Review of Silent 400w Power Supply

SnowPunk98 writes "OCModShop has done a review on a SilenX 400w 14 dBA PSU "The power supply doesn't boast any flashy designs or cool colors however that is not the purpose of this power supply. Silence is what the main goal of the unit is and there are tons of features to help achieve that.""

Comments

Advertising?

[Kent Recal]

There are dozens of "silent" PSUs around. Just bought myself one a couple weeks ago... What exactly makes this review of one a headline?

Other sources of noise

[Some guy named Chris]

Seems to me the power supply is but one aspect of the war on noise.

You've got hard drives spinning and cpus cooling.

Still, a step in the right direction.

So what?

[metalhed77]

I just bought a ThermalTake Pure Power with 420 watts and its impossible to hear (probably because I use nowhere near 420 watts so the fans never throttle up). These have been around for ages.

Sweet...

[Mysticalfruit]

Though I wonder if any of us would really notice. Of all the fans in my machine (7), the power supply is the least noisy of them all.

I'd rather they spend their time researching quieter case and CPU fans.

Think of the children

[b00m3rang]

The power supply does not come boxed, rather it comes in a plastic bag with the power cord supplied.[...snip] The power supply was protected well during shipping with packing material and came undamaged. I think that SilenX should really look into getting a box for their power supply, for many different reasons.

So, the unit showed up well packaged, undamaged, and in a bag instead of a box. What's the problem? Not enough useless packaging to end up in landfills? Yeah, that'll make your computer perform better. It'll help keep the price down, too.

It's this very attitude that'll kill us all.

Apple anyone?

[niko9]

Disclaimer: I have never and currently do not own a mac.

I happen to notice that the G5 (when I saw it at Best Buy) had the power supply at the bottom of the case spread along the length. I bet you it uses the bottom of the aluminum case as some sort of heatsing, obviating the need for one more case fan.

In my opinion, the ATX power supply should go out the window. There's no reason to be cramming 500 watt power supplies in such a cramped box.

Several ideas:

Borrow from Apple, make the power supply longger and use the case as a heatsink. Spread the heat out.

Female molex connector jacks. Right now you have a whole bunch of wires in the anticipation that everyone has a RAID array, 2 cdroms, and video card that needs auxially power. The unused connectors have to be rubberbanded and bunched somewhere.

Gives us jacks on the PS unit so that you ony have the minimum amount of wires needed in a case.

By the way, Antec is soone releasing a tottaly silent psu. No fans whatsoever, just big aluminum heatsinks on all sides, rated at 350 watts for now. The Inquirer had a photo from CES.

--

Re:Apple anyone?

[WoodstockJeff]

In my opinion, the ATX power supply should go out the window. There's no reason to be cramming 500 watt power supplies in such a cramped box.

When you're designing a proprietary computer, you can do whatever you damn well please with the power supply. In the early days, Dell and Gateway did exactly that for their desktops... and EVERYONE does for their laptops.

The problem comes when they fail - and they will! - and you're up against a deadline. On more than one occasion I've had to pull hard drives out of such machines and plug them into something else to retrieve data that was needed NOW, and the proprietary replacement wouldn't arrive for a few days...

We are "stuck" with the AT power supply form factor because you can always run out and buy a replacement when it burns up, without waiting for the manufacturer (assuming they're still in business) to get back from a surfing break to take your order.

Re:You know...

[sadomikeyism]

NOW how am I going to be able to tell whether my PC is in sleep mode, had a power failure, or is just in a pre-blue screen of death mode, and hasn't got even the nads to display a blue screen?

I want lots of pretty LEDs, like you used to see on 50's B SF movie computers...

"Danger, Will Robinson..."

Or CD/DVD drives

[zoney_ie]

Gnarg - why are optical drives louder than ever now! It would be nice to have a review of the quietest DVD drives! MUCH more annoying than PSU noise. Especially the sporadic nature of it.

What a lame article

[stratjakt]

does even Toms Hardware waste time reviewing power supplies?

Who cares. Its a power supply with some "quiet" fans in it. Stick a quiet fan in any power supply for 5 bucks and you have the same product.

Now post some articles on ram coolers or glowing mouse pads.

Que?

[nihkee]

What, is this Tom's Hardware or something?

Powersupply

[Anonymous Coward]

I have one of these powersupplies they are pretty quitet but also don't really move a lot of air and can get very hot. Its not an ideal power supply if you don't have good airflow through your cases. there are total silent powersupplies coming out on the market now, that are either passive or have one fan that turns on as needed, those might be a better deal.

Another solution

[Jon Abbott]

Rather than use these new fangled pseudo-silent power supplies, we could all revert to systems that don't require fans on the CPU and power supply. I still have a Pentium Pro 180 MHz system that runs fanless and doesn't overheat. The G4 Cube, IIRC, was also entirely sans fans by design. I remember old 286 and some 386 CPUs would run cool to the touch. Surely, there is a better way! :^)

Re:Silent PCs

[0x0d0a]

I personally find it dificult to work with someone whispering 1 meter away.

Agreed, and I like quiet PCs a lot as well -- but keep in mind that it's a lot easier to learn to filter out white noise than whispering.

I *do* have to say that people that get a fancy sound system and then have a regular PC have got to be crazy -- nobody can hear "external vs internal DAC" differences as more significant than the fans in the PC.

Re:Outstanding!!

[Big Nothing]

Offtopic but still...

No, you're not alone. As a matter of fact, I can usually hear if a TV set is turned on in another room, even if the door is shut, or even on another floor (yes, the TV is muted) due to the high-frequency tone it emits.

The noise is generated in all CRT's; TV set, computer monitor, CRT projector, osilloscope, etc and is called the "line frequency". The frequency of the tone is 15.734 kHz, wich is well within the human hearing range.

However, modern equipment generate a lot less - if any - of this noise. The generated sound really is a biproduct of the frequency used to generate the line scan of the electron sweep. I am unable to hear any line noise from my brand new computer monitor but I can hear some (but not a lot) from my old TV set. Some really old TV sets and PC monitors make so much noise that I am unable to stay in the same room as the monitor for any period of time without developing a brain tumor.

Also, many (most?) people over a certain age does in fact NOT hear this sound, due to reduced hearing. Although reduced hearing is in no way something to crave, I wouldnt mind being unable to hear this tone. It can be terribly annoying and distracting and can even cause headache. In fact, many people who have trouble with headaches after a day of office work should try upgrading their monitors. Even if they are unable to conciously HEAR the sound, the ear is still recieving the noise (and the noise melting their brains - or something).

There is, AFAIK, no relationship between ADHD or ADD and being able to hear the line noise. Whether or not you ARE able to hear it would solely depend on your hearing. Bare in mind that you can have certain part of the frequency range reduced or "enhanced" due to various factors. For example, frequent visit to discos and clubs, where loud music is played, is a sure-fire way to remove that line noise from your hearing (although the tinnitus you'll develop can be even more annoying).