Recommend a really quiet power supply

[Ragnorak]

I'd like some recommendations on a really quiet power supply around 700W.

I currently have an OCZ GameXStream 1010 (allegedly) Silent SLI PSU. It's a bit of overkill power wise and it's far from quiet. It is reasonably quiet when you first power up but after about 30mins the fan gets quite noisey and it also emits quite a high pitched hum which becomes extremely irritating very quickly.

I have gone to the expense of going water cooled in order to have a quiet pc and now the power supply is by far the noiseiest piece of kit in my pc. At this stage I feel like taking a sledge hammer to the PSU.

So has anyone got any recommendations? I was considering the:

Seasonic M12 Modular 700W Silent
Zalman ZM750-HP Heatpipe Cooled 750W
Xilence SPS-XP800 Power 800W PSU with 135mm fan

Does anyone have any experience of any of those PSUs? I can put up with a bit of fan noise rather that the high pitched hum.

[mpilchfamily]

What are your system specs? If you can go with a lower powered PSU then you can reduce the amount of noise that would come from the PSU. Higher power PSUs tend to get hotter so the fan stays on at a higher RPM causing more noise.

Now Seasonic makes some good quiet units. I would recommend taking a look at what Corsair has to offer. Many of Corsairs PSUs are manufactured by seasonic and all of there units are known to be quiet.

[Ragnorak]

My system spec is:

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 Energy Efficient Processor
OCZ 4GB PC2 6400C5 800MHZ RAM
Asus P5K-E Wifi Intel P35 DDR2 Motherboard
Seagate Baracuda 7200 80GB Sata Hard Drive
Seagate Baracuda 7200 400GB Sata Hard Drive
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC2 768MB GDDR3 Graphics Card
DVD Writer
DVD ROM
Floppy Drive
Danger Den D5 Pump

[mpilchfamily]

You don't really need a 700W PSU for that system. Even if you OC the quad you would be fine with a nice 500W to 550W PSU. If you wanted a PSU with modular cables then you could get the Corsair HX520. If cabling isn't a big deal then the VX550 will suit your needs as well.

[LuckyNV]

Corsair HX620W or TX650/750 for non-modular

[Ragnorak]

I just want to be a bit future proof for power usage. Also I might go SLI in the near future.

[Mickey Padge]

Corsair HX620W or TX650/750 for non-modular

Ditto :cool:

I have the HX620, it is really quiet, with great fan sensor control.

[newbie628]

Brand new PSU's from Enermax. Reviews aren't out yet, but "supposedly" they are really quiet. The "SpeedGuard" makes the fan to spin at only 450rpm when the PSU runs at or under 50% load. It also has 4 PCI-E connectors for the 625W model.

The modular cable version is called MODU82+ (http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_55) and non-modular ones are PRO82+ (http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_56).

[Brian MP5T]

ENERMAX LIBRTY 500w

DEAD SILENT!

[jonnyGURU]

Brand new PSU's from Enermax. Reviews aren't out yet, but "supposedly" they are really quiet. The "SpeedGuard" makes the fan to spin at only 450rpm when the PSU runs at or under 50% load. It also has 4 PCI-E connectors for the 625W model.

The modular cable version is called MODU82+ (http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_55) and non-modular ones are PRO82+ (http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_56).

I'm suspect of anyone that suggests a product that isn't even on the market yet, no reviews, etc.

If you work for Enermax, come on out and say so. We don't bite.

[Ragnorak]

Ditto :cool:

I have the HX620, it is really quiet, with great fan sensor control.

What about the Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU? It's only slightly more expensive than the HX620 and it gives an extra 30Watts.

[cloned]

750w cosair, the only way i actually know the fan is moving is that i can see it spinning

[Ragnorak]

It seems that most of you think the Corsairs are a pretty quiet power supply. Fan noise aside is there any humming noise from the coil? It's the high pitched humming noise that really starts to bug me after a while rather than the fan noise.

[mpilchfamily]

You'll hear the fan before you hear that. Good quality PSUs like Corsair's do a good job of securring there components so you don't get much of that kind of electrical noise.

[Ragnorak]

I think I will go for one of the Corsairs then. It's just a matter of making up my mind as to what wattage to go for.

[LuckyNV]

It seems that most of you think the Corsairs are a pretty quiet power supply. Fan noise aside is there any humming noise from the coil? It's the high pitched humming noise that really starts to bug me after a while rather than the fan noise.

never heard any coil noise or similar electrical noise from my Corsair PSU, most I've loaded it is an X1900XTX/8800GT gaming with Q6600 3.2GHz folding though.

[Der_KHAN]

the seasonic 700w is dead silent. i've tested it and even under high load its inaudible.

it's also more silent then the corsair

[Ragnorak]

Thanks for the advise guys. I have just ordered the Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU. So hopefully I will find it as quiet as you say. I will post again once I have it fitted and let you know what I think.

[jcool]

Ok.. I have several HX520, 620 as well as two TX750 with me. I also use a Liberty 500 in my main system and I did get my hands on a Seasonic M12-700 once, so I might be able to help ;)

The quietest of the lot is definitely the Corsair HX. I'd recommend going with the HX620, it will be enough even if you add another GTX.
The TX uses a 140mm Yate Loon fan - which I thought is great - but in fact it sucks big time when it comes to quiet operation. The reason for that is simple, it's way too high rated to be silent. I removed both fans, its the D14-BH which means 14cm, ball bearing and >2000 rpm at 12V (you can look it up on YL website). These are way too loud imo even at 4V. After I tricked the damned fan controller to believe the noisy fan was still there by using a 5W 57ohm resistor in parallel, I was able to put some D14-SL sleeve-bearing 1000rpm loonies in there. NOW they're quiet. :D

As for the Liberty, it's a good PSU but the stock fan sucks also. I've replaced it with a S-Flex 1200 running at 400-800rpm depending on load and its hardly audible. However, efficiency of the Corsair PSUs is better (the HX is based on Seasonic S12 btw)

The Seasonic M12 is quiet at fist, but as soon as that tiny little fan turns on it never stops and makes very annoying sounds. Other than that, it's a good PSU.

Bottom line is, if you want a quiet PSU without modding, go for the HX620.
You can trust me, as I have spent a lot of time and effort looking for the quietest stock PSU, and this is it.
However, there are quite a few Corsair out there with a bad fan. So if yours makes abnormal noise like cluttering and such, you need to rma it. Happened to me three times by now (have bought & sold about 20 of these units so go figure..)

cheers

PS: I don't know about the new Enermax line, but be careful if you plan on using DFI mobos... they just hate Enermax PSUs :/

Edit: Just saw that I could have saved the posting... since you already ordered lol :)

[Ragnorak]

Thanks for the info anyway JCOOL. Hopefully I've made the right choice. I'll have to wait and see just how quiet it turns out to be.

[Der_KHAN]

The Seasonic M12 is quiet at fist, but as soon as that tiny little fan turns on it never stops and makes very annoying sounds.what? mine was always dead silent. i would assume you had a broken one, like the corsairs with a bad fan.

what components were all powered by the psu?

[JaYp146]

Corsair's HX520 and VX450 are excellent buys for the money, and are near the top of Silent PC Review's Recommended List.

Probably not the best choices for SLI, but they're some of the quietest PSUs you'll find. Just don't try any serious SLI ;).

[jcool]

what? mine was always dead silent. i would assume you had a broken one, like the corsairs with a bad fan.

what components were all powered by the psu?

No it wasn't broken... it's just an error in the psu, as soon as that small fan ramps up it never shuts down again. This behaviour was also observed by silentpcreview.com when they tested the M12. I guess the definition of "silent" is just too subjective to compare. What most people call silent strikes me as loud.

[Der_KHAN]

same here. i'm very sensitive when it comes to noisy components. when testing a psu i unplug all fans for a couple of seconds. for some psus it's necessary to unplug the hdds and pump as well.

[LuckyNV]

No it wasn't broken... it's just an error in the psu, as soon as that small fan ramps up it never shuts down again. This behaviour was also observed by silentpcreview.com when they tested the M12. I guess the definition of "silent" is just too subjective to compare. What most people call silent strikes me as loud.

indeed, I find a Scythe S-Flex F on full speed actually annoyingly loud if I don't have my headset on, but for some rigs that fan would be the quietest there :D

[Mickey Padge]

Thanks for the advise guys. I have just ordered the Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU. So hopefully I will find it as quiet as you say. I will post again once I have it fitted and let you know what I think.

Good choice, I really doubt that you will be disappointed with it :)

I could not comment on the other Corsair PSU you mentoned, as I have no first hand experience with it. Moot point now anyway :p:

[Ragnorak]

I have just received delivery of the power supply so I will get it fitted either tonight or tomorrow. I will let you all know what I think of it once I give it a thorough test i.e. playing COD4 for a few hours.

[Ragnorak]

So far so good. I have just powered up my PC with the new power supply fitted and I notice a lot of difference compared to the OCZ power supply.

The Corsair is a lot quieter. I will give it a thorough work out later but so far Im very impressed. I can hear a very slight electronic buzz but only if I hold my ear very close to the back of the PSU. So it looks like I finally have a quiet PC.

Thanks for the advice guys.

[KoHaN69]

I'm in the same position as Ragnorak was - I have a 520W OCZ Powerstream, which is the loudest component in my PC

So it's either the seasonic 700w or Corsair's HX520

What other options are out there?
Any options with 2 80mm fans instead of the "bottom" 120mm? (for P180 case)

[MMhardKy]

Would the HX620 handle a quad @3GHz, 2x 8800GTX, 780i, 2 HDDs and 1xDVD and a water cooling pump?

[jcool]

Easily, that setup would draw ~450W peak :)

[#su]

So far so good. I have just powered up my PC with the new power supply fitted and I notice a lot of difference compared to the OCZ power supply.

The Corsair is a lot quieter. I will give it a thorough work out later but so far Im very impressed. I can hear a very slight electronic buzz but only if I hold my ear very close to the back of the PSU. So it looks like I finally have a quiet PC.

Thanks for the advice guys.

:clap:

I'm in the same position as Ragnorak was - I have a 520W OCZ Powerstream, which is the loudest component in my PC

So it's either the seasonic 700w or Corsair's HX520

What other options are out there?
Any options with 2 80mm fans instead of the "bottom" 120mm? (for P180 case)

i have a HX520 in a p180, works very well, quiet, and stays cool :up: