PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 and Corsair VX550

noveyak · Post by **noveyak** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:09 pm

After reading the reviews on a lot of power supplies I think I like the Corsair HX620 quite a bit

But I also like how the PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 and VX550 are pretty nice units and all of these will be enough +a little future proofing for what I am about to build. With that in mind, does anyone know if a fan mod is possible on the silencer? I actually really like its overall design with the 80mm fan but I havent been able to find any pictures with the unit taken apart and seeing where the fan plugs in. (Im guessing its just a standard 80mm fan that needs a 2 pin? Im more worried is the fan removable or is it some awkward size) Also would switching to a lower noise fan affect cooling? The unit seems to be pretty cool itself)

Finally I was again wondering if the VX550 can be fan swapped. Its probably less important here since the unit seems overall nicely quiet to a certain point but it would still be nice to have this option.

Thanks for any help I can get

Riffer · Post by **Riffer** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 2:16 pm

I have an older Zippy buit silencer and it is a regular 80mm fan. Don't worry about the connector, just run the fan leads out the back with the rest of the cables and plug into the motherboard or whatever you want.

If you want to connect inside, I think it is still a two-pin connector, so either make or buy a two pin to three pin adapter.

Just to add. The original Silencer wasn't especially quiet. I am looking at the 610 myself, but I am worried about the noise. Even my old silencer with a Nexus 80mm was not as quiet as the PSU's with the 120mm fans.

noveyak · Post by **noveyak** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 4:50 pm

I would need to be able to connect it internally since I will be using a CPU fan too. I would probably be either using the 3pin->2 pin or perhaps just cut the wires and solder them to the new fan (I was planning on using the 80mm Noctua fan actually), and yeah I know their fan wasnt terribly good in terms of silence (really kicks out the air though)

Hmm I really need to know if the 2 pin and connector and the fan well is removable. It would be dumb if it wasnt but I guess I should probably look for some internal pictures. Thanks for your help

Riffer · Post by **Riffer** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 5:18 am

noveyak wrote:I would need to be able to connect it internally since I will be using a CPU fan too. I would probably be either using the 3pin->2 pin or perhaps just cut the wires and solder them to the new fan (I was planning on using the 80mm Noctua fan actually), and yeah I know their fan wasnt terribly good in terms of silence (really kicks out the air though)

Hmm I really need to know if the 2 pin and connector and the fan well is removable. It would be dumb if it wasnt but I guess I should probably look for some internal pictures. Thanks for your help

Way ahead of you. [H]ardOCP did a comprehensive review of this PSU and here are pictures of the innards:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.h ... VzaWFzdA==

It is not entirely clear, but the fan is most certainly two pin.

One complication with connecting directly to the PCB is that there is a fan control circuitry that speeds the fan up and down. Presumably, connecting a lower flow fan to this would just result in it running at full speed.

Just for information purposes, the stock fan does 3900RPM & 50cfm@41dB when running at full speed. Not exactly what I would call silent.

I still like the idea of trying this PSU. My old one has been running for years. I even converted a couple of the connectors to SATA and ran it on a server. I already have a rear 120mm fan on my case, so the one in my Seasonic PSU is just redundant and may be creating flow problems. I wouldn't mind trying a PSU with the rear 80mm for comparison. Unfortunately, those in my current collection don't have the new connectors, nor the power for my current system.

Also, if you don't want to making your own adapter, Performance-PC's makes them:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/ ... d8a569bcb8

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:07 am

Riffer wrote:Just to add. The original Silencer wasn't especially quiet.

Sad, but true.

samuelmorris · Post by **samuelmorris** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 10:54 am

I think a VX with a better fan might do very well. The VX fan control is relatively steep, but it can be adequately cooled with less. For the Silencer I'm not sure, surely the 50dB fan is there for a reason...

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:20 pm

The VX550 also has outstanding regulation.

samuelmorris · Post by **samuelmorris** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:32 pm

I don't think PC P&C units are bad in that regard, but VX units certainly do well, and might work out cheaper, depending on where you live.

Riffer · Post by **Riffer** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:37 pm

Channel Well versus Seasonic as OEM's.

I think [H]ard OCP did that with the VX550 vs. the HX520. The VX won performance and price, but HX was quieter and modular.

samuelmorris · Post by **samuelmorris** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 3:10 am

I thought the VX was Seasonic as well? It was my understanding that VX and HX520/620 were Seasonics, the TXs and HX1000 were CWT.

loimlo · Post by **loimlo** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:54 am

CX400 - Seasonic

HX450 - Seasonic
HX520 - Seasonic
HX620 - Seasonic

VX450 - Seasonic
VX550 - CWT

TX650 - Seasonic
TX750 - CWT
TX850 - CWT
TX1000 - CWT

Btw, pay attention to SPCR reviewd units and you'd find SPCR has had never reviewd Corsair-CWT units. Why SPCR never bothered Corsair-CWT units? Based on my exposure to TX750, I fully recognize that CWT unit is too noisy even at idle.

samuelmorris · Post by **samuelmorris** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:59 am

Oh right, I didn't realise it was that way round. I'd heard reports of the 750 being louder than the 650, and vice versa with the 550, but didn't realise.
The HX1000 is one noisy beast, I tried one out. Since I have a relatively good ear for fequencies (courtesy of having learned grade 1 keyboard haha) I could tell that the idle fan speed of the HX1000 was about 1050rpm. For a 140mm fan, that's not going to be quiet. I think it was about 650 for my HX520, and that's only a 120mm. My ZM850 makes so little noise I can't do it by ear. The worst bit about the HX1000 though was under 700W load or so the fan jumped to its full 2200rpm within 30 seconds. A 2200rpm 14cm fan, mounted to a PSU, not even a case. I'll let your imagination do the rest.