# When a PSU is too loud...



## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

What can you do? I got this Thermaltake Silent PurePower, but this thing is far from silent. It's 4x louder then all my other components combined! It's not rattling or anything. The noise is strictly airflow apparently. If I just cover the vent with my hand, it's half as quiet.

I opened up the PSU. The fans are wired very tightly. It would be real tough to fit a couple 20 ohm resistors inside this box without things being an electrical hazard. But I still think it could survive on a lower fan speed, because the air being pushed out isnt hot or anything.


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## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

Based on what you said about the psu, seems as though the only things you can do is either live with the psu or replace it. You could unsolder the fan and replace it with a quieter fan, though I would only reccomend that if your up to the task. If you need a new psu there are plenty around that offer fan speed control


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## Compumaniac12 (Jun 20, 2005)

you could put a peice of cardboard or something over the vent so that the noise goes away from you... might take away 1/4


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## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

All that will do is lessen airflow and the life of the psu...A good Antec with fan control would be the best way to go


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## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

Yeah I know, but I just bought this thing. And I kind of consider my computer now completed, unless something breaks and needs replacement. I'll live with it I guess. I just don't like Thermaltake putting the word "Silent" on a product that is louder then the half dozen number of PSU's I have tried in the past, all of which were cheapies.


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## kodi (Jun 30, 2004)

Can you remove the Grill,this can cause a lot of noise, only remove it if there are NO small children and pets around


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## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

kodi said:


> Can you remove the Grill,this can cause a lot of noise, only remove it if there are NO small children and pets around


Well the grill is sleek and thin, with no rough edges. I don't think it would have much air friction. Here's exactly what it looks like:


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## kodi (Jun 30, 2004)

Give it a try it might suprise you just how much noise is created by the air passing through the grill.


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## Fr4665 (Nov 18, 2004)

yeah fan grills even on cpu coolers make alot of noise as it breaks the air like a flute end stupid comp parts designers ^^


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## ampshock (Oct 20, 2005)

I have a antec true power 2.0 480w.
It makes so little noise it is unbeliveable!
If you want a powersupply that is so slient that you think you are deaf get the antec phantom.


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## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

ampshock said:


> I have a antec true power 2.0 480w.
> It makes so little noise it is unbeliveable!
> If you want a powersupply that is so slient that you think you are deaf get the antec phantom.


This is interesting. I was looking at those and thinking "They must be expensive for a reason."
Would this be just as quiet?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103928
Do you think 430w is a stable ammount for my specs? Check my profile for my specs. I'll be jumping to an athlon64 setup soon, but those run at a lower voltage right?


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## oldmn (Oct 16, 2005)

Some time it is better to get a bigger PSU than what you need. It does not have to work as hard and therefore less heat and less coolings needed and the fans run slower and quieter. :grin: Plus gives you some room for updrades. :sayyes:


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## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

oldmn said:


> Some time it is better to get a bigger PSU than what you need. It does not have to work as hard and therefore less heat and less coolings needed and the fans run slower and quieter. :grin: Plus gives you some room for updrades. :sayyes:


Yeah but the 480w is $20 more. Is there anyway for me to even measure the total ammount of watts that my system is currently using? I'd like to see how close I am to my PSU's limit.
Also these truepower 2's have way too many jacks I can't use, and only 2 strands of the regular molex jacks. I dunno if that is enough for me. I have 6 devices that use the 4pin molex jacks. 2 120mm fans, 2 s-ata's, a radeon, and a dvd-rw.


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## oldmn (Oct 16, 2005)

Try this PSU calculater :sayyes:


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## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

oldmn said:


> Try this PSU calculater :sayyes:


You have ALL the good links, don't ya?

According to that, it says I only need 297 watts max. Or like 318 when I get the athlon64 setup. Odd how AMD64 uses a lower voltage but more amps.

So anyways, I should be safe buying that truepower 2.0 430 watt for 70 bucks. I really cant afford anymore then that anyways. And I am ganna have to sell my Thermaltake PSU on ebay to try and cut my loses. I mean, I love this PSU. It's powerful as hell, with great construction, and very thick wires, but it is quite noisy. That TruePower 2.0 series only helps prove my point that 120mm fans are the solution to all of life's problems.


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## jisc123 (May 17, 2003)

If noise is a concern, Enermax or Antec are great options, but its rather unfortunate that youll have to sell your current psu.


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## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

Ok the Antec TruePower 2.0 is still a tad bit out of my budget, but I have been looking at these alternatives with 120mm fans:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817182011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817182018

They're basically identicle, except one is ATX and the other is ATX2.0. I don't exactly know what that means. The ATX2.0 one has "dual 12 volt lines". Not sure how they would help me either, or if it would only complicate things.

I also need to know if the ATX2.0 comes with that 4PIN connector that goes into my motherboard. This ATX2.0 has a 24pin main power connector for the mobo, where the last 4 pins can be broken away, so the normal style 20pin connector is revealed. Are those 4 pins that break away also the 4pin connector that I plug into my mobo?


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## please (Mar 2, 2005)

@ FunkyPoopMonkey
I highly recommend that you not get either of those PSUs. They are not of quality make and will only let you down when you need it the most...or give you a lifetime of mystery problems.

As your sharp eye noticed, the newer ATX 2.0 standard includes the extra +12V line and 24-pin power connector to supply the newer more power hungry CPUs and video cards. The snap-off 4-pin connector is in addition to the existing 4-pin connector. If you don't use the snap-off 4-pin connector, just tuck it away safely.

My new favorite PSU to recommend is the Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 500W. At ~$76 delivered, it is the cheapest quality PSU I've seen. You may find it cheaper if you search a bit. This particular PSU is also very quiet with its unique two-fan system where the inner fan blows full time and the outer fan only comes on when things get hot...mine comes on very rarely....way cool  

Keep us posted with your progress


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

Possible alternate solution. Want a new case and a great power supply that is quiet. Take a look at the Antec Sonata II that has an Antec 450 PS that is very quiet and a wonderful case with front connections. This will set you back about 100 bucks, plus shipping and NewEgg.com and ZipZoomFly.com have been running specials on them. Might be worth a look. I am running by Athlon 3700+ San Diego in this case right now and it runs very good with plenty of power.


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## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

please said:


> @ FunkyPoopMonkey
> I highly recommend that you not get either of those PSUs. They are not of quality make and will only let you down when you need it the most...or give you a lifetime of mystery problems.
> 
> As your sharp eye noticed, the newer ATX 2.0 standard includes the extra +12V line and 24-pin power connector to supply the newer more power hungry CPUs and video cards. The snap-off 4-pin connector is in addition to the existing 4-pin connector. If you don't use the snap-off 4-pin connector, just tuck it away safely.
> ...


Dang ok. But I don't have that kind of money to spare. Was there something wrong with this $60 one? Because this is already out of my budget:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103927
I don't need 500 watts. We found out my system only uses 300 at it's peak. Also I was told to go with a 120mm fan because they are actually quiet. You say go with that dual fan one, where the back fan only comes on when things are hot, but I know my luck. It would be on ALL the time, and be just as noisy as my thermaltake one.


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## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

First things first, a wattage ratting for a psu is all but meaningless. PSU mfg'ers rate their psu's based on a 70% load at 25C....very unrealistic specs for a home pc. Thus no psu rated at 400W is ever going to actually put out 400W, heck it won't even put out 360W....why, because your avg computer runs near to 40C rather than 25C and with the rise in temp goes a drop in output. The only actual rating to look at is the amerage per rail. Thus if your computer does infact draw at max 300W you will more than likely need the 500 from Antec that Please reccomends. Having such a large psu does not mean you will consume more power ( I can only surmise this is why most people want to use the smallest psu they think they can get away with) Just like any other electrical device it will only draw and output whatever power is demanded of it from your computer. The probem arises when a psu, such as a 380W or 450W is asked to operate near its max capacity at all times...ie 300W output. The longevity and reliability of the psu goes down drastically....the same can be said for the stability of the power it will output. A few mfg'ers like PC Power & Cooling, Enermax and Fortron/Sparkle do infact rate some of their psu's at 40C (PC P&C all of them) And while typically more expensive you are getting what you paid for....so now the question arises....do you wish to risk your expensive computer components on a cheap psu or not. Sadly the PSU is probably the most overlooked component to any PC despite being the most important one. A bad psu in a good computer will offer nothing but headaches, instability and possibly loss of the entire machine (just ask anyone wh has used a Deer or Allied psu) It is not something to scimp on, better to save up and buy a quality psu or risk loosing the entire machine followed is a list of psu mfg's listed by quality supplied to us by fellow tech Oldman:

ATX Power Supplies - Brands from A to Z 

*** RATED BY QUALITY ***

Key
H = High Quality (Good Solid Reliable Brand)
L = Low Quality (Cheap Generic)
M = Medium Quality (In-between)
U = Unknown


A-Power................L
A-Top..................L
A+GPB..................L
AcBel..................L
AC Ryan (Ryanpower)....L
Aerocool...............U
AG.....................L
Ahanix.................L
Akasa..................L
Allied.................L
Antec..................M/H
AOpen..................L
APC....................L
Apex Allied............L
Aspire.................L/M
Astec..................L
Athena.................L
BFG....................L
Broadway Gaming........U
Channel Well...........L
CHAS...................L
Chenbro................U
Chieftec...............L
Coba...................L
Codegen................L
Conrad.................M
CoolerMaster...........H
CoolMax................M
Crystal................L
Dell...................L
Delta..................L
Diablo.................L
Eagle..................L
Echo Star..............L
Enermax................H
Engleking..............M
Enlight................M
Epson..................L
FDK....................L
Fortron (FSP)..........H
Gateway................L
Gazelle Multimedia.....L
Global Marketing.......L
GPower.................L
Guardian...............L
Herolchi...............M
Hipro..................L
HP/Compaq..............L
HPC International......L
Huntkey................L
I-Star.................L
IBM Redundant..........U (expensive)
Intel Redundant........U (expensive)
In Win.................L
Jaguar.................U
Kensington.............L
Kingwin................L
L&C....................L
Leadman................L
Levicom................L
LiteOn.................U
Logisys................U
Mad Dog................L/M
Maxtron................L
MGE....................L
MGE Vortec.............M
MorningStar............L
NEC....................L
Newton.................L
Nexus..................L
Noise Magic............L
NorthQ.................M
Nspire.................L
OCZ....................H
Omega..................L
Packard Bell...........L
PC Power & Cooling.....H
PC-World (PCW).........L
PCMCIS.................U
Power..................L
PowerStream............L
PowerTek...............L
PowerUp................L
PowMax.................L
PowMax XPower..........L
Premium................L
Pyramid................L
Q-Tec..................L
Q-Technology...........L
RaidMax................U
Real Power.............L
Rosewill...............L
SCS....................L
SeaSonic...............H
Shuttle................L
Silent Purepower.......U
SilenX.................L
Silverstone............H
Sky Hawk (Eagle Tech)..L
Sparkle................H
Star Micronics.........L
StarTech...............L
Sun....................L
SuperFlower............L
Supermicro.............L
Tagan..................H
Task...................L
ThermalTake............M
Topower................L
Tri-Mag................L
TSP....................L
Tyan Tiger.............L
TTGI...................L
Ultra-Power Computer...L
Ultra..................M
Ultra X-Connect........L
Vantec.................H
Verax..................H
Vigor..................U
Xion...................L
xPCgear................L
Zalman.................H
Zippy..................L


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## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

You don't understand. I've used 350 watt PSU's on here for a long time. Generic brands. Even worse then the thermaltake one. They never caused issues. I don't have a machine that requires a 500 watt. That is rediculous.

Why do people buy lower watt PSU's? Because they don't break our wallets, yet still provide all the power we need! There's no reason to buy higher wattage ones unless you actually enjoy the noise they make.

I have no reason to go over 380 watts. You might, because you have a better computer then I do I'm sure. But don't you understand that some of us have older components that use less power? What's wrong with that Antec 380? I thought you liked Antec.


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## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

Well what's worse, loosing a whole computer or using a better psu. No one here will ever reccomend a generic psu, for good reason....to many of them fail dramatically in a ball of fire, or at the least ruin a perfectly good computer. Antec does indeed make some good psu's the TruePower series is fine. For a modern system we don't tend to reccomend a psu of less than 450W anymore, the tighter voltage regulation needed for todays cpu's cannot be had any other way. Back in the days of the Pentium, PII & PIII you could get away with 10%+ voltage regulation...today that's very iffy and not reccomended I'd hate to see instability issues or a ruined computer for the sake of a $100 psu, its just a matter of how much risk your willing to take with the $1000+ worth of equippment in a computer There are many psu's like the Enermax Noisetaker series that are decent psu's, quiet and won't break the bank. Also my comments on higher wattage psu's is not ridiculous, but soundly based in fact, you have to buy what your computer needs, not nessasseraly what you would like...heck I'd love to use my old 250W PC P&C, but on my rig it won't cut it even though it was worlds quieter than my current one...good luck


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## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

twajetmech said:


> you have to buy what your computer needs, not nessasseraly what you would like...


Exactly what I have been saying! My computer needs no more then 350 watts! It's NOT high end. Look at my specs in my profile! You think I'm rolling in here with a dual-core or something? Come on.


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## please (Mar 2, 2005)

@ FunkyMonkeyPoop
Your system specs _are_ of a system that I would recommend the 500W PSU that I did recommend for you. None of us here would recommend a bare-minimum PSU for you, and that is what the Antec 380 is. None of us would get the Antec 380 for the system you have if it were ours. We are just sharing our experience and advice with you. The PSU I recommended was because it was powerful enough that you would never have to worry about it being a problem _and_ it was reasonably priced. It would also be able to handle most upgrades you might consider. Remember the 70% efficiency number? 70% of 380 is 266watts. Your system uses 300watts at its peak. Bare minimum. But, hey, you may be fine with the Antec 380W as it is a quality PSU and better than the Thermaltake you are having trouble with. So just get Antec 380 and be happy, it is a good choice...I hope it works well for you. 

We couldn't convince you to go bigger, so why try to convince us that this is all you need. Let's just agree to disagree. :sayyes:

keep us posted with your progress


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## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

please said:


> But, hey, you may be fine with the Antec 380W as it is a quality PSU and better than the Thermaltake you are having trouble with.


Who said I was having trouble with the Thermaltake? It's fantastic. And it has all the connectors I need, and none that I don't, unlike these newer PSU's. My only complaint about it and all the other PSU's I've tried, is they are still loud. Or at least the loudest component in the shell.

Like I said, I've used these low wattage ones for years and I never had any PSU related issues. Any kind of crashes I had were causes by a different component or bios setting.


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## oldmn (Oct 16, 2005)

You have to remember one thing, you have to please only yourself. :sayyes: We can recommend until we are blue in the face but, the decision is still yours. After all it is your system and your money.:sayyes: 
I know people that have ran generics for years with out a problem, But I know a lot more that have had major problems.:4-dontkno


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## DeFcOn (Aug 20, 2005)

if ur realy that concerned i would consider making a vent cover from scratch.....might be kinda dangerous though


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## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

DeFcOn said:


> if ur realy that concerned i would consider making a vent cover from scratch.....might be kinda dangerous though


What are you talking about?


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## TakumiKai (Mar 4, 2005)

If you don't want to replace it, try adjusting the power supply fan switches if you have them attached on your PSU. The settings are H for high, M for medium and L for low. I cannot guarantee the results of this change however...


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## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

TakumiKai said:


> If you don't want to replace it, try adjusting the power supply fan switches if you have them attached on your PSU. The settings are H for high, M for medium and L for low. I cannot guarantee the results of this change however...


Where are these fan switches? I don't see anything externally.


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## TakumiKai (Mar 4, 2005)

Wow, seriously? Of all the PSUs I've had (2) Coolmax and currently Echostar, they both have a little switch thing showing the fan speed levels. It's pretty obvious if you look at it... hmmmm... strange...


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi FunkyPoopMonkey,

Most quality power supplies do not have such switches. Most of the current quality power suppies automatically control the fans and either turn them off when not needed or slow them down when the demand for cooling is not so great. Therefore, you probably have not seen too many of those, because as a tech, I have not come across too many of those type switches through the years. 

You don't want (or don't feel the need for) a bigger power supply, so I will refrain from trying to convince you to get one, even though I am in agreement with the other techs on here. 

Do what is best for you and your pocketbook and you don't have to explain that to anyone. I do know that the more recent 380 supplies by Antec are much better than the older ones were, so if that is what you want, go for it. They are a very quiet power supply made by a quality company. 

Oh, if you look on Ebay, you can find them (yes, and even the 450 ones that are even better) for a very reasonable price and they are new. Many buy the Antec Sonata cases and switch them out for a bigger supply without ever turning them on. LIke I said, you can buy them for a song.

Hope things work out on this for you.


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## FunkyPoopMonkey (Jul 1, 2005)

Tumbleweed36 said:


> Most quality power supplies do not have such switches. Most of the current quality power suppies automatically control the fans and either turn them off when not needed or slow them down when the demand for cooling is not so great. Therefore, you probably have not seen too many of those, because as a tech, I have not come across too many of those type switches through the years.


Yeah, my Thermaltake claimed to have automatic fan control, but it just seems to run at the loudest setting all the time. Sometime's it's on the low setting for about 10 seconds, but midway into the Windows boot up, it goes much faster.

Yeah I've been looking on Ebay, but the price difference seems minimal, sometimes HIGHER then what Newegg offers. Plus, I don't get the 3 year warrantee like I would if I went Newegg, right? That seems risky just to save a few bucks.


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