Quietest power supply?

[Ikonomi]

I'm at a bit of a loss. I haven't shopped for power supplies (or cases with power supplies) in a long time. For the last system I built, which was for my niece, I just went with the cheapest case/PSU that had good feedback and looked alright. However, in my ongoing quest to silence my PC, I'm in the market for a new, quiet power supply.

As far as fans go, my case is down to two old Panaflo 80mms (very quiet), a Zalman 7000A-AlCu (virtually silent), a Fan-Mated Crystal Orb (silent, and will be replaced when I get a good video card anyway), and a noisy-ass power supply. Everything in my case is below 25 dB except that thing, and it's frustratingly loud by comparison.

Problem is, none of the power supplies I've looked at seem to list the amount of noise they make. What's an inexpensive, quiet PSU? I don't care what brand it is as long as it's reliable and quiet. Can somebody help me out?

 

[RussianSensation]

The Zalman and Fortron Power supplies are very quiet

Also Thermaltake PurePower 480

Power Supply Noise Testing

Fortron 530 Watt power supply is very good and Zalman 400 but they are a bit pricey

You could also go for Antec 430 or 480 they are fairly quiet

and I read Seasonic Supersilencer 400 is quiet

so check these out

 

[beatle]

I have an Antec True330 and it's pretty silent. I found the Fortron 300w PSU to be even quieter in my tests. Another AT'er said the 350w Fortron was loud, but it's difficult to quantify our statements together.

You won't need more than 400w. My antec does just fine powering my oc'ed rig.

 

[high]

I use a 420 Thermaltake and it's very quiet.

 

[lung]

I absolutely love my 400W Zalman. Dead silent. I have to put my ear right up to it to hear it.

 

[Blooz1]

I'm using a Fortron FSP350-60 in one of my systems (120MM model), and 95% of the time it's virtually silent. On the rare occasion that there's enough heat in the case, the fan cranks up and it's noticable.

I believe NewEgg is selling these for about $40 w/o shipping. The PSU is extremely stable, with good readings on all rails at all times.

 

[pelikan]

Since you've only got panaflo's running its going to take an exceptionally quiet psu to satisfy your needs. Check out the psu reviews at Silent PC Review.
I have a Fortron 350W - the one with an 80mm fan. The only other fans in my case are two panaflo L1A's and a quiet nb fan. I replaced the fan in the Fortron with a quieter one and now I can't hear my psu at all.

 

[soja]

I've used the seasonic super tornado 300 and it was quieter than any psu I'ved owned (2 antecs, 2 enermax, 1 sparkle, 1 allied). However it had the non-start issue silentPCreview states so I swapped it for the Seasonic Super Silencer 400 which works great. Even with my ear to the fan grill I can only hear the sound of air slightly moving. At full load however, it gets fairly loud. When idling or under medium usage it's almost inaudible. My system is fairly quiet since I watercool with 2 120mm M1a panaflos @ 7v. It's a bit pricier than other 400watts but quality and silence doesn't come cheap

 

[Ikonomi]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. The Fortron and the Zalman seem good. Heck, they all do. I'm just trying to keep the price down. I've been reading the power supply articles at Silent PC Review, too. Good stuff. I really had no idea which ones to look at, before all the replies.

Pelikan's post got me thinking, though: It's relatively easy to replace the fan inside a PSU, right? I have an old A1 300W in my computer now that works pretty well (err, except that it undervolts!). Is it safe to assume that I can just crack it open and change out the fan for a quiet 80mm? Same thing I was going to do with my friend's PC before a technician put a 550W in it.

Would I have to leave the PSU unplugged for any time before just messing with the fan? I always got the impression that the electricity would jump out of the unit at you as soon as you opened the housing, kind of like a rabbit or something.

 

[pelikan]

Replacing the fan is easy to do. Be very careful not to touch anything inside the psu and you won't get shocked.
I don't leave mine unplugged for any amount of time before I open it up (of course I do unplug it). Even if you leave it unplugged for a long time the capacitors may not discharge.
Not all psu's can handle the switch to a quieter fan. The psu could overheat and die. This may not sound very scientific, but before switching the fan I would feel the exhaust from you psu while under load. Then switch the fan and see if the exhaust seems much warmer.

 

[QueBert]

I like the Antec with the blue LED's. it's pretty quite and the glow it gives inside my case is sweet. Of course if you don't like lighted cases or have a window on your case even. This would be worthless.

just picked up a Lanboy case, was wanting a new PS. Didn't want to order online, the PS was 65 the case with the same PS was 99 with a 20 rebate. not a bad deal

 

[Ikonomi]

Thanks, pelikan. I think I'll try that first and see if my PSU explodes from heat, in which case I'll have a good reason to buy a new and better one!

QueBert, is that Antec a dual fan? I was thinking about putting an LED fan in mu current supply for when I get my hot new Chieftec, since those look amazing all lit up. I just dunno if the lights would have the desired effect in a single fan PSU.

 

[Ikonomi]

Haha, well, I screwed up the fan header in my PSU trying to mod a Panaflo to fit in it (really, it was stupidly designed, I swear!), so even when I plugged the original fan back in it didn't work. I got tired of screwing around in there next to the capacitors, so I went over to Microcenter and picked up a Seasonic Super Silencer 300W.

This thing rocks.

Seriously.

I'm currently playing the Jurassic 5 Power In Numbers DVD in one drive, listening to Verve Remixed 1 in my CD burner (I know I should be burning a CD, but I didn't want to use up a blank one), running a Prime 95 torture test, compressing 17 GB of files on my D: drive, surfing the net and monitoring voltages/temperatures/CPU usage in Asus Probe and the Windows Device Manager, while editing the screenshot of all this in Photoshop. The voltage rails are all identical to their readings with no load.

Oh, and it's still nearly silent. To top things off, I picked an excellent day to break my old PSU -- all power supplies were 20% off at Microcenter.

 

[pelikan]

I'm glad to hear it worked out well in the end. Sounds like you got a great psu.

 

[RalfHutter]

And Verve Remixed is a great album too!

 

[Ikonomi]

It sure is!

I'm going to re-solder the connections for that fan plug on my old PSU when I get around to it. It's still servicable; it's just that those charged capacitors made it excessively difficult to do anything in that confined space.