high wattage vs. high efficency for silence

[Napper198]

I kinda have a feeling that my current Seasonic G-750 seems to struggle a bit with providing enough juice for my i7 5820K + 1080ti both overclocked.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have power failures or anything but even under just GPU load it gets too loud for my taste + ketchup and mustard cables need to go.

 

So I'm in the market for a new PSU, however, crowded as the market is, I'm a bit indecisive on whether or not to spend 200-ish € on a stupid high wattage PSU (1200+) or to go with a moderate 850W with 80+ Titanium.

 

any insights, recommendations, experience, opinions?

 

Edit: I don't know the exact power draw but it overloads my 500W UPS I use for my server

[seon123]

How about a silent one?

Seasonic Prime and Corsair RMx are some of the quietest units. 

LAMBDA certification here

https://www.cybenetics.com/index.php?option=database

 

And just reviews that test noise. Tomshardware tests volume, IIRC. 

[DocSwag]

You would probably be better off with an 850w ish pretty silent unit.

 

This might be a bit extreme but... how's a fanless 600w unit sound? It should still have enough wattage for a 5820k+1080 ti OCed

https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=PS-S650TL5&c=fr&hash=8b19PPmEOCFKtfbTYu4EY4Aetv7MkW%2Bqtj%2B0Sy%2FPj1afPWFQgyuIYYRLe82KhTFQhIe8fqr8uIU9YM%2BqfN77%2BLTfXbFj7TpfroS1%2FaRgnQQztYIpAnLuc6A&gclid=CjwKCAiAoqXQBRA8EiwAIIOWsiaO3JbazonrvZtCX1ApJuvGZw0omvYk03STNAKzYkmMSzudOG12UhoCPTEQAvD_BwE

[Napper198]

18 minutes ago, seon123 said:

How about a silent one?

Seasonic Prime and Corsair RMx are some of the quietest units. 

LAMBDA certification here

https://www.cybenetics.com/index.php?option=database

 

And just reviews that test noise. Tomshardware tests volume, IIRC. 

looking through that lists right now, tthaks.

 

4 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

You would probably be better off with an 850w ish pretty silent unit.

 

This might be a bit extreme but... how's a fanless 600w unit sound? It should still have enough wattage for a 5820k+1080 ti OCed

https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=PS-S650TL5&c=fr&hash=8b19PPmEOCFKtfbTYu4EY4Aetv7MkW%2Bqtj%2B0Sy%2FPj1afPWFQgyuIYYRLe82KhTFQhIe8fqr8uIU9YM%2BqfN77%2BLTfXbFj7TpfroS1%2FaRgnQQztYIpAnLuc6A&gclid=CjwKCAiAoqXQBRA8EiwAIIOWsiaO3JbazonrvZtCX1ApJuvGZw0omvYk03STNAKzYkmMSzudOG12UhoCPTEQAvD_BwE

Unfortunately they don't sell them over here, and I think it would choke to death in the Corsair Air 540 (case upgrade incoming as well), but interesting idea.

[DocSwag]

9 minutes ago, Napper198 said:

looking through that lists right now, tthaks.

 

Unfortunately they don't sell them over here, and I think it would choke to death in the Corsair Air 540 (case upgrade incoming as well), but interesting idea.

If you want to as silent as possible I recommend a Seasonic prime titanium unit. Their performance puts them as one of the best if not the best psu on the market right now, and they're also incredibly quiet.

If you don't want to spend that much money (since these guys do cost a pretty penny) you could also look for an RMi unit. They're still very good PSUs but cost considerably less while still being pretty quiet.

[Stefan Payne]

1 hour ago, Napper198 said:

I kinda have a feeling that my current Seasonic G-750 seems to struggle a bit with providing enough juice for my i7 5820K + 1080ti both overclocked.

No, it doesn't.

With those components it's highly unlikely to get that far....

The G-750 should be enough for two 1080Ti.

If you don't believe me, just buy a Powermeter and take a look at the power consumption....

If I'd hat to guess I'd say that even a 550W should be enough if you don't overdo the overclocking. 
Remember that it is possible to double the power consumption of components with overclocking!!

 

So all you are saying is that the G-750 gets loud under load, don't you?

 

Quote

Don't get me wrong, I don't have power failures or anything but even under just GPU load it gets too loud for my taste + ketchup and mustard cables need to go.

As I'd guessed.

Don't make the mistake and assume that loud means its struggling.

It is just designed that way for whatever reason...

 

Quote

So I'm in the market for a new PSU, however, crowded as the market is, I'm a bit indecisive on whether or not to spend 200-ish € on a stupid high wattage PSU (1200+) or to go with a moderate 850W with 80+ Titanium.

 

any insights, recommendations, experience, opinions?

You make the error of thinking that higher wattage = lower noise.

That is just completely wrong.

The truth is that you want a quiet PSU, not a higher wattage one. One that is designed to be rather quiet, keep the fan RPM low.

 

A couple of days ago, there was a user @ Hardwareluxx who bought a Platimax DF 1050 because he thought that that would be more silent. He couldn't be more wrong.

https://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/f238/enermax-platimax-1050w-d-f-epf1050ewt-luefterlautstaerke-1179189.html

 

 

So the question is how silent it has to be, what do you really want?

[STRMfrmXMN]

3 hours ago, Napper198 said:

I kinda have a feeling that my current Seasonic G-750 seems to struggle a bit with providing enough juice for my i7 5820K + 1080ti both overclocked.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have power failures or anything but even under just GPU load it gets too loud for my taste + ketchup and mustard cables need to go.

 

So I'm in the market for a new PSU, however, crowded as the market is, I'm a bit indecisive on whether or not to spend 200-ish € on a stupid high wattage PSU (1200+) or to go with a moderate 850W with 80+ Titanium.

 

any insights, recommendations, experience, opinions?

 

Edit: I don't know the exact power draw but it overloads my 500W UPS I use for my server

A 5820K and 1080Ti might consume 500W if you really tried to go ham on overclocking. I know for an absolute fact that you're not overloading a 750W PSU simply because a 1080Ti and 5820K cannot possible draw that much with the connections provided to it without annihilating your VRMs.

 

Check that your UPS isn't the issue. Your PSU, unless defective, is not.

[Napper198]

After studying the cybenetics database @seon123 posted I had come to exactly that realization. There is indeed no generalization possible if it comes to silence and you have to look at each PSU individually.

 

I thereby went with the Corsair RM850X white edition, as it matches my color scheme, comes with a set of individually sleeved cables which also match and it was only 10€ more than the almost equally silent RM750X white edition.

 

I could have saved a ton by going with the standard RM750X and save 50€ but considering that the cable set is 79€ it's a good deal if you want the swag.

 

[Napper198]

10 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

A 5820K and 1080Ti might consume 500W if you really tried to go ham on overclocking. I know for an absolute fact that you're not overloading a 750W PSU simply because a 1080Ti and 5820K cannot possible draw that much with the connections provided to it without annihilating your VRMs.

 

Check that your UPS isn't the issue. Your PSU, unless defective, is not.

The UPS isn't the issue as it is not used with this PC. It was only to point out that the system is indeed drawing over 500W from the wall when loaded

[STRMfrmXMN]

50 minutes ago, Napper198 said:

The UPS isn't the issue as it is not used with this PC. It was only to point out that the system is indeed drawing over 500W from the wall when loaded

Ah, well if it's drawing more than 500W it's not much more. The 5820K is probably drawing 200W while the 1080Ti, if mildly overclocked, is reaching about 300W. So I'm guessing you're drawing a bit more if you have more than a small OC on your 1080 Ti.

[Stefan1024]

6 hours ago, Napper198 said:

I kinda have a feeling that my current Seasonic G-750 seems to struggle a bit with providing enough juice for my i7 5820K + 1080ti both overclocked.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have power failures or anything but even under just GPU load it gets too loud for my taste + ketchup and mustard cables need to go.

 

So I'm in the market for a new PSU, however, crowded as the market is, I'm a bit indecisive on whether or not to spend 200-ish € on a stupid high wattage PSU (1200+) or to go with a moderate 850W with 80+ Titanium.

 

any insights, recommendations, experience, opinions?

 

Edit: I don't know the exact power draw but it overloads my 500W UPS I use for my server

The Seasonic Platinum Fanless 520 watt should be good. Just don't block the ventilation holes. Or get the Prime Titanium Fanless with 600 watts, if you don't minde spending a lot.

But don't get the Enermax Digifanless 500 watts, it just overheats at 500 watts. While the temperature sensor reports chilling 55°C, some parts where at >95°C.

 

 

[Stefan Payne]

6 hours ago, Stefan1024 said:

The Seasonic Platinum Fanless 520 watt should be good. Just don't block the ventilation holes. Or get the Prime Titanium Fanless with 600 watts, if you don't minde spending a lot.

But don't get the Enermax Digifanless 500 watts, it just overheats at 500 watts. While the temperature sensor reports chilling 55°C, some parts where at >95°C.

Fanless are overpriced niche products...

And the newer ones use the airflow inside the case to stay somewhat cool...

 

So no fan is saved in the end.

 

Get a good, quiet PSU with a fan...

[Stefan1024]

2 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

Fanless are overpriced niche products...

And the newer ones use the airflow inside the case to stay somewhat cool...

 

So no fan is saved in the end.

 

Get a good, quiet PSU with a fan...

Well, I don't use any fan at all in some builds, so this is not an option. But if you have a lot of fans anyway, it doesn't make a big difference.

[Stefan Payne]

1 hour ago, Stefan1024 said:

Well, I don't use any fan at all in some builds, so this is not an option. But if you have a lot of fans anyway, it doesn't make a big difference.

And that's the Problem you are having with the fanless PSU!

They are NOT designed that way, they need forced airflow if you don't provide that, they will overheat.

Thus you don't save anything by that.,,

The advantage however is that you can choose the fan you use and there are some amazing options on the market - though 20€/per fan or more.

 

Besides that, the electronics noise can be higher than the noise of a good fan at 500rpm or lower (well it probably is)...

 

And the difference between no fan at all and a 120mm or 140mm one at 300rpm or something like that, well it's just another wolrd and we are talking easily about 20K difference...

[Stefan1024]

12 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

And that's the Problem you are having with the fanless PSU!

They are NOT designed that way, they need forced airflow if you don't provide that, they will overheat.

Thus you don't save anything by that.,,

The advantage however is that you can choose the fan you use and there are some amazing options on the market - though 20€/per fan or more.

 

Besides that, the electronics noise can be higher than the noise of a good fan at 500rpm or lower (well it probably is)...

 

And the difference between no fan at all and a 120mm or 140mm one at 300rpm or something like that, well it's just another wolrd and we are talking easily about 20K difference...

I'm not having a problem with passive PSUs, in fact I like them

Also I only pushed the PSU that hard with a synthetic load tests which is not representative for daily useage. On the other hand getting rid of 500 watts without fans is tricky in the first place.

 

And speaking about a fan at low RPM vs. fully passive. At one point it's more a "want" than a requirement to get the noise down. But I managed to get 21 dBa (20 dBa noise floor) at full load, for a full gaming system (GTX980 SLI).

 

The electronic noise wasn't that bad, I just had to use a little bit of hot glue and some foam to silence a few coils.