What is Quietest Power Supply ?

[TurboTurf]

I have Enermax EG465P-VE. That's too noisy.. There is Two Fans!

I really hope I can go to sleep with my computer on.

 

[ChefJoe]

have you considered opening up the power supply and putting rheostats on those fans? it'd be a bit out of spec, but nothing terrible. FC is for thermo control model and FCA is for thermo on the 92mm and a rheo for the 80mm (please correct if I'm wrong, I am thinking of trading in a 1 fan ValueLine 300 watt for a 350 FCA Enermax.

 

[dejansen]

I was going to buy an Enermax because I was under the impression they are "Whisper" quiet. Lately, I keep hearing how double the fans cancels out the quiet-ness... My Enlight 7237 stock PSU is really quiet compared to some other PSUs I've heard so I bought another 7237 instead of an Enermax PSU. Same price, I don't need eight IDE cables, and never had any problems even with a picky K7S5A motherboard.

david

 

[Becks2k]

quietness
1. quietpc's 300w
2. zalman 300w
3. antec pp412x 400w

all are near 100$

I have a antec with a panaflo la1 in it, works great, and can't hear it.

 

[Becks2k]

oh yea you can really take any high quality ps and put a quiet fan in it and be happy... open the ps tho is dangerous and all... no warranty .. blah balh

 

[Uclagamer_99]

anyone know where i can get a quietpc psu in the states?

 

[Spike]

have Enermax EG465P-VE. That's too noisy.. There is Two Fans!

It has two fans, one for intake and one for exhaust. There is another version of the enermax 450w, it is called the Enermax EG465P-VE (FC) the FC stands for fan-control. these are the "whisper" line of enermax power supplys. they actually take readings from a little thermomether and adjust the fan speed accordingly (they are also motherboard-controlled) This is the line that is the quiet ones, the others are a little more noisy then the average PSU but you get alot more airflow.

was going to buy an Enermax because I was under the impression they are "Whisper" quiet

They are, read above

You can get the FC versions at most online retailers.

newegg

look down the page at newegg and you will see enermax's with the FC designation.

 

[Spike]

oh, enermax also has ones with a "FMA" or "FCA" designation that apparently means the fans are controlled by you so you can adjust the sound level

 

[getoverclocked]

The quietest power supply is the Enermax FCA with the manual fan control. You can set the fan speed and at the lowest setting, you can't hear it from 3 feet away. However, the FCA model has a pinout that plugs into your MB to supply power. You can unplug and the fans don't turn at ALL. This is absolute silence. It works fine without the fan and doesn't overheat as long as your case isn't that hot inside. However, what I do is I switch the 12V fan input with a 5V but moving the pins on the converter. This way I can still have "some" fan going. Works great. Quieter than quietpc's model.

I know getoverclocked.com sells the new FCA with manual fan control models but you can probably find elsewhere too.

 

[MoFunk]

I have the Enermax EG365P-VE (FCA) and it is very quiet! I turned the fan knob to the lowest setting and I have to really get close and concentrate to hear it. Very nice PSU for me!

 

[rondeemc]

Another voter for the Enermax manually adjustable PS. Also might consider using their series of fans which is also adjustable

 

[MoFunk]

<< Another voter for the Enermax manually adjustable PS. Also might consider using their series of fans which is also adjustable >>



I did just that a while back. All my fans are noy enermax adjustable fase. 2 92mm intake and exhaust and 2 80mm exhaust and on my Alpha. Made a world of difference! My entire sytem is just as cool and much quieter!

 

[Ausone]

I don't think you'd achieve the level of quietness you desire by switching to the FCA version if you find your Enermax noisy. For both of EG465P-VE's fans are thermally controlled already. The only advantage you get by going to the FCA version is the lower fan speed setting for the exhaust fan. I'm not sure how slower the exhaust fan rotates if set to low speed, but I've read that thermal control could defeats the intent of manual setting if the PSU temperature raises too high, which at the same time is the fail-safe mechanism.

There is a possibility, however, that one of your Enermax fans has gone bad or was defective to begin with. I have Enermax EG351P-V, and its intake fan seems to have been defective or gone bad. I replaced it with Panaflo L1A and run it at 7v. It's not satifactory for me yet, although it can be said to be whisper quiet when the ambient temperature is low enough to keep the exhaust fan's RPM less than 1500RPM.

I have been searching for the quietest PSU available and IMHO the quietest PSU you can buy is those sold by noisecontrol.de. They sell PSU's fitted with Papst fans. Their 300W PC-Winner or 350W Enermax with only one thermally controlled Papst 8412NGL (<12dBA) is purported to have the noise level of 14-20dB. These two are quieter than Q-technology's PSU sold by QuietPC, which uses a fan rated at 19.5dBA, hence has the total maximum noise level greater than that, possibly around 25dB or so.

Here is their address.

One problem with noisecontrol.de's PSU is high price. So, if you want to save your money, you could try undervolting fans of your Enermax, in which case, the problem is how much you can undervolt it without making your PSU too hot.

 

[MoFunk]

I have my Enermax with fan control set at just a little above the lowest setting, fan goes about 2000rpm and is very quiet!

 

[optimistic]

I heard Enhance PSUs are quiet.

 

[ModelM]

<< anyone know where i can get a quietpc psu in the states? >>



You can order from QuietPC Canada (http://www.quietpc.ca/). You have to do the order over the phone. Not exactly in the state, but a lot better than the UK!

 

[Ausone]

Let me also note that if you just want the manual adjustment of Enermax's exhaust fan, you just have to buy FMA version. The only difference between FCA and FMA is whether the exhaust fan can be turned off by motherboard or not. FMA version does have a fan speed adjustment switch.

 

[contrapasta]

How can you tell if your PS fans are set too low? (I have the regular whisper quiet, and considering putting in past or panflows) Wait till it overheats and destructs? Do PS's have shut down fail safes that will give me head room to play with??
I've seen several nice websites for modding enermax ps's but lost those links, anyone have them handy??

 

[Ausone]

I'm also looking for an inaudibly quiet PSU, so let me ask those of you who say Enermax FCA is nearly silent about your CPU fan. How quiet is your CPU fan? Is it inaudibly quiet, like 15dBA or less?

I also have a specific question to getoverclocked. He says,


<< It works fine without the fan and doesn't overheat as long as your case isn't that hot inside. However, what I do is I switch the 12V fan input with a 5V but moving the pins on the converter. This way I can still have "some" fan going. Works great. >>


1. Do you mean Enermax can go without the exhaust fan all the time or just during the sleep mode?
2. I wonder if you could elaborate more on "switching the 12V fan input with a 5V but moving the pins on the converter". How do you do that?

TIA

 

[MoFunk]

<< I'm also looking for an inaudibly quiet PSU, so let me ask those of you who say Enermax FCA is nearly silent about your CPU fan. How quiet is your CPU fan? Is it inaudibly quiet, like 15dBA or less? >>



I am using an Alpha PAL8045 with an enermax adjustable fan on it. I have it set to low and the 80mm exhaust fan next to it is also set at low. I have unplugged all my case fans except fot the HSF and PSU and was able to hear my HD over the both ot them combined! it is a very quiet PSU on the lowest setting. But as you increase the speed, you obviously increase the noise.

 

[Ausone]

MoFunk,

Thanks for your reply.

Since you are using an Enermax fan at the lowest setting for CPU HSF, your CPU fan's noise may be 18dB or so. Althoughyour use, according to your Rig page, of IBM 7200rpm drive, which is rather loud compared to Barracuda IV, be it 75GXP or 60GXP, does not let me accurately infer how quiet your CPU fan & PSU combined are, I can guess it to some extent.

Now, since fans of Enermax PSU are thermally controlled at the same time, I wonder if you have experienced any significant increase in fan speeds, hence noise, under the same fan speed setting, due to a temperature increase so far.

 

[MoFunk]

<< MoFunk,

Thanks for your reply.

Since you are using an Enermax fan at the lowest setting for CPU HSF, your CPU fan's noise may be 18dB or so. Althoughyour use, according to your Rig page, of IBM 7200rpm drive, which is rather loud compared to Barracuda IV, be it 75GXP or 60GXP, does not let me accurately infer how quiet your CPU fan & PSU combined are, I can guess it to some extent.

Now, since fans of Enermax PSU are thermally controlled at the same time, I wonder if you have experienced any significant increase in fan speeds, hence noise, under the same fan speed setting, due to a temperature increase so far. >>




Before I put in the PSU I plugged it into a test area I have at work. Had nothing hooked up to it so the only thing that was actually powered on was the PSU. I set the fan to high and it was actually rather loud. Then I slowly moved the knob until I could barely hear the fan, and when I got to a spot i was satisfied with I looked at it and saw that their was still some wat to go. So I put it all the way low and my co workers and I were amazed at the quietness of this PSU. So I kept it on low and put it in my system. When I did that I had everything unplugged but the HSF. I closed the case and powered on. Very quiet I thought. Then I plugged everything back in and for the first time I actually heard the hard drive start up. Before I had this PSU that is all I could hear. I had a sparkle with a panaflo in it. So to be honest, my enermax with an 80mm fan and a 92mm fan is quieter than the sparkle with a low speed 80mm fan. As for the thermal controlled fan, I am unsure which fan is actually controlled by the knob and which is thermally controlled but I have yet to hear the fan automatically speed up. So I can't help you there. I have pretty good cooling in the case so that may keep the thermal control out of the loop.

 

[Ausone]

MoFunk,

Thank you so much for your detailed account. It's really informative about how quiet Enermax really is. BTW, the exhaust fan of Enermax FCA/FMA is both manually and thermally controlled and the intake fan is only themally controlled. Enermax seems to have made quite an improvement with their FCA/FMA version.

 

[MoFunk]

Oh, so it's the 80mm fan and not the 92mm that is controlled manually, ah that makes sense. Thanks for the info.

 

[ChefJoe]

Hehe.. I put in my FCA version and played with it... now I realize how noisy 2 75GXP drives are... not to mention an IBM scsi... performance or noise.... performance or noise.