Best silent PSU

Raider

Raider

Raider

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Leamington Spa / Oxford
Well it looks like my PSU is indeed dead..

I'm looking for a new one that is as quiet as possible, while also being practicle in terms of cables. My old Tagan PSU had cables everywhere clogging things up. Would a modular PSU be the way to go?

I currently need to plug in:
3 x SATA drives
1 x floppy
1 x DVD drive
3 x case fans (regular 4-pin molex)

So I don't need a huge number of internal cables. So which PSU has the best cabling options & is fairly silent? Ta :)
 
Seasonic are the quietest around but sadly they aren't modular.
There will be a modular version called M12 released later this year.

I've always been told that tagan are the next best thing to seasonic for silence. Was yours a recent model?
 
Joe42 said:
Seasonic are the quietest around but sadly they aren't modular.
There will be a modular version called M12 released later this year.
Click to expand...
How long till these come out I want one.
 
Cant hear my Enermx Liberty over anything else in my system, they have 1 120mm fan, which i never hear. They run stable, have modular cables and don't cost quite as much as some of the other brands.

I've had a 400W Liberty running an x800gto 512mb system, and also had it run my x1800xt.

Personally i'd say the 400W is the minimum to go for since u have quite a few drives to connect up. I have the 500W version, and its brill.

If Seasonic were modular i would have got one, but after having this Enermax one, i can't say its likely anyone will convince to be switch from Modular now.

Tidy, stable, easy to use, looks good, and doesnt make any/much noise from what i can tell.
 
Can't really say what rating psu he requires until i know what the graphics and cpu are. A couple of drives won't draw much power at all.

I'm afraid while the Enermax may sound silent to you from what i've heard its not up to spcr standards.
SPCR said:
The noise level of the Liberty at lower loads was modest. At 21 dBA@1m, it should be quiet enough for the majority of users. The fan began to ramp up once the internal temperature hit 32°C, or 150W load in our test setup, and it became fairly noisy by the time the output was raised to 200W. This kind of behavior is still above average.

Although low in volume, the quality of the fan noise at low speeds was fairly rough. I would characterize it as a low growl. As the fan increased in speed, the growl got louder and gradually turned into a low hum. Even at higher speeds, the predominant noise was low frequency.

In a medium powered system, the Liberty may well be able to do its job without ever needing to increase the fan speed. A quiet system could be built around it. But if noise is the primary concern, there are better choices. To use the Liberty for a very quiet system, a fan swap is probably necessary.
Click to expand...
 
You said the system has 3 case fans, unless he has brand name quiet case fans, i'm about 95% certain you'll hear more from them case fans then the PSU.

My rig has smart fans, and i can never hear it over those.

If thats too noisey for you, then you should look at something else, but like i said, chances are the case fans are going to be louder then the PSU.
 
Yes, but he asked for quietest and thats Seasonic, and he's replacing a Tagan and depending on the model those are usually pretty quiet so i'm guessing he has high standards and a quiet pc. Clearly theres no point paying a premium for a Seasonic if you have noisy components...
 
Yes i am aware, just wanted to point out that the Enermax will seem silent if you have something else in the system that isnt made to be quiet.
 
Have to agree regarding PSU "noise" those three hard drives, and videocard (didn't say what) will make more noise than the Liberty even at 1000rpm. So I wouldn't dismiss the Liberty just because the Seasonics are silent. No point going anal on one relatively quiet component when others in the system are much noisier, unless you replace the noisest item as well. So unless you're building a HTPC makes no point, as speakers even on low will drown out a soft purr from the PSU as well.
 
I have been gradually silencing my PC for a while now, and the 3 case fans are quiet fans (and 7 volted). I have a Zalman GPU cooler, 120mm quiet fan on the cpu, and only use Samsung spinpoints. So everything is pretty quiet at the moment.

Theoretically the only time I need silence is overnight, but in warm weather my case does get quite warm (around 43C case temps) even when the PC is fairly idle. I think this is because of my quiet case fans.

So the PSU doesn't have to be totally silent, but I'd rather have a fairly quiet + modular PSU than a totally silent but non-modular PSU. :)
 
The Enermax Liberty 500W is looking like a good option atm, although I need to check that I'll be able to use the modular aspect of it to its full potential.

At the top of the case (5 1/4 inch slots) I have the DVD drive + 1 SATA drive
Then around 20cm down from this I have the floppy drive, and 10cm down from that the other 2 SATA drives. I also have one fan connector near the top of the case, and the other 2 are connected near the bottom.

So to summarise I need to connect:
Top of the Case: 2x4-pin Molex, 1xSATA
Mid: 1 x 3-pin floppy, PCI-E graphics connector
Bottom: 2x4-pin Molex, 2xSATA

So can that combination be done using only 3 of the modular cables.. :p
I have a horrible feeling that due to the separation of the drives I'll end up using all of them, thus defeating the point of the modular design :(
 
Last edited:
Yeah the cables for the molex come as.....

------[molex]-------[sata]--------[molex]-------[sata]------

So the way you have your drives laid out, i think you'll proberly get away with 3 cables.

liberty_cables.jpg


The cable with the floppy is the same as the cable in the center of the pic but has a floppy on the end of it.

Like so.....

------[molex]-------[sata]--------[molex]-------[sata]------[floppy]------

HTH
 
I've always thought a modular psu to be a little pointless as i never have any spare cables, especially molex.
Do you modular psu owners find you have plenty of cables that you don't need?
 
Joe42 said:
I've always thought a modular psu to be a little pointless as i never have any spare cables, especially molex.
Do you modular psu owners find you have plenty of cables that you don't need?
Click to expand...


I have some unused modular cables from my Liberty.
One PCI-E GFX power connector, and two molex/SATA power connectors
Talking of which I have a total of seven removable cables on my Liberty, is that right?

Two PCI-E graphics power cables,
Five drive power cables.
:confused:

Split between modular v fixed. If your case is big enough modular is not required, but if it's cramped modular will help. However if it's so cramped depth wise that modular connectors will hit optical drive go for fixed. Modular helps if cabling is wrapped up and you need to add another, saves untidying the "pile o cables" that's been pushed to one side.
 
This is why i don't understand modular psu's. I use every connector on my psu.
If your not using every connector then the psu is probably too powerfull for your needs.
I would guess most people use all but one or two cables.
Currently the only cables i'm not using on my Seasonic S12-500 are the server power connector and the 2nd pci-e power connector.
 
Well ordered an Enermax Liberty 500W last night, should be here tomorrow!
£75 isn't too bad for one stupid mistake :p

Who knows.. might make my PC that little bit quieter :D
 
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