Are Enlight Power Supplies Loud?

[ViRaLRuSh]

I have a 300 watt one in my comp right now and was wondering if it was the culprit, or the heatsink for my P4 3.0 HT. I have a seagate harddrive so i dont think that is the problem. Any ideas?

 

[high]

Did you open the case and put your ear up to it??? I find that way to be the most effective to pinpoint noise.

 

[ViRaLRuSh]

I tried that but its really hard cause the PSU is so close to the CPU.

 

[thirdlegstump]

Which Enlight? I have several of the 300w 7205 series cases and the PUS's aren't loud at all. They are about as quiet as the 300w Sparkles. They sound like it's blowing a bit of wind but nothing obnoxious.

 

[galt]

Very Quiet. I have 2. Love 'em.

 

[ViRaLRuSh]

so i take it its my heatsink fan then

 

[sellmen]

The stock Intel HSF is somewhat noisy, so thats probably the cause. To find out, unplug the CPU fan, turn on your system, and see how much noise it makes.

 

[Cerb]

Depends. If the PSU is more than 2 years old...it could be LOUD. The new ones aren't as quiet as the Fortron (I believe also Sparkle), but not bad by any means. When I say "not as quiet" I mean I can hear more noise...but in the case of the Fortron 300w, the loudest thing about it is the clicking of the fan--when you can hear that on most fans, it's quiet enough, so doubt it's the problem.

 

[Thegonagle]

Roll up a post-note and use it to momentarily stop each suspect fan. You'll figure which one is the more offensive culprit. Don't stop the fans for more than a few seconds though, especially the CPU fan.

If it's the PSU fan, and you have a slight bit of electrical knowledge, some intuition, and good tinkering skills, it's very easy to swap a new fan into your PSU. I recommend a cheap Panaflow L1A if your PSU doesn't have an RPM monitor lead, or a Vantec Stealth if it does.

ONE WORD SAFETY QUALIFICATION: CAPACITOR

To anyone reading this thinking "great idea!": If that word does not have any meaning to you, DO NOT attempt this PSU mod. Capacitors store electricity. Big capacitors can store a lot of electricity and release it very quickly. The big ones can pack quite a punch hours--even days--after the PSU has been unplugged. If you don't know or understand what you're doing, you can hurt yourself or severely damage your PSU (or both).

 

[Thegonagle]

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, the 70 mm Intel retail P4 fan is pretty bad at full speed (3000 RPM!). It's like a tiny little cheap vacuum cleaner? Is the noise a little like one of those Wal-Mart special $49 Eurekas? If that's the noise, start shopping for a new HSF.

 

[ViRaLRuSh]

yeah sounds like a mini vacuum :-\

 

[ViRaLRuSh]

Is there just a fan i can place on my heatsink so I dont have to buy a whole new heatsink too?

 

[axelfox]

Hold on, let me turn off my computer with the Englight Power Supply