ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

My Xilence PSU is started to get noisy (fan bearing), and I think the filtering is on its way out as its started making noises with the graphics card. It wasn't much money and I've had a few years out of it, so its paid for itself. Anyhoo, I've been hunting for a near SILENT! PSU. And its a nightmare. The current one is a 24dB PSU (at max rpm) and its still the noisiest part in the PC when its up to temperature. Done my calcs, and even with overclocking and future gfx upgrades a 500watt PSU is plenty.

The SPCR website is a god send, but they don't review enough stuff, and the top notch stuff is eye wateringly expensive for a power supply and teh cheaper stuff doesn't seem any better on paper than what I already have. Their Top notch PSU namely the Enermaxx Modu87+ Problem is I've set my budget at £100 and the 500watt version is out of stock (doh!)

Now I would go or a Pro87+ as I don't need modular cable, but seeing its not tested, I don't know if its going to be the same. And also its not widely available either. Another thing thats put me off Enermax is my Enermax Aluminum Keyboard....the silver on the keytops have worn off. Its £50 keyboard! Will I suffer the same longevity wear/tear with their PSUs (i.e fan bearings, capacitor aging etc)?

I've ruled Corsair out on similar quality/longevity grounds, as whilst the AZ series does very well in reviews, alot of people have had noise issues a year down the line (see youtube).

Nexus NX-5000 and RX-7000 is another contender. Nesteq - not a clue, nor many others.

And this leaves me with BeQuiet, lets just say I find the name promising and the fact its German usually means it should hopefully do what it says on the tin:

Namely the Darkpower Pro P9 550watt I've read reviews of this (in German!) and comparisons claims it is the quietest they've ever come across (and that includes the modu87+) . Problem is durability? Will it stay true to its name? who knows?

Same for the Straight power E9 500watt, Its cheaper and looks ok on paper problem with that is no reviews of it.

And this brings me here, utterly confused....the last thing I want to do is waste £100 on a 'quiet' PSU to find its no quieter than the £40 PSU I'm about to bin.

By the way, just for reference level; My pc's noise level is quieter than a human taking a deep breath and sighing (As I noticed after spending ages looking at reviews and retail websites ). No semi-fanless PSUs, they'd annoy me cycling on/off. A pure fanless PSU may overheat inside my case.

Gah! I give up!

jura11

iTrader: (7)

Have look on this

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs

and this

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4011/c...-80plus-gold/5

And about the BeQuiet! test

http://translate.google.es/translate...are%26id%3D544

Personally i would have look for fanless PSU which can be expensive,but if you are looking for quiet PC this will be good option,plus i would invest too money at better and quieter CPU cooler and if its budget i would go with Danger Den Water cooling,yes expensive,but in my view best,i've tested this Danger Den Water cooling and must say,very impressed and now i was build one PC for my friend and with this kit...

And some PSU:

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/powersupplies

And about the your point fanless PSU may overheat inside your case,depends on your case,if you have some good case i would brother much,i'm running Coolermaster HAF 932 case which is not quiet,but with right fans can be easily be quieter...

Jura

Ant

Buy a mac if you're worried about noise

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Hi Jura, as I said earlier I've already looked heavily at SPCR (who are shutting down, hence no new tests for this year ) and read all the German and English reviews of the P9 Darkpower (the best one is here as it compares it to other PSUs http://www.technic3d.com/review/netz...-im-test/3.htm).

The problem with the German mags, is bias (German mag, German PSU ), and the English/American e-mags seem to focus more on performance over noise (with no noise comparison charts).

Corsair's AX series (of various wattage) have had customer feed back over coil squeel/whine and ticking fan bearings. Not just the AX either but the HX and TX models too! Apparently, so I'm informed its a feedback/filtering resonance from the graphics card. Eitherway I'm not taking the risk and rather avoid the whole brand.

I'm fully aware of what Quiet-PC sell, they sold me the Big NG and the not-so durable Xilence (might see if I can RMA it, not sure if its over 2yrs old yet). But the problem is there is very little in the way of in the wild feedback of their products which inccidentally doesn't include the highly rated Enermax 87+ nor BeQuiet range. Why is that?

I'm running a Silverstone Lascala HTPC case, and I don't really want to replace it. Q9550 with a Scyth mini-ninja, 3 hard drives 2 DVDs, tuner and a HD 4970 squeezed in. Along with a T-balancer big NG controlling 3 mixed brand case fans.

During destop/browsing CPU cores are at approx 36 degrees. Case temp is 32C (around northridge and RAM area next to the HDs) with a 21C intake. PSU exhaust ranges from 46 to 49C degrees.

There is no seperate ventilation path for the PSU or CPU which give my fear a semi fanless will cycle on/off (which will be annoying), and fanless will possibly overheat, or make the case fans too noisy, as they'll need to run faster to compensate for more heat being dissapated inside the case, leaving me with no noise advantage.



The CPU is fine and I physically can't hear the cooler fan unless I manually set it to full speed or overclock it and put it under stress, which I'm not interested in doing. So not sure if there is any point to water cooling Doesn't really matter as it won't fit in the case and out way out of the £100 budget.


What I'm really after is feedback from stuff people use. If you can breath louder and its around £100, then there's a good chance it might be the PSU for me.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

£100 vs £1000

Mmmmm, nah.

jura11

iTrader: (7)

Hi Ali

I've look on few websites and really hardly find as you are said comparable test for BeQuiet! PSU,really i never looked on silent PSU,i almost in all cases went with OCZ series or Enermax,Corsair too and Coolermaster too..

Quiet PC not sure what is this company point,why not selling these brands,but i think they're tried and mostly selling which people wants and if you are want someone offer BeQuiet! PSU mostly people don't want them,because little feedback on them,Enermax i've tried and i was very happy with them,but at one case(Wesena E6,nice case,but pricey) which i installed has been high temps with Enermax on full load and customer has been little bit disappointed,later we are replace with NZXT Hale90 on customer request,i've seen Scan selling the Bequiet! PSU

For your case,you have some good temps with Q9550 and your components,just PSU is making more heat as everything above.On your spec you should be all right with 500-550W PSU and 600-650W can be safer option.

Its no point go for water cooling if your CPU cooler doing nicely job(and is silent too) and i before don't know your spec,sorry

I've tested few PSU and installed as i said before and really i never looked on silent version before like now,mine last PSU has been Thermaltake which has been 1200W,but still has been great,not sure how noisy has been..

From test which i've seen on BeQuiet looking like is it good buy,but without the feedback is little bit risky


Jura

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Thanks anyway, as you say, without the feedback its going to be a risk. And with so many brands with vague specs it just makes it such a headache.

Based on price, and more importantly; retailer stock levels/availability (ebuyer, aria, novatech, quiet-pc scan, OC'ers, lambdatek etc.) I think I've whittled it down to the following (including delivery):

Enermax MODU87+ 500W (£114.77 as reviewed by SPCR)
Enermax MODU82+ 625W (£120.77 high wattage, slightly noisier than above, or maybe not - who knows LOL!).
Be Quiet Dark Power P9 550w (£120.25 Rated quieter than both the above, by the Germans - Bias?)
Be Quiet Straight Power E9 680w (£93.01 New model, replaces E8, with bigger fan, E8's noise was very similar to all the above )


Nearly there

Next job; finally sorting out a SSD.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Well I went for the Dark Power P9

Fitted and, oh dear it won't fit. Its deeper than a standard ATX PSU....by a good few inches!

The cabling sticking out the modular sockets is fouling the back of the DVD drives and their Caddy. Only just, but enough to cause a problem

ATX defines a PSU should be 140mm deep, this is waaaay deeper than that about - 200mm)! Fine if you have one of those giant towers for a gazillion hard drives and fans. Not fine if you have a case made to strict ATX minimums.

I'm going to have to source shallower DVD drives and get the angle grinder on the caddy/case! Or bin my precious case


On the plus side, tested it out on the desk and it is very quiet. How that remains in an enclosed case is another story.

CREWJ

Can you not return it for another one?

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, but I'd have to pay postage each way as its my fault for not checking. I'll have to see if I can modify the case make it fit first.

Having said that I could say that a ATX psu should fit in ATX case, but I can't be arsed trying to argue my point.

CREWJ

Where did you order it from? (Sorry if you said and I missed it)

If it was Scan I can't see there being an issue.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Yup it was Scan. They should take it back, but seeing it was supplied as ordered and its not faulty I will have to pay returns postage....My thinking is would the postage be better off going towards a DVD/Blu-ray drive thats not quite as deep as the ones I have (ancient BenQ and NEC).

Some fiddling is called for first though, I only need quite literally 5mm of extra clearance.

jura11

iTrader: (7)

Hi Ali

technically you can go route of external DVD/Blue ray i know its on longer run and will be louder and not very quiet,but will be 2nd option.

I think i've seen few slimline DVD/blue ray,but they're for notebook etc.

Shame just doesn't fit like you are say its much more deeper.

Jura

CREWJ

I'd get a better case

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

This is what it currently is:



Next case/PC will be passive cooled

CREWJ

Ah yeah, not a conventional case.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

On the contrary - its pretty much a bog standard ATX desktop case behind the bezel.

I doubt this PSU would fit the mATX towers I have at work either. These take a full size PSU, but I'm pretty certain the depth issue is the same, as both the PSU and 5.25" bays are all at the top.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I think this is the answer to my problem: http://www.ebuyer.com/219960-liteon-...ive-ihbs112-37

Gives me a Blu-ray writer and it should sort the clearance issue as it 170mm deep (current drives are 185mm and 195mm).

CREWJ

Looks good

I think I have the DVD-RW equivalent of those too.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I thought I'd better update this.

I 'did' manage to get this PSU to fit in the case, found another DVD drive in my pile of crap that was a tad shorter (so the BD-RE drive will have to wait ). I have about 4mm of clearance between the connectors on the PSU and the drives, thats how tight it is.

Its quiet, and runs cooler. Typcally 6-7 degrees. Right now I have all 4 cores at 100% whilst Handbrake is converting some video files and the exhaust temp has still not gone above 46 degrees...even though its sucking air straight out the side of my CPU cooler! With the old PSU it would be well above 50degrees by now - previously I did have plans to reverse the cooler so it sucked air from the side of the case so it woud run cooler, but I don't think this is needed now.

CREWJ

Awesome news

dunx

iTrader: (3)

Bit late now, but I was going to say that you should ghetto mod it to hang out the back by a cm or two !

I have a Zalman 850W heat pipe PSU in my Thermaltake case and it's equally huge but almost silent compared to the CPU cooler....

dunx