BeQuiet! 1200W PSU aint quiet...

DeeJayCee said:
i have one of these and have been running it in.

it exhibited a very loud electrical buzz that was clearly audible over other noise in my living room even when a couple of metres away from the computer. however, that has now died down a bit but replaced with unnaceptable levels of noise from the fan.

the fan seems to spin up far too fast, even though my power meter shows the computer draws max 900w at load and about 300w at idle.

bequiet recommend making sure airflow is good to the fan (obviously), which isnt the case for my lian li case, where the psu is at the top. however, to test this, i took the side of my case of and built a temporary shroud around the psu fan to allow cold air in from a breez ecoming from my window, aswell as bypassing all the hot air from my computers components.

i ran it like this for a few days and stuill noisy as hell!!!

now, the spec is for "20dB to 30dB" running from 10% load to 100% load. these are obviously completely meaningless as they are not stated as sound power or pressure levels. one would assume they are sound presure levels at 1m distance. however, it could be these are sound presure levels at 1m once the psu is placed inside a case. who knows. being an acoustic consultant, the specs of pc parts really winds me up as they have no fkin clue how to quote the dB ratings!!! anyway..

i havet measured it yet, but i can quite confidently state that the noise levels at idle and load are considerably higher than this, maybe even by 10dB. and thats with the psu in my case, which is under my desk and listening to the sound at head height seated at my desk. in case noise levels are a LOT higher.

does anyone else have this? the review on ocuk website the person reckons nthey can barely hear this thing with their ear up to it!!!!

my pc is watercooled with huge radiators and very quiet fans and this psu is by FAR the loudest component. i bought this on the advice that it was very quiet.

so, do i send this thing back or not?

cheers
Click to expand...
Send it back, head over to SPCR and look at their recommended PSU's. :)
 
DeeJayCee said:
Thanks all for the feedback. PSU now RMA'd back to OCUK.

SPCR rawks ;) problem is they don't have data for anything over 850w. Anand's did a review recently of high power units. The Antec came out well, though the OCZ is much more for me... It's only 1kw though when I probably need 1.2kw (or would certainly prefer 1.2!)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3992/1000w1200w-highend-psuroundup
Click to expand...

It may be worth measuring how much power your PC uses while you have your 1KW+ monster PSU. I'd be surprised if it uses more than 750W.

It does seem like anything over 850W tends to be noisy, as they are intended for high performance regardless of noise...

Also nice sound measurements, that peak at 800 Hz is probably a fan, but it must be a harmonic as I doubt you have a fan doing 48,000rpm! :D

Another option if you really want a quiet machine is to use 2 lower power PSU's in the same machine, this can be a pain but may be worth considering..
 
20 odd dB at load is fine by me, even high 20s.

That 800 Hz peak (and the entire red line) is owing to the fan in the psu. All other fans run at a constant speed so are represented more so by the yellow line. :)
 
Have heard back that it's been sent back to Germany for repair/replace, so good news!

I'm still worried about the specifications though, so have sent BeQuiet! The following email

Can you provide me with your acoustic test certificates to verify the noise levels you quote for the Dark Power Pro P8 1200W please.

My concern is that your specification for noise is currently meaningless. You don't state if the dB ratings are sound pressure levels, which I presume they are. If they are indeed sound pressure levels, then the values are meaningless without stating at what distance the noise was measured and under what conditions.

Kind regards

I will post back here with my own measurements when I get it back.
 
DeeJayCee said:
My concern is that your specification for noise is currently meaningless. You don't state if the dB ratings are sound pressure levels, which I presume they are. If they are indeed sound pressure levels, then the values are meaningless without stating at what distance the noise was measured and under what conditions.
Click to expand...
Agreed, many manufacturer's give dB ratings and more detailed specs leave a lot to be desired. I know the norm when measuring speakers it to measure at 1 metre, but as for other stuff, I have no idea!

Still, I'd like to think that a company called BeQuiet! actually bother with decent measurements of SPLs, so I'd also be interested in seeing your new measurements. :)
 
We are unfortunately at the mercy of manufacturers. I doubt whether most bits of kit we buy have even sniffed an anechoic chamber.

No reply yet....
 
Just sent this email to [email protected]

Hi,

I am chasing up two issues I have contacted you about previously:

1. I currently have the above power supply on RMA with yourselves awaiting repair or replacement via the UK distributor OverClockers UK (OCUK). Have you a time frame when this will be ready please as it's been weeks now and I haven't heard anything.*

2. I previously contacted you (via your website) requesting test certificates to demonstrate the noise specifications for the above power supply. I am yet to receive a response.*

Would you please answer both of these queries please as I am becoming increasingly anxious.*

Kind regards

---------------

My advice would be to steer clear of BeQuiet. Have contacted them about 4 times over the last 6 months and received one reply that was very unhelpful.
 
Only time my BeQuiet makes any noise is when it runs from battery power, that causes a buzzing sound.
That may be normal for any PSU running from UPS though.
 
i have the be quiet 1200w and its quiet even with me benching sli 480's and 2600k @ 5.3ghz so i think you may have a problem
the loudest thing in my rig is my pumps
the question is if its loud enough to be seen as a fault
 
Last edited:
Cupra said:
i have the be quiet 1200w and its quiet even with me benching sli 480's and 2600k @ 5.3ghz so i think you may have a problem
the loudest thing in my rig is my pumps
the question is if its loud enough to be seen as a fault
Click to expand...

Sweet OC btw. Presumably your 480s are under water aye?

I will be happy to be proved wrong on the noise front. But 6 months waiting for BeQuiet to get their support act together doesn't give me much confidence in them :)
 
BeQuiet confirmed today that they have no noise test certificates available, confirming my suspicion that the noise graphs they provide are infact just made up.

PSU due back in a week so will take my own readings and post results here.
 
Still no sign of the unit from BeQuiet! They have had it for over a month now....

OCUK have been stars and are sending a new one from their own stock instead, you guys rock!!

Will run same noise tests on this new unit and hopefully it will be within the (made up) noise specification :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom