As part of my quest for a silent rig, I have decided that I MUST replace my PSU (that came with my Aopen HX08 case) which along with the GF4 fan is the noisest thing in the system.
The northbridge fan has already care of itself (it's broken) and I've bought a lovely Zalman Copper 6000 HS with a 92mm that's near enough to silent (20-25db) for my CPU.
So, the next step is the PSU which SilentPC.com say operates at 26db (300W) or 28db (400w). See here:- http://www.quietpc.com/psu.html
Does anyone have any experience of these units and in particular whether or not they're the same sort of noise level as the Zalman 92mm fan running in silent mode (2000rpm / 20db)?
Athlon XP 3200+, TT Silent Boost (its rubbish as well as loud) Gigabyte nForce2 mobo (stable but lacks tweaking options), GF4 Ti4200 128mb, Lian-Li V2000
the 400W spec of 31A on the 12V rail dont sound right at all usually about 20ish
though the reviews sound good and at 26db you cant argue when many case fans are louder.
how much are they?
A64 3000+ at 3.2ghz
1gb OCZ Plat 2
DFI NF4 Ultra-D
Galaxy 7800GTX
600W Enermax
Regassed prommie with R507a
The Antec TruePowers aren't very offensive sounding either. You can still hear them--but barely (any moving fan will make SOME noise). A few quality silent PS's have special power headers that run case fans at lower voltages (also making them quieter). I know TruePowers do, because that's what I own.
Give what you cannot keep to gain what you cannot lose.
....but my concern is that everyone's idea of quiet is kinda different. Somebody's who is used to a 7000dpm delta is going think a 4800rpm 80mm Pabst sleeve is quiet at 36db............I guess I need some (uniform tested) db measurements really.
Put it this way - my idea of quiet is my Zalman 92mm fan. In quiet mode (Zalman say 1600 rpm - although VIA hardware monitor says its spinning at 2570) its 20db and I cannot hear it with the case covers on. In normal mode (Zalman says 2500 rpm) its 33db and I can hear a humming sound from my case (there's a dial that you turn to increase the rpm / sound)
So......I guess I really need a PSU in the 20db to 25db range otherwise it makes the rest of the Zalman stuff in my rig rather redundant. Anand measures the Antec at 31db which is pretty darn good for 430W PSU but..............silence (or as close to) is absolutely golden. Any have a QuietPC PSU has they can talk to me about?
Last edited by davidstone28; February 1st, 2003 at 05:39 PM.
Athlon XP 3200+, TT Silent Boost (its rubbish as well as loud) Gigabyte nForce2 mobo (stable but lacks tweaking options), GF4 Ti4200 128mb, Lian-Li V2000
I think it is pretty quiet, and I threw a 6800rpm fan out after 2hrs. None of my fans run at over 2200rpm, if that tells you anything about my standards.
Give what you cannot keep to gain what you cannot lose.
AMD Phenom II x4 945 3Ghz | ASUS M4A77TD | 2X WD 1TB SATA 2 hard drive | 2x2GB Corsair XMS3 | nVidia GeForce 8800 GTS | ATI TV Wonder Theater Pro 550 | Antec P-160 case | Antec 650w Earth Watts | LG Blu-ray Super Drive | LG DVD RW | Windows 7 Pro
Those guys are obsessive when it comes to PSUs! Not a bad thing thought b/c I'm going to order a Nexus PSU (yeah, I'd never heard of it either) - http://www.silentpcreview.com/module...rtid=56&page=1 ..........but at 22-26dbs here I come!
Last edited by davidstone28; February 2nd, 2003 at 01:23 PM.
Athlon XP 3200+, TT Silent Boost (its rubbish as well as loud) Gigabyte nForce2 mobo (stable but lacks tweaking options), GF4 Ti4200 128mb, Lian-Li V2000
Yeah, I'm not sure about dB ratings on some fans. I bought a couple 80mm vantec stealth fans that are rated at 21dB. I tried them out and found them to be too loud. Right now I use a couple "normal" 80mm fans, but they run off of the "fan only" rail of my TruePower. Undervolted fans are quieter than "silent" fans that run on 12v. Not sure why.
Give what you cannot keep to gain what you cannot lose.
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