have 120mm Yate-Loons lying around I'd like to use them lol.

If you can find a way to attach it in a useful fashion, go for it.

Chocolinx wrote:If you check out SPCR's review of the SS-300, you'll notice that it starts the fan at 3.5V, which would mean a nexus wouldn't even start till the watts hit around 150W, which would be 5V ish.

Yes, that's why I told you to bypass the built-in fan controller and just use one of the molex connections like you would for a case fan. The problem with the built in fan is that even at 3.5V it is noisier than a good fan would be at 7V.

BillyBuerger · Post by **BillyBuerger** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 6:42 pm

I tried using a Panaflo L1 on mine when I first got it. I agree that the included fan was not good. Lot's of clicking. The panaflo didn't spin at the 3.5V. After about 10 minutes or so the fan voltage got up enough that it started spinning. The air coming out was pretty warm by that time. But it only ran the fan for a short time before the voltage dropped and it stopped again. My solution was to cut it open a little and fit a 92mm fan in it. One that starts at the low start voltage and is very quiet. It's some low speed Adda fan I think. If you have a low enough powered setup, you probably could get by without a fan. Or maybe if you had a positive pressure case that forced some air through it. I wasn't comfortable with it.

Chocolinx · Post by **Chocolinx** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 8:40 pm

I think my overall setup should only take up maybe 100W at most. It's a MOTD, or is going to be.

N4L-VM DH
1GB Stick
Notebook Harddrive SATA
DVD-ROM
T2600 (1.6)

I'm sure this setup shouldn't take more than 100W at most on load.

BillyBuerger · Post by **BillyBuerger** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:04 pm

That is a very low load setup. I would say probably less than 50W most of the time. I would think you could get away with the SS300SFD fanless. Or you could throw a Nexus on it and see if it ever spins up. That way it's also there as a backup in case you decided to use it in the dessert or something.

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 2:59 pm

BillyBuerger wrote:Or you could throw a Nexus on it and see if it ever spins up.

Or he could run the fan off of a molex and then it will start up for sure.

Cerberus · Post by **Cerberus** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 12:30 pm

BillyBuerger wrote:That is a very low load setup. I would say probably less than 50W most of the time. I would think you could get away with the SS300SFD fanless. Or you could throw a Nexus on it and see if it ever spins up. That way it's also there as a backup in case you decided to use it in the dessert or something.

Do you expect him to be piling whipped cream on top of the case?

Chocolinx · Post by **Chocolinx** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 2:05 pm

Cerberus wrote:
BillyBuerger wrote:That is a very low load setup. I would say probably less than 50W most of the time. I would think you could get away with the SS300SFD fanless. Or you could throw a Nexus on it and see if it ever spins up. That way it's also there as a backup in case you decided to use it in the dessert or something.
Do you expect him to be piling whipped cream on top of the case?

lol

Well what I have planned to mod it really is, if you look at the SPCR review http://www.silentpcreview.com/article286-page3.html I was planning on removing the cage like so in that picture there. So that all that's left is the power plug and grill, screw that on to the case, and behind it have a 120MM blowing at 3-4V at it. Just want to know if that's a health/safety hazard lol

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 7:05 pm

Yes, it is a safety hazard (when the case is open). Still, you just have to be careful . . .