Silent PSU recommendation for Fractal Design Core 500

[tobias201]

Hi,

 

I want to switch to mini ITX and after some research I have decided that the Fractal Design Core 500 is the right case for me.

CPU, Cooler, SSDs, ODD and GPU I can take from my current system.

(Important Parts: i5-4690k and MSI GTX 970)

 

Unfortunately I cant use my current PSU because it is too big. The case recommends modular PSU with up to 160mm in length, the problem is that I want it to be very silent.

160mm seems to be the absolute maximum because it makes Cable management very difficult.

 

In this build for example the GPU seems to be bending because of the cables but the PSU is one that I had in mind http://pcpartpicker.com/b/PRr7YJ 

 

So my question is:

Can you recommend a VERY Silent PSU around 500W - 600W that is not longer than 160mm?

The shorter the better. ATX over SFX and SFX-L because in comparison they dont seem to be very good.

Price doesnt matter because as far as I can tell PSUs in that performance range dont get excessively pricy.

 

Also, has anyone experience with the Core 500 + long GPU and PSU combinations?

 

Thank You in advance.

 

 

 

[don_svetlio]

SeaSonic G-series 550W

[Octavialicious]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151122&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Power+Supplies-_-N82E16817151122&gclid=CjwKEAjw3fG4BRDsn9GAv7T2zEkSJACNJdjgQzLFdDeSYVVCH7sE93Y5LXw9M0m66h8L8_4GgdtNMxoC-JLw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

It has no fan... No idea why you would get a PSU with a fan unless you're saving money or it doesn't have enough watts @don_svetlio

[tobias201]

Thank you for your remommendations.

 

The problem I see with the fanless design is that ist doesnt expell the heat through the side opening in the case but through the top opening with convection.

The top opening however will be blocked by the ODD mount and Cable management.

[STRMfrmXMN]

5 hours ago, Octavialicious said:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151122&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Power+Supplies-_-N82E16817151122&gclid=CjwKEAjw3fG4BRDsn9GAv7T2zEkSJACNJdjgQzLFdDeSYVVCH7sE93Y5LXw9M0m66h8L8_4GgdtNMxoC-JLw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

It has no fan... No idea why you would get a PSU with a fan unless you're saving money or it doesn't have enough watts @don_svetlio

I've used one. You cannot hear the fan even under max load.

[Octavialicious]

1 hour ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

I've used one. You cannot hear the fan even under max load.

The rest of your PC must be loud

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 hours ago, Octavialicious said:

The rest of your PC must be loud

Nope, was used with a Windforce GTX 960 and i5 with stock cooler. Under full load with no chassis or fans the entire system didn't make a sound.

[Octavialicious]

5 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Nope, was used with a Windforce GTX 960 and i5 with stock cooler. Under full load with no chassis or fans the entire system didn't make a sound.

Stock coolers are blood piercingly loud (gpu coolers too)

 

Regardless, the quietest fan can't beat no fan so I have no idea why this is even up for debate

[Redicat]

I don't wanne hear myown blood stream or heart beeps because i can never ever hear my power supply and that's with most quality psu's.

[Curufinwe_wins]

16 minutes ago, Octavialicious said:

Stock coolers are blood piercingly loud (gpu coolers too)

 

Regardless, the quietest fan can't beat no fan so I have no idea why this is even up for debate

Yea, I can't hear my psu when I turn all my fans off and shit I can hear my light fixtures then...  (<15 dB ambient.) 

 

Obviously no fan is quieter than fan, but I really don't see the point of spending an extra 50+ dollars on a fanless psu over a good quiet semi-passive one unless you plan on making  a completely passive computer and even then you'd also just end up hearing something else. 

 

I'm being 100% serious when I say part of the reason I don't put my pc under full passive all the time is I would rather hear the gentle whooshing of fans at 350 rpm then hear the buzzing  of monitors or light bulbs. 

[STRMfrmXMN]

38 minutes ago, Octavialicious said:

Stock coolers are blood piercingly loud (gpu coolers too)

 

Regardless, the quietest fan can't beat no fan so I have no idea why this is even up for debate

You can't hear the stock cooler on the i5s. They're dead silent. The Gigabyte 960 is also dead silent. Trust me, the fan was not loud on the PSU, quieter than my EVGA GS.

 

I get that no fan can make less noise but then there's no airflow going to the PSU and unless there's lots of airflow in the rest of OP's system that's pretty dangerous.

 

EDIT: I think that people think Intel stock cooler are really loud because the ones on the i5s and up use copper in their heatsinks while the lesser CPUs use aluminum, thus the fan spins more to keep temps down. Most people who buy i5s and i7s replace the stock cooler.

 

Again, running AIDA64 with the GPU and CPU under full stress the system made no noise even if you put your ear up to the GPU. The PSU fan, while facing up so that it was closest to you (remember, this is a test bench scenario that me and @Philosophy use for our company's PCs) made no noise to speak of. The sound of his dad using the computer mouse two floors above made more noise than the PC did.

[Octavialicious]

38 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

You can't hear the stock cooler on the i5s. They're dead silent. The Gigabyte 960 is also dead silent. Trust me, the fan was not loud on the PSU, quieter than my EVGA GS.

 

I get that no fan can make less noise but then there's no airflow going to the PSU and unless there's lots of airflow in the rest of OP's system that's pretty dangerous.

 

EDIT: I think that people think Intel stock cooler are really loud because the ones on the i5s and up use copper in their heatsinks while the lesser CPUs use aluminum, thus the fan spins more to keep temps down. Most people who buy i5s and i7s replace the stock cooler.

 

Again, running AIDA64 with the GPU and CPU under full stress the system made no noise even if you put your ear up to the GPU. The PSU fan, while facing up so that it was closest to you (remember, this is a test bench scenario that me and @Philosophy use for our company's PCs) made no noise to speak of. The sound of his dad using the computer mouse two floors above made more noise than the PC did.

Really, that's why my 4590S sounded like a jet engine (and it's a lower power unit as well...)

 

And I've never read of a single instance of a fanless PSU doing anything dangerous, but w/e

[STRMfrmXMN]

7 hours ago, Octavialicious said:

Really, that's why my 4590S sounded like a jet engine (and it's a lower power unit as well...)

 

And I've never read of a single instance of a fanless PSU doing anything dangerous, but w/e

S-units use the sad-time stock cooler. So sad time for you!

[tobias201]

OK I think that went a little bit off topic.

 

I have to say that I want a really Silent System, but if it is below ambient noise its mostly fine.

Also I explained why I think passive PSUs are no good Idea for Mini ITX Cases. (Limited Airflow)  

What annoys me the most is if I am just surfing and the thing is unnecessarily loud.

When I am gaming noise doesnt bother me as much because Headphones. (But still, the quieter the better.)

Thats why semi Passive PSUs are fine for me or PSUs like the new Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 11 which are silent either way. (But too big)

 

I really hoped that someone witch the Core 500 would respond to this thread and share his experiences with me.

I am especially Interested in the PSU length constraints. So I spent some additional time with research about short, silent, powerful and good quality PSUs which was difficult because there are not many and the information is scarce. The "Silverstone Strider Platinum 550W" was the one I decided to order.

(Fully modular, only 140mm, semi passive, noise seems ok and reviews seem ok too)

I hope that the short length will fit nicely within the case. I will report back when it is here and post some pictures of the build. (Saturday)

 

Maybe its helping someone who has the same Problem and cant decide what parts to order.

[MisterDeadeye]

5 hours ago, tobias201 said:

OK I think that went a little bit off topic.

 

I have to say that I want a really Silent System, but if it is below ambient noise its mostly fine.

Also I explained why I think passive PSUs are no good Idea for Mini ITX Cases. (Limited Airflow)  

What annoys me the most is if I am just surfing and the thing is unnecessarily loud.

When I am gaming noise doesnt bother me as much because Headphones. (But still, the quieter the better.)

Thats why semi Passive PSUs are fine for me or PSUs like the new Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 11 which are silent either way. (But too big)

 

I really hoped that someone witch the Core 500 would respond to this thread and share his experiences with me.

I am especially Interested in the PSU length constraints. So I spent some additional time with research about short, silent, powerful and good quality PSUs which was difficult because there are not many and the information is scarce. The "Silverstone Strider Platinum 550W" was the one I decided to order.

(Fully modular, only 140mm, semi passive, noise seems ok and reviews seem ok too)

I hope that the short length will fit nicely within the case. I will report back when it is here and post some pictures of the build. (Saturday)

 

Maybe its helping someone who has the same Problem and cant decide what parts to order.

 

The 80+ Platinum rating on that 520FL2 means you aren't going to have to worry about heat. It's not going to get hot because it's highly, highly efficient. That's a silent PSU; you asked for a silent PSU, and there's no better option. I can guarantee you that with a 970, you're not going to need to worry about airflow around your FL2.

 

Oh, you already made your purchase. Oh well.... The FL2 is $10 more and it has a Platinum rating and it's fanless... I can't believe you actually bought that other PSU.

[tobias201]

Hi MisterDeadeye,

 

yes it is highly efficient but the top exhaust will be mostly blocked off in that case and

I worry that under these circumstances the heat will accumulate, mostly because the top vent on this PSU is the main heat exhaust.

The Silverstone PSU will only vent through the side opening in the case and will also not heat up the inside of the case unnecessarily.

Maybe I worry too much but that is not the only reason why I preferred the other PSU.

 

Fractal recommends PSUs up to 160mm but many reviewers said that cable management is VERY difficult witch a 160mm long PSU. (The Seasonic one is 160mm)

The Silverstone is the only 140mm, fully modular, semi passive, sufficiently quiet while active PSU. I chose 140mm because it will give me enough space to work comfortably in the Core 500.

 

As I said I will report back on Saturday how everything went and tell you if the system is quiet enough for my taste.

[Curufinwe_wins]

On 4/25/2016 at 0:34 PM, tobias201 said:

snip

I own the Node 304 which is in most ways the first version of the Core 500 (it's a very very popular case for NAS systems, but has MUCH worse expandability/top end cooling support.)

 

The PSU clearances (and implementation) are as far as I know exactly the same. EDIT: I have checked, they are indeed IDENTICAL. Now I don't have a gpu in that build currently (for obvious reasons), but I've sized things up and I think at 160mm length, the type of cables you have will make or break its usability (though it SHOULD work.)

 

I am using a 165mm psu with relatively small connectors and thin flat wiring. I could definitely fit a gpu in here if I was willing to put a little bit of stress on the thing, and a 160mm psu should work without any issues (assuming you have access to ribbon modular connectors.)

 

 

 

This is a really shitty image, but you can hopefully see 165mm is what I would call the REAL limit to what you can fit for psu.

 

[tobias201]

16 hours ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

Now I don't have a gpu in that build currently (for obvious reasons), but I've sized things up and I think at 160mm length, the type of cables you have will make or break its usability (though it SHOULD work.)

Hi Curufinwe_wins.

Interesting! So its not only length but also type of connector and so on.

I would really be interested to see how your system looks with a long GPU in it. (That sounded strange.)

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 hour ago, tobias201 said:

Hi Curufinwe_wins.

Interesting! So its not only length but also type of connector and so on.

I would really be interested to see how your system looks with a long GPU in it. (That sounded strange.)

For this particular system yea, connector type and the thickness of the wires matter. The big thing is how tight of a corner the wires can make from coming straight out the face of the psu right into the gpu backplate.

 

With a non-modular psu it is less of an issue because you don't have the additional length of the connector forcing a straight out path.

 

If I had a spare gpu around I totally would do it, but I watercool my cards and thus I can't just take one out.

[tobias201]

As I promised, some pictures of the finished build.

Before Cable Management.

After Cable Management.

 

Cable Management was really difficult and without a full set of sleeved cables (more flexible) I cant imagine how to fit a bigger PSU in there. Or at least I am not able to do so.

So for anyone who is considering to buy this case and use it with a long GPU ... Buy the smallest PSU you can find and fits your needs.

 

Regarding noise.

Everything is totally silent while browsing and so on.

While gaming the GPU is louder than any other Part in the system as expected.

 

While building this thing was very difficult, it was lots of fun. And the thing is just too cute.