Hi all, The rig in my sig, (sounds fun - hangs around with the cat in the hat!) needs a new power supply. I burnt out the 350w one with my 7900 and now i have a rather cheap and VERY loud 600w cheapy cheaper from ebuyer. I need a new one, and ideally it will be silent, but those days are long gone now, and in order to have enough to power my beast, i'll need 400w+ at a high efficiency or even 450w. I dont plan to have a second VGA card, my mobo is non-SLI so there's no chance of that without rebuilding the whole system, (was a design choice to stop me spending money!!!) but it isnt as obvious as it used to be to get a quiet PSU. We have an old Athlon XP 2600+ system in our lounge with a Geforce 5700 which is our MythTv box. This runs SILENTLY, and i mean silently. The hard drives are the loudest part of that system. The problem is times have changed, and the supply we have on that mchine just would't cut the mustard on my computer. For a start, it has no 4-pin P4 connector, no PCI-E, no SATA, and only 20 pins for the motherboard. So... i need a new power supply, the one i have does the job, but i would like to be able to go to bed in the same area code as my computer without the PSU fan sounding like a bloomin footie stadium on matchday. My selections so far... NorthQ 4774 400W 12-17DB 140MM fan w/SATA and PCI-E (does anyone have one of these? are they really 12-17db?) Zalman 460B (i hear this is pretty noisy - not worth looking at?) Akasa Ultra Quiet 400W Paxpower Active PFC Hiper Type R modular (prolly 400 or 480) Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (is it REALLY silent?) What do you chaps think? anything i've missed out on? As you can probably tell, price IS an issue here, i'm not prepared to spend more than say £60 on a PSU, but if the right one is £65, then i'll consider, i am a geek after all. So for me, numero uno consideration is NOISE, second, POWER, third, PRICE.
Silverstones are pretty expensive, but the 560 W model with a 120 mm fan is atleast IMO very silent. Seasonic sounds good option though, basicly the same PSU with different brand
Corsair HX 520 is well within your budget, and it > everything on that list. 40a on a single 12v rail (the label doesn't say that, long story), very reliable, modular, and quiet.
My ST60F (single 120mm fan) is inaudible. Of those I'd take the Seasonic or even the Corsair reccomended above (it's made by Seasonic too).
looks nice, overclockers have it at the extraordinary price of £70.49, ebuyer's only 50p cheaper... but the seasonic everyone's creaming over is only £48 so i think its won. Has anyone ever had a NorthQ PSU? 12-17db sounds extremely quiet, and they're only £40, would i be disappointed compared to the seasonic for just a few quid more? this is probably the hardest thing, makin your mind up, when you can't see touch, or even trust the specs you see when you buy online; knowin full well you'll be raped of your hard earned cash should you go to a shop.
I'd pass on the NorthQ. Never heard of them. Besides, what's that 12-17db rated at? 20db, and 0 load? Go with something proven to be quiet and reliable: Seasonic.
NorthQ are a cheap chinese brand IIRC. For GPU coolers they may be fine, but for PSU's, unless and until they're confirmed good buying one = very bad idea. If you're after cheapness then a 4xxW Seasonic should do nicely. If you're buying anything over 500W switch over to Corsairs HX's simply because they're just better than Seasonics. Not by much though, so you'll be happy with either.
I threw a seasonic S12 Energy+ in when I recently rebuilt my PC, have to say I'm quite impressed with it, only downside the Energy+ ones arn't modular... And it's now winter and I miss my old heater
looks like the seasonic has it... ordering now, i'll let you guys know how it goes when it arrives. I figure the extra 30w over 400 will allow for a VGA upgrade in the future too, praps a lower end G80 derivative once they're released. Cheers for your help guys, i have to say, i wouldn't have ended up at this conclusion otherwise, i very nearly ordered the NorthQ several times, but the seasonic is just a couple of quid more, so its a done deal.
