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Review of Silent 400w Power Supply

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the quiet-in-back dept.

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.""

43 of 333 comments (clear)

  1. My 400w power supply is silent, too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Until I turn it on.

  2. Advertising? by Kent+Recal · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    1. Re:Advertising? by EulerX07 · · Score: 4, Informative

      In this era of stealth advertising, one must be getting a pretty good bonus at the end of the month for getting a product on the slashdot front page.

      (Yes, I'm stealing links from some of my old posts)

    2. Re:Advertising? by Golias · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Yea, but I've never once bought a product based on a /. review.

      Every time a front-page story about the iPod goes up, you get 150 posts about how much the iRiver is a better deal. Every Rio story has just as many posts trashing it in favor of the iPod.

      As far as I can tell, a /. story gets you a 2-12 paragraph blurb followed by 300 posts bashing your product, your company, and anybody who buys your stuff. Not a very good way to advertize at all!

      (I have, on the other hand, bought stuff I've seen on /. banner ads. My "#include " beer glasses from thinkgeek, for example.)

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

    3. Re:Advertising? by Basehart · · Score: 3, Funny

      "My "#include " beer glasses from thinkgeek"

      You, sir, are a true geek.

      Your #include beer glass is almost as cool as my big chipped plastic mug with Apple printed on the side in the most horrible pink color ever seen.

    4. Re:Advertising? by AssClown2520 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I just read the link to the stealth advertising that you gave. I actually don't find this type of advertising objectionable. While it is slightly devious it is better than trying to con me into thinking that all women that drink Miller Lite beer have big boobs...

    5. Re:Advertising? by DarkVader · · Score: 3, Interesting

      But Apple only stopped making the 15" iMac last year...

      And the original Macintosh never had an external power supply either. It used so little power that it was actually energy star compliant - without any sleep function at all.

  3. Outstanding!! by loserbert · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I'll be able to listen to my 5 case fans that sound like an Harrier hovering above my house! That stupid power supply fan was screwing everything up....

    --
    [ Don't reply to this ]
    1. Re:Outstanding!! by ShadowBlasko · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This is going so offtopic, but I have never had a chance to discuss it on slashdot, so here goes anyway.

      You mentioned the monitor whine, did you know that a large percentage of the populus can not hear that? Second question. Do you, by any chance, have ADD or AD/HD?

      Here is why I ask:

      All my life I have been able to hear the whine from television sets, and monitors. Even if I am in another room I can "feel/hear" it when someone turns on (or de-gausses) a monitor. I used to think that everyone else heard it too, and when I realized that they didn't, I quickly stopped talking about it. (didn't wanna be labelled a nutcase or anything)

      Especially bad were the old "dumb terminal" CRT's that were starting to go bad. If there was one near me, it would drive me almost batty. I could hear it *all* the time. When I worked at a call center in the early 90's, I would walk around at night when I was on the late shift until I found the bad CRT and turn it off. Usually I could "triangulate?" the location by walking around the room once first.

      About the same time I was (finally) diagnosed with AD/HD. About 2 years later, when I switched doctors, I was asked about things that distracted me when I was trying to concentrate. I mentioned the monitor/CRT whine, and the doctor was somewhat amused. "I hear that a lot from easily distracted people."

      That got me thinking, so I brought it up at an ADHD group meeting a couple months later. Not suprising to me, almost everyone I asked at the meeting said that they could "hear" the TV's and monitors in other rooms, especially when they are first turned on, even if the volume is all the way down.

      I told my doctor about it at my next appointment, and she dismissed it as coincidence. She did not seem to even believe that such a sense of "electronic or electromagnetic perception" even existed.

      I had her blind test me by going in the waiting room and switching the TV on and off a specific number of times. I was correct on the number each time.

      As far as I know, nothing ever came of it. I just let it go, because it seems to be damned hard to convince someone with a Phd that you might know something that they don't.

      Personally I think that, if my theory is correct, (That this "perception" of Electromagnetic interference, or maybe it is just a "sound", is so common in people with ADD or AD/HD, That the increasing numbers of devices which generate those sounds could correlate with the increasing numbers of ADD and AD/HD cases) it could really be interesting to say the least.

      Needless to say I have neither the expertise nor the resources to study this.

      I apologize to the slashdot readers for taking up so much space, and their time, in my ramblings, I just needed to finally get that out of my system and tell someone when the opportunity came up.

      And hey, if I get famous, you heard it here first.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order- Ed Howdershelt Via Tass
    2. Re:Outstanding!! by Big+Nothing · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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).

      --
      SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
    3. Re:Outstanding!! by Slowleggs · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "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."

      True, an ADD / ADHD's ears are just as normal as everyone else's.

      However, the human brain suppresses redundant noise (e.g. heartbeat) so that our consciousness may focus on the important stuff. This may be directly related to why ADD people have attention problems (I guess, I am not a doctor).

  4. come on... by fjordboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    The flashy colors make power supplies better - period.

    The purpose of a power supply is not to be quiet - if that was the purpose I'd just make one that didn't work - the purpose is to provide electricity to the components in a computer. Duh.

    --
    The anti-salmon
  5. HA! by pbranes · · Score: 4, Funny

    Their power supplies are really quiet too after a good slashdotting!

    1. Re:HA! by mh_tang · · Score: 3, Informative

      SilenX 400w 14 dBA PSU
      Date : Sunday, January 25, 2004
      Author : SnowPunk98
      Vendor : SilenX

      Introduction
      I have reviewed a lot of power supplies over the years here at OCModShop and now I look at the SilenX 400w. This power supply claims to be the quietest active cooled power supplies on the market. I have done reviews on many other silent power supplies from many other companies. Some have been as quiet and they boasted to be and others were much louder than they should have been. This power supply features Over Voltage Protection, Over Power Protection, and Short Circuit Protection. All of these features will ensure that the power to your system is stable and fixed. I don't like loud systems at all, before I got this power supply I was using the True Silent 450w PSU I previously reviewed because it was the quietest I have encountered so far. I will be using the True Silent power supply to compare this SilenX one to see which is quieter.

      The power supply does not come boxed, rather it comes in a plastic bag with the power cord supplied. The power supply was shipped via USPS Priority Mail and was in one of their boxes. 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.

      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. It would be nice if there was something extra as far as looks is concerned with this power supply if it did not raise the price.

      The back of the power supply has an on/off switch, 110/220v toggle, and power connector. The 80mm fan that is used as an exhaust has a unique blade design and hybrid immersion bearings to lower the noise level. Instead of the traditional metal screws the fan is held in place by a silicone composite fan vibration dampening system. The fan on a power supply is what makes the noise so the quieter the fan the quieter the it will be.

      Because this power supply is designed to be silent there is only one fan so there needs to be some decent heatsinking inside of the unit to keep it cool. One thing I noticed is that the screws holding the cover in place had Loctite or some similar product on them to keep them from vibrating. Small details like this show that the manufacturer has really taken time to make the best possible product. After getting the cover off I found that there was a impressive amount of heatsinks inside. You can also see on top of one of the heatsinks that there is a thermal probe which controls the fans RPM.

      This SilenX 400w has pretty standard connections including: 6 Molex, 1 berg, 1 Auxillary, 1 12v, and 1 ATX. None of the cables have sleeving or any other form of cable management which would have been nice to see but is alright none the less. The cables also don't look to be too long which is the case of many other power supplies.

      Testing
      I installed this SilenX 400w power supply to my normal test bed which is the above hardware. As I suspected the cables are a good length and not too long which is nice. To test the noise level of this power supply I bridged one of the black wires with the green one on the 20 pin connector so I could run it without anything else. After comparing the two power supplies I found that the SilenX 400w was much quieter than the True Silent 450w. I installed the power supply to my computer and hooked everything up. I also took out the temporary video card that I have been using and replaced it with a XFX GeForce FX5700 Ultra that will soon be reviewed. The cables are a not too long but were long enough with some slack to reach down to the Molex on the video card.

      # Test Bed: Albatron K8X800 Pro II (review to come)
      # AMD Athlon64 3200+ (review to come)
      # 60GB Seagate Barracuda IV HDD
      # 1024MB PC3200 Corsair TwinX
      # XFX GeForceFX 5700 Ultra

  6. Other sources of noise by Some+guy+named+Chris · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  7. You know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Some of us just can't sleep without the soothing turbine noise of a plethora of fans. Hope these things don't catch on, I'll be hooked on Ny-Quil within a week...

  8. it must be quiet by Chuck+Bucket · · Score: 3, Funny

    I've never _heard_ of this power supply! (get it?)

    CB

    --
    free ipod and free gmail!
  9. slashdottted already... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    so here's another review of it, on a different site...

  10. Quiet PCs by Ianoo · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have recently become totally fed up with the high pitched whine my main work machine made, so I decided it was about time to do something about it. I bought a Zalman silent PSU, a Zalman flower CPU cooler, two Zalman silent case fans and a Zalman heatpipe graphics card cooler. When they say silent, they aren't totally silent (except for the heatpipe graphics card cooler which has no fan), but they're pretty damned quiet.

    My PC is transformed, the loud, obtrusive, high pitched whine has now been reduced to a quiet, low pitched rumbling. I struggle to hear it when I'm 10 feet away, and even when sitting by it and working it's so much quieter it's much more enjoyable to use. Music is also a much nicer experience without the fan noise. I've even found that my CPU runs cooler with the Zalman heatsink than it did with the medium priced heatsink I had in there before.

  11. Re:What is silent? by ErrorBase · · Score: 5, Informative

    This could give you a clue.
    14dBA is way below whisper ...

  12. So what? by metalhed77 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    --
    Photos.
  13. Here's a sound clip for the power supply: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny






  14. Re:What is silent? by jeffkjo1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well.. 0dB would be ideal, but most people cannot hear sounds that low... especially geeks with big stereo systems.

    This page has an excellent table of information on various dB listings.

    According to it, human breathing at 3 feet is 10dB... can you hear people breating from 3 feet away? (I can't.)

  15. Apple anyone? by niko9 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    --

    1. Re:Apple anyone? by Golias · · Score: 4, Funny
      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.

      If you are 100% positive that you will neither use all that stuff, nor re-sell the PC before it's obsolete, a pair of horizontal wire clippers can provide a very simple solution to your problem. :)

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  16. You want one of these then... by Andy+Davies · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.tranquilpc.co.uk/

  17. Re:What is silent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    A whisper? I have voices whispering to me all day long; it's pretty hard to ignore. "Get a rifle and climb up the water tower", or "Flick that lightswitch two more times", or "Get a load of the *** on her!", or "Time to reline your tinfoil hat". If my power supply were this annoying, I wouldn't get anything done around here at all...

  18. costs $99 by DanThe1Man · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you were wondering how much it is and where to order it, go here.

  19. Re:What is silent? by mph · · Score: 4, Informative
    Errr no, dB measure the log ratio of two intensities, the one you're interested in, and a reference. For dBA, the reference is supposed to be the threshold of human hearing. You can have sound with positive power, but quieter than the reference level, which would result in negative dBA.

    0 dBA may be "perfectly silent" in the sense that you can't hear it by itself, but if you put two or more 0 dBA sources together, you will hear them. The 0 dBA sources are producing sound.

  20. Re:What is silent? by kels · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wrong. Zero dB is just an arbitrary choice and a sound at 0 dB has nonzero amplitude. In air the reference pressure is normally 20 micropascals. The previous poster is correct, the decibel scale is relative, and negative infinity dB is truly silent.

    --
    "I believe that the cult of the particular brings only death - for it bases order on likeness." St.-Exupery
  21. Re:Big deal by aonifer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My power supply easily outclasses my case fans, cpu fan, and hard drive put together. Of course, that's because all of my fans are undervolted Panaflo L1As and my hard drive is a Seagate Barracuda IV mounted with silicone washers. That said, even my power supply is inaudible if there is any significant background noise in the room. Of course, I"m still thinking of replacing the power supply fan with an Evercool. The quest for silence starts to make one a bit obsessive.

  22. What's all the fuzz about by Pidder · · Score: 3, Informative

    A 14 db "silent" PSU is nothing new. There are fan-less PSUs available on the market now if silence is what you want.

  23. Re:What is silent? by Flavio · · Score: 4, Informative
    Unfortunately most (all?) manufacturers of silent computer products lie about noise levels.

    For example, the Silent Boost heatsink/fan from Thermaltake is advertised as being as loud as 21 dBA. However, closer inspection will tell you that it uses an 80cm Panaflo 2450 RPM fan, and Panasonic says the fan alone (without the heatsink, which will add to the noise due to additional turbulence) is 28 dBA loud.

    The same goes for all sorts of fans and PSUs advertised as being silent. Manufacturers exaggerate their claims, and the one with the lowest number typically sells the loudest product.

  24. Silent PCs by 1HandClapping · · Score: 5, Informative
    last year I spent four months researching quiet PCs. The Best Site for Silent PC Info and Review of the SilenX

    Typically the most irritating noises in order are

    1) CPU Fan

    2) PSU Fan

    3) Case Fans

    4) HDD

    I have a Zalman pure copper Flower on my CPU with only one 12cm fan ducted near it. (No CPU fan). With my HDD decoupled it was silent (i.e. I could not hear it at 2 AM from 1 meter) during normal operation and barely audible when seek/writing.

    To overclockers 28dB may seem quiet, but whispers are about 24dB. I personally find it dificult to work with someone whispering 1 meter away. About every 3 dB doubles the acoustic energy. (e.g. if one fan is 20dB, then two of the same fans would be about 23dB) I guestimate my system at about 22 dB.

  25. Not impressed. NorthQ 500W 12db here by julie-h · · Score: 3, Informative

    I am not impressed. have a look at this NorthQ 400W 12dB or this NorthQ 500W 12dB PSU.

  26. Weight by SuperBanana · · Score: 4, Informative
    My PC is transformed, the loud, obtrusive, high pitched whine has now been reduced to a quiet, low pitched rumbling.

    And the best part is, that low frequency vibration will help the motherboard crack even faster since the Zalman coolers all cheerfully ignore the max weight limits set by motherboard companies. They have supposedly caused a few mobo deaths.

    Tip- a)make sure all the standoffs are installed properly and the mobo is screwed down. b)if you move the machine, consider taking the CPU heatsink off FIRST, because if you bounce it around, the heft of the heatsink could flex the motherboard a little too much.

    --
    Please help metamoderate.
    1. Re:Weight by Ianoo · · Score: 4, Informative

      The Aluminium ones are actually less than the 450g maximum rated for P4 coolers. Admittedly the Copper one is over 800g, but if you go for the Alu one you shouldn't expect the motherboard to crack.

  27. If it has a fan, it is not silent. by JonMartin · · Score: 4, Informative
    The authoritative resource for silent PCs is The Silent PC. On there you will find a link to fanless PSUs. Like the proSilence fanless from silentmaxx.

    These things are neat. No fan, just a big-ass heatsink sticking out the back of your case. But remember that without the airflow from the PSU you will need a fan for your case (or a special self-cooling case).

    --
    Serve Gonk.
  28. Re:What is silent? by Flavio · · Score: 4, Informative
    Well, I won't argue about semantics, but reputable manufacturers like Panasonic make it quite clear how they measure noise. For example, here's what Panasonic has to say (source): "the noise data is measured at 1 meter from the intake side of the fan suspended in a semi-anechoic chamber (background noise 13 dBA maximum)".

    Zalman, Thermaltake and others neglect to specify this, which is no surprise since their claims always clash with each other and with their suppliers'.

    And there's also the subjective side of things, but that's a whole other issue. Two fans with the same noise emission levels aren't necessarily as pleasant, since their spectra may be completely different. Reducing RPMs will give you less overall noise, but crappier fans will always give you irritating bearing noise, for instance, even though they may be quiet on average.

  29. Re:Cost? by Zebedeu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have a friend who just did this to his pc.
    He got a noise blocker cooler for his cpu and a silent fan for his case. Both had manual control of the fan speed.
    At low to medium speed we were strugling to hear the fans, but as you got to top speed, they'd get loud as hell.
    Anyway, the fans at medium speed managed to cool the cpu to acceptable levels, so it was ok.

    After that we realized just how loud the graphics card was, so we went back to the store and got the zalman passive heatsink. Boy did that work wonders.
    Now you can't almost hear his pc running, even without changing the PSU, which was a major change for an athlon 2000+ setup that sounded like a turbine.

    He burned around 80 EUR on this little scheme, which is why I'm puting off doing it myself. I'm saving for a new graphics card.

    Decisions, decisions...

  30. Re:What is silent? by Pieroxy · · Score: 3, Funny

    can you hear people breating from 3 feet

    Well, I can definitely hear my wife snoring 1 foot away. Does that count?

    --
    Write boring code, not shiny code!
  31. Re:What is silent? by nathanh · · Score: 5, Informative
    Errr no, the dB scale starts at 0, thre is no negative axis, hence no possibility of negative infinity. As such, 0dB is perfectly silent.

    You are wrong. 0dB means a unity gain. In other words, the signal you are measuring is exactly the same intensity as the reference signal.

    In audio, 0dBA (notice the A) means it's the same intensity as the smallest discernible noise to "standard" human ears. Basically it's pretty damn quiet.

    You most certainly can have negative dB. It just means attenuation (ie, the signal you are measuring has less intensity than the reference signal). 0 gain (which would be truly silent) is the same as negative infinity dB.

  32. dB On A Stereo Different Than dB For Sound by DonnarsHmr · · Score: 4, Informative

    Your stereo achieves maximum volume at OdB because at that setting there is 0dB of attentuation applied to the signal before it gets to the gain stage(s). The numbers on a stereo, or mixing board (well, the numbers below unity at least) really ought to be specified at -XdB not XdB. So when set to 15dB, your stereo is attenuating the signal by 15dB before passing it to the gain stage.


    Sound Pressure Levels (SPL), on the other hand are the measured SPL compared to a reference level defined to be 0dB. 0dB is defined to the the standardized lower limit of human hearing under ideal conditions. Interestingly, for humans with no hearing loss, this lower threshold is thermally limited. In other words, if your hearing isn't damaged and there are no other sounds, you can hear the temperature of the room. At 0dB, your eardrum is deflecting by about the diameter of a Hydrogen atom. Another fun fact to know and tell: the system of small bones that convey the vibration from the ear drum to the inner ear function as a hydraulic system with a 7000:1 ratio, which is almost exactly the accoustic impedance mismatch between air and the fluid in your inner ear. For an intersting discussion of human hearing, read the first few chapters of Master Handbook of Acoustics