Quiet Power Supply

[Gommly]

Hi guys, 

 

New to this forum but have been watching Linus Tech Tips on the tube for a while.

 

Planning on building an i3 / gtx 1060 gaming 'console' (ie, living room computer) that I want as quiet as possible. I'm planning on using a quiet case such as the fractal design r5 and a be quiet dark rock pro 3 cpu cooler but I'm wondering what my options are as far as quiet PSU's that won't break the budget. The be quiet ones seem a bit expensive. I really only need the computer quiet / silent when at relatively low loads such as when watching a movie but can handle a bit of noise whilst gaming I suppose. 

[HKZeroFive]

What sort of budget are we talking about? The most quiet ones would be something such as the Seasonic Platinum Fanless series.

[Gommly]

Yeah those are even more expensive then the ones I was looking at from be quiet. Probably, looking at maybe $100 AUD (ie. $70 USD) but looking at point no. 2 in your tag am maybe thinking this is 'cheaping out'! lol

[DarkBlade2117]

27 minutes ago, Gommly said:

Yeah those are even more expensive then the ones I was looking at from be quiet. Probably, looking at maybe $100 AUD (ie. $70 USD) but looking at point no. 2 in your tag am maybe thinking this is 'cheaping out'! lol

EVGA GS has a eco mode where the fan won't turn on until a certain load is put on it.

550w is all you need

[alexhelvetica]

The Cheapest PSU with a fanless mode I know of is the Corsair SF450W, it uses the SFX form factor though and costs $125.

You can buy a SFX to ATX adaptor but that is another $12

PSU: https://www.pccasegear.com/products/35146/

Adaptor: https://www.pccasegear.com/products/36272/corsair-sfx-to-atx-psu-adapter-bracket

[HKZeroFive]

30 minutes ago, Gommly said:

Yeah those are even more expensive then the ones I was looking at from be quiet. Probably, looking at maybe $100 AUD (ie. $70 USD) but looking at point no. 2 in your tag am maybe thinking this is 'cheaping out'! lol

There are some decent power supplies in that price range such as the Antec High Current Gamer 520W or the True Power Classic 550W, although I wouldn't classify them as the 'quietest'.

 

I'm just curious on why you're planning on having a $100 CPU cooler for a locked i3.

[STRMfrmXMN]

3 hours ago, DarkBlade2117 said:

EVGA GS has a eco mode where the fan won't turn on until a certain load is put on it.

550w is all you need

I have a 550W GS and the fan comes on way too quickly. Would recommend a G2 if silence is more important, as well as the RMi.

 

3 hours ago, HKZeroFive said:

There are some decent power supplies in that price range such as the Antec High Current Gamer 520W or the True Power Classic 550W, although I wouldn't classify them as the 'quietest'.

 

I'm just curious on why you're planning on having a $100 CPU cooler for a locked i3.

High Current Gamer is pretty loud, not sure about the TP Classic. Also where does he mention a CPU cooler? I might just be blind.

 

4 hours ago, Gommly said:

Hi guys, 

 

New to this forum but have been watching Linus Tech Tips on the tube for a while.

 

Planning on building an i3 / gtx 1060 gaming 'console' (ie, living room computer) that I want as quiet as possible. I'm planning on using a quiet case such as the fractal design r5 and a be quiet dark rock pro 3 cpu cooler but I'm wondering what my options are as far as quiet PSU's that won't break the budget. The be quiet ones seem a bit expensive. I really only need the computer quiet / silent when at relatively low loads such as when watching a movie but can handle a bit of noise whilst gaming I suppose. 

Assuming the masses are right here in that you're looking for a CPU cooler I would get a Cooler Master Hyper T4 and put a Noctua F12 on it. I do that myself but with a P12.

[DarkBlade2117]

4 hours ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

I have a 550W GS and the fan comes on way too quickly. Would recommend a G2 if silence is more important, as well as the RMi.

 

High Current Gamer is pretty loud, not sure about the TP Classic. Also where does he mention a CPU cooler? I might just be blind.

 

Assuming the masses are right here in that you're looking for a CPU cooler I would get a Cooler Master Hyper T4 and put a Noctua F12 on it. I do that myself but with a P12.

I only hear the 212 Evo in my PC. The loudest thing is the hard drive...

My GS fan never comes on, even with an OC'd CPU and a R9 290 ( Well, it might come on but not loud enough for me to hear it ) Guess having the 850w one would make sense.

[STRMfrmXMN]

8 minutes ago, DarkBlade2117 said:

I only hear the 212 Evo in my PC. The loudest thing is the hard drive...

My GS fan never comes on, even with an OC'd CPU and a R9 290 ( Well, it might come on but not loud enough for me to hear it ) Guess having the 850w one would make sense.

I think the 850W has a similar fan curve but mine comes on with just an i3 4360 in the system sucking power and no GPU

[Gommly]

9 hours ago, HKZeroFive said:

There are some decent power supplies in that price range such as the Antec High Current Gamer 520W or the True Power Classic 550W, although I wouldn't classify them as the 'quietest'.

 

I'm just curious on why you're planning on having a $100 CPU cooler for a locked i3.

I was planning on an i5 6600k but decided I'd rather spend the money on the gtx 1060 but I may still upgrade in the future. The other probably main reason is I wanted premium 'quiet' parts in this build. If there are cpu coolers that are just as quiet at a cheaper price I'd be willing to listen. As it is I think I need to increase the budget on my psu.

[Gommly]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm thinking maybe I'll not worry so much about sound in the psu at first and see how it goes as people are saying it's not even the loudest component in the build. Then maybe get a quieter one later if noise is an issue. 

[HKZeroFive]

8 hours ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

High Current Gamer is pretty loud, not sure about the TP Classic.

I'd expect the Truepower Classic to reflect the noise levels of the Seasonic G-series, since it's based on the same platform. It'd be far from being the quietest thing in the world.

8 hours ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Also where does he mention a CPU cooler? I might just be blind.

13 hours ago, Gommly said:

I'm planning on using a quiet case such as the fractal design r5 and a be quiet dark rock pro 3 cpu cooler

2 hours ago, Gommly said:

I was planning on an i5 6600k but decided I'd rather spend the money on the gtx 1060 but I may still upgrade in the future. The other probably main reason is I wanted premium 'quiet' parts in this build. If there are cpu coolers that are just as quiet at a cheaper price I'd be willing to listen. As it is I think I need to increase the budget on my psu.

You could probably do just as well with the beQuiet! PURE ROCK for $50 bucks less. If I were you, I'd be thinking about a quad core i5 6500 instead of a premium power supply.

[Vode]

Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 11

 

Seasonic Platinum Fanless

 

/thread

[STRMfrmXMN]

3 hours ago, HKZeroFive said:

I'd expect the Truepower Classic to reflect the noise levels of the Seasonic G-series, since it's based on the same platform. It'd be far from being the quietest thing in the world.

You could probably do just as well with the beQuiet! PURE ROCK for $50 bucks less. If I were you, I'd be thinking about a quad core i5 6500 instead of a premium power supply.

Actually under less than about 200W load or so (can't remember the exact fan curve but it's retarded in that unit) the fan is completely inaudible. I'll never forget the time I built a system for a client that had an i5 4460 with the stock cooler, a Gigabyte GTX 960 (to date has my favorite cooler of any GPU) and a Seasonic 550W G-series, and you literally could not hear the system when it was running both Furmark and AIDA64. If you brought your ear into fan slicing your lobe off distance, you could hear the faintest of noise from the fan in the Seasonic but everything was by-and-large audible. However, if we paired it with a GTX 970 I know the PSU would then make a shitton more noise

 

29 minutes ago, Vode said:

Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 11

 

Seasonic Platinum Fanless

 

/thread

Except this thread is uh kinda big oops