Silent PSU and CPU cooler

Big Chris

Big Chris

Big Chris

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Pondering a new rig as mine has just had its 3rd birthday, and I want the new one to be as quiet as possible as my current one sounds like a plane taking off.

CPU is going to be an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ which I won't be overclocking.

Which CPU cooler and PSU would you guys recommend? I like the look of the first two Zalman ones here for example, but do they require seperate heatsinks? If so, which is the best silent/nearly silent all in one jobbie?

Same question for PSU, don't mind the cost either.

Cheers guys :)
 
I have the HSF similar to the second one except its the slower smaller fan design, its good. Performance (50% overclock :) ) and quiet when you turn the speed down to minimum.

Weighs a ton though, you have to remove the mobo to fit and its advised to detach the HSF if moving the PC as it might crack it!
 
So it's a heatsink/fan in one, no need for extra bits? Do you really have to detatch it if moving the PC though?! Yowser... Any other silent CPU coolers that you guys would suggest in light of this?

Any thoughts on the PSU too? I've been looking at the 500w/600ms Seasonic ones but I know bugger all about PSUs really.
 
Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-025-EN)

Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower (Socket 939/754/478/775) CPU Cooler (HS-015-ZA)

IMO cant go wrong with those...
 
I think the Zalman fan is the way to go with regards to being silent, and I haven't heard a bad word about them yet. Do you really have to be that careful with the weight of it though?

As for the PSU, the Enermax looks pretty decent but doesn't mention anything about noise levels, and I want this machine to be as quiet as possible.

With that in mind, what would you guys get if you were going for total (or near enough) silence?
 
You can risk moving it, its just that it exceeds the allowed weight limit for a heatsink so they say to remove it. Its silent enough because you would have to strain to hear it, my typing is louder and the harddisk, etc

Total silent is passive cooling I guess which you cant overclock on, that ninja sycthe thing can be passive. Never tried the Zalman with the fan unplugged but maybe it would be ok at stock speeds :/
 
Zalman it is then for the CPU cooler. Any significant difference between the Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower and the Zalman FS-C77 Fatal1ty? And do they both suffer from being a little weighty?

As for the PSU, will I get anything better than the Seasonic S12 600w Silent? The Tagan ones look pretty decent, but again I know nothing about such things so could do with some pointers.
 
Model CNPS9500-LED
CPU Compatibility Socket 478, LGA775, 754, 939 and 940
CPU supported clock speeds All speeds
Heatsink dimensions, mm 85(L) x 112(W) x 125(H)
Materials Pure copper
Weight 498g
Fan dimensions 92 x 92 x 25 mm
Rotational speed 1350 - 2600 rpm *
Acoustic noise level 18.0 - 27.50 dBA *
Fan Speed Controller Fan Mate 2
Click to expand...

Zalman FS-C77 Fatal1ty
- Dimensions : 136(L) x 136(W) x 67(H)mm
- Weight : 918g (Fan included)
- Base Material : Pure Copper
- Dissipation Area : 3,268 cm2
- Bearing Type : 2 Ball-Bearing Sets
- Speed : 2,400rpm ¡¾ 10%
- Thermal Resistance : 0.17¡ÆC/W
- Noise Level : 42.5dB ¡¾ 10%
Click to expand...

Sounds quite noisy, not sure how that scales down or not
 
The Fatality coolers tend to be noisier than their mainstream coolers

I've got the Aksas EVO120 on mine and it's very quiet and not too heavy. This is with the fan speed on minimum (rated at about 18dB IIRC). With the fan speed on full it's very noisy though

Seasonic make great silent PSUs. Make sure that you get a motherboard with a passively cooled chipset as the chipset fans are very noisy

I've got the Zalman VF700Cu cooler on my graphics card and it's very quiet on 5V (noisy on 12V though)
 
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