SPCR

Hi, I have been looking at this PSU for a while as it's been floating around $70 after rebate.

All the reviews I read on it give it good scores; however they say it is not really silent & can make quite a bit of noise under load.

What I'm wondering is, since it uses an 80mm fan; is it user replaceable for something more quiet? & if so, what fan(s) would you guys recommend?

Also, I've noticed in the newegg reviews for this PSU that many people say it arrived DOA, or that it died w/ a pop and a cloud of smoke. Is this something i need to worry about?

Did PC P&C quality drop after OCZ bought them? I don't want to have the PSU go out w/ a bang and take my expensive CPU/MoBo/Vid Card w/ it.

p.s. do you think it would void the 5 year warranty to do so? in the articles i read it said there was no warranty sticker to break if you opened it. However it is painted red, and if they painted over the screws, unscrewing them might crack the paint and show. Anyone know if this is the case? Thanks again.

link to sale price

it's also around this price on ZipZoomFly and Directron

p.s. if making this quiet is an impossibility which of the following 2 would you recommend?
ENERMAX MODU82+ EMD625AWT 625W ATX12V Ver.2.3 - $145 AR
or
ZALMAN ZM850-HP 850W Continuous @ 45°C (Maximum Continuous Peak: 1050W) ATX12V V2.2 - $155

I would imagine that replacing the fan would completely void the warranty.

PCP&C PSUs IMHO can barely be classified as quiet. If you are looking specifically for an 80mm fan PSU the Antec Signature is quiet and is really well put together.

Have you seen the recommended PSU list? The Modu82+ is quite popular here

Googly_Eyes wrote:....
....however they say it is not really silent & can make quite a bit of noise under load.....

I have an older Silencer 400 and it wasn't quiet. I replaced the fan with a Nexus.

Googly_Eyes wrote:....
....Did PC P&C quality drop after OCZ bought them....

Zippy was the original OEM of the Silencers, and is an excellent manufacturer. I believe the current ones are Seasonics, but can't confirm it. Not much to choose between the two.

Nowadays Silencer was manufactured by Seasonic and quiet but not silent considering ADDA 80mm fan characteristics. I've had experience with Silencer 750, which was quiet at idle, that performed brilliantly for E8200+P35+4870 rig. As for full load, I doubt thay you system could draw 700W DC at load? If so, your SLI/Crossfire VGAs will be much louder that Silencer anyway.

You could improve acoustic characters by swapping ADDA 80mm fan with a Nexus or Scythe one, but you'd definitely void the 5 years warranty.

Btw, SPCR has done a Silencer 610 review.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article864-page1.html

I have a PCP&C Silencer 750 in my workstation. At anything under full load for a good bit of time it is fairly quiet but by no means silent. 90% of the time however I cannot hear the PSU fan over the blower on my HD4870 (fan set to 30%) which is fairly quiet when under the desk (faint whoosing)

depends on where in the case it is, from my experience. if using with p180 in the lower section of the case, it's ok. do wish they'd put a slower fan in there though.

one thing about s750's - the noise is not annoying - kinda like a white noise. for me, it's preferable to listening to the coil whine on the psu's i've moded with quiet fans.

loimlo wrote:Nowadays Silencer was manufactured by Seasonic and quiet but not silent considering ADDA 80mm fan characteristics. I've had experience with Silencer 750, which was quiet at idle, that performed brilliantly for E8200+P35+4870 rig. As for full load, I doubt thay you system could draw 700W DC at load? If so, your SLI/Crossfire VGAs will be much louder that Silencer anyway.

You could improve acoustic characters by swapping ADDA 80mm fan with a Nexus or Scythe one, but you'd definitely void the 5 years warranty.

Btw, SPCR has done a Silencer 610 review.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article864-page1.html

NyteOwl wrote:I have a PCP&C Silencer 750 in my workstation. At anything under full load for a good bit of time it is fairly quiet but by no means silent. 90% of the time however I cannot hear the PSU fan over the blower on my HD4870 (fan set to 30%) which is fairly quiet when under the desk (faint whoosing)

From the pictures I've seen it doesnt look like they would be able to tell if i opened the PSU to swap in a quiet fan as long as i didnt scratch it. Is the fan soldered or plugged? Is there something I'm overlooking?

If it's a plug and it ever dies during the warranty, if i just replaced it with the original fan would they be able to tell? I don't see how it would be a misdeed since a replacement fan wouldn't damage the PSU as long as it can supply at least an equal amount of CFM.

I'm currently trying to decide between using a 9800 GTX+ or a GTX 260 Core 216. I've found some reviews quoting power on both
here and here

the 9800 GTX+ and 55nm GTX 260 Core 216 seem to draw about the same amount of juice. But at the same time they cheapened the heatsink so it hasn't gotten any quieter over the 65nm

I currently have a spare Seasonic S12 430W, but it's a dual rail design and on eVGA's site they recommend a 12+ rail of 30-36 Amp. This PSU can't provide stable power to this card, a DVD burner, 2 7200RPM HDDs, a Sound Blaster X-Fi titanium & Q9650 can it?

Thanks again for all the input guys

Never trust vendor power ratings - they simply exaggerate what people indeed need. Q9650 may draw 130W and GTX260 may draw from 160W~120W in terms of clock frequency and 65nm/55nm difference. Trust merchant without thinking is dangerous.

S12 430 would cope with your system very well. If you never modify S12 430 120mm ADDA fan, chances are that you may be satisfied with Silencer 750's out-of-box acoustic performance. I'd get a 500W unit under your circumstance like Corsair HX520 or Enermax PRO82+ 525W as I don't like to torture my S12 430(I'm running S12 430 on my main rig). I might get a Corsair TX650W or Enermax 625W if there's a main-in-rebate.

As always, spend a fortune on quality CPU cooler since Intel stock cooler is junk in terms of acoustic performance.

Btw, most PSU below 1KW doesn't own real dual +12V rails - they simply come from the same conversion unit inside PSU - S12 430 is a single +12V rail PSU like most PSUs in the market with 2 +12V rails outputs mark.