Ridiculous PSU Nonsense - Enermax Hype

[alisajid]

OK, I must have had a really crappy PSU unit before. Being a hype driven animal I replaced it with an Enermax not so much of a "Whisper" as a shout 350 Watt PSU. I was happy that my machine didn't sound like a generator any more.

I was fixing a couple of PCs and I compared the Enermax's noise output to the dinky CompUSA 300 Watt PSU. As I managed to get a CompUSA PSU for free I tested it, and it has been much quieter. The Enermax Whisper (non-manually adjustable) models seem to be hype driven. These PSUs are not quiet. After spending 50+ on one of them, I can safely say I will not shell out the "big bucks" on PSUs unless I've heard them in person.

The moral of the story:

A PSU with 2 fans will make MORE noise than a PSU with 1 fan.

OK, so I had to rant and rave a little.

 

[Phunktion]

The moral of the story:

A PSU with 2 fans will make MORE noise than a PSU with 1 fan.

OK, so I had to rant and rave a little.

Well said and I totally agree with you on that..

I had just never got around to devoting a post to my rant because of all the Enermax zealots there are out there :frown: Don't want to piss any of you deluded people off However those manually adjustable dual fan Enermax's can be set so very quiet so that's about the only one worth looking at but Enermax's have no warranty so I'd suggest everyone avoid them till they get their act together..

I had a supposedly silent 420W Dual Fan PSU which was loud as hell.. later I modded it but it was still fairly loud so I swapped the damn thing for my trusty single fan 300W Sparkle PSU w/ L1A mod.. so much quieter.. all this high wattage madness is also getting to me as the majority of people with 90,000 Watts barely even come close to using 350W even with the highest XP and GF4 onboard... it's rare I see anyone needing above that unless they have a RAID array or something or if they run dualies then perhaps it truly would be necessary..

 

[lung]

It sounds like you guys are shocked at this"revelation." Why? Would it not occur to you that two fans might possibly make more noise than one? I have a 350W Enermax with the adjustable fan. I am totally happy with it. I keep it put at the lowest setting and not only do I have no heat problems, I have a quiet computer. Well, other than the ass-sucking fan that is on the Geforce4 MX440 that I bought as a stop-gap until I get a 4600.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Even a single fan can be very loud. I actually took the second fan out of my Enermax because it didn't change the temperature inside the case, and it was too damn loud. Now I'm modding the power supply more and putting in different fans trying to get one that's more quiet.

The "noise killer" system in these things probably works great. I'd hate to hear this fan at anything more than the 40% or 50% speed that it's ever gotten up to (automatic regulation based on temperature, 40% is based on the graph given by Enermax, speed monitor shows it running at around 3000RPM's). I can hear it even over loud movies. I wonder if I could aim a blow dryer at the system and see how fast I can get the temperature up. (Ooops, already whacked the original fan, can't test that.)

The only reason I'd still recommend an Enermax is due to the quality aside from the noise. Clean, highly available power is good. However I'm certainly going to be looking at other brands when the time comes that I again need more than a cheap 300W PSU.

 

[hmsrolst]

I also think that the two-fan aspect is hype, and the Enermaxes that aren't manually adjustable are anything but quiet. I've modded two with 80mm L1A's and removing the 92mm fan, and then they're pretty quiet with no loss of cooling.

 

[RalfHutter]

I have both an Enermax EG465P-VE (2 non-adjsutable fans) and an Antec TruePower 480 (also with 2 fans, one thermally controlled) and the Antec is way, way quieter than the Enermax. Both have 2 fans, so it's not 'just' an issue with 2 fans, it's whether the 2 fans are quiet fans. Antec has accomplished this, Enermax hasn't.

 

[RagManX]

Maybe I just got lucky, but my Enermax is indeed very quiet. I'm planning on modding it to fit it in a 5.25" drive bay, but until I do that, it is plenty quiet enough for me.

RagManX

 

[randomlinh]

another problem i see is noise tends to be relative to the user.... it may be "quiet" to one, but "loud" to someone else.

And hearing them first is such a PIA because it's such a waste to buy and return buy and return..... particularly since the only good PS you can buy are online (for me anyway)

 

[DS1MCSE]

You can likely quiet down that thermo-controlled Enermax PSU by 1) removing the 92mm fan 2) replace the stock 80mm with a Panaflo L1A and 3) pulling the thermoster away from the heat sink that Enermax thoughtfully glued it to. Out of the factory, these things take about two minutes and rev up to full speed and stay that way because of the positioning of the thermistor.

Have fun!

 

[MoFunk]

My enermax adjustable PSU is quieter than any PSU I have ever had! Well after I put a panaflo L1A fan in to replace the stock 80. It is now truly whiper quiet! This PSU is high quality, it's just a slight fabrication on the name. Stick another fan in there and you will be suprised and happy! I also tried it without the 92 and there was some sound difference but not a ton, but my CPU temps went up. So I put it back in. Just for kicks I may replace the 92 with a panaflo I have laying around

 

[Lord Evermore]

Removing the 92mm fan made no difference in my CPU/case temps. The 92mm is positioned right above the CPU. Putting an 80mm fan behind it makes a huge difference, so all I can assume is that the 92mm fan really isn't a big help for some reason (despite hot air rising and it being above the CPU).

Given that my own PSU fan was only running at 40% of its rated speed, and only 3000RPM, I don't think moving a thermistor would have made much difference anyway. It shouldn't be that loud at that speed, period.

 

[MoFunk]

I have an Alpha HS, so that fan sucks away from the HS. That 92 helps take that hot air out through the PSU. That is why my temps rose. Without the fan there a pocket of hot air forms around the HS and just goes through it again. Kinda sucks.

 

[Stallion]

Well I would bet that if two are loud then mine is going to scream. I bought a 470W 3 fan unit fronn Directron. I have yet to get the PC together so I have no idea how loud it is.. It has a speed control on it. doubt it helps much.

 

[Lord Evermore]

MoFunk: I have an Alpha PAL6035, sucking air from the heatsink. The 92mm fan made no difference, and really I don't see why the sucking would create a "pocket" of air anymore than a fan blowing on the heatsink would. Given the noise level of the fan in the first place, I'd have replaced it eventually anyway with a quieter 92mm, but I'll probably just mount a quiet 80mm behind the CPU if I need to control heat more this summer.

 

[ShinSa]

Originally posted by: Phunktion

The moral of the story:

A PSU with 2 fans will make MORE noise than a PSU with 1 fan.

OK, so I had to rant and rave a little.

Well said and I totally agree with you on that..

I had just never got around to devoting a post to my rant because of all the Enermax zealots there are out there :frown: Don't want to piss any of you deluded people off However those manually adjustable dual fan Enermax's can be set so very quiet so that's about the only one worth looking at but Enermax's have no warranty so I'd suggest everyone avoid them till they get their act together..

I had a supposedly silent 420W Dual Fan PSU which was loud as hell.. later I modded it but it was still fairly loud so I swapped the damn thing for my trusty single fan 300W Sparkle PSU w/ L1A mod.. so much quieter.. all this high wattage madness is also getting to me as the majority of people with 90,000 Watts barely even come close to using 350W even with the highest XP and GF4 onboard... it's rare I see anyone needing above that unless they have a RAID array or something or if they run dualies then perhaps it truly would be necessary..

Enermax has 2 year warranty.

Here is the RMA page link.


RMA

 

[mastabog]

I will post a separate thread about this but since here are many guys with enermaxs ...

I have a 350W Enermax with 2fans, and manual speed control. I recently cahnaged a lot of hardware and now i have an XP 1800+ (not yet o/c), 2x7200 HHDs (2 platters each), agp card, net card, sound card and thats about it ...

The thing is THE ENERMAX IS MAKING A SQUAKY SOUND that's almost like the sound a TV makes, but in this case its at the barrier where you can hear it. It drives me nuts. It only happened after i upgraded to this XP 1800+ (before i had an AMD 700MHz). It sounds like an 15000-16000Hz beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep ....

Another thing i noticed is that when the CPU load increases the sound gets even louder ...

Did any1 else experienced this ??

I will change the PSU anyways but i want to make sure i wont get the same effect again with the new PSU

Cheers,
BoG