PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W

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• strikeback03 - Monday, June 9, 2008 - link

  The Anandtech component reviews which include power numbers are IIRC done at the wall, so you can look at those for a variety of power draw scenarios. How long you use the system and how heavily you use it, how large and power-efficient your monitor is, etc. will all influence your power usage.
  
  They have stated before they would like to come out with a guide for power draw for some common components, but that is probably more of a back-burner item.

• grunjee - Monday, June 9, 2008 - link

  They really should drop the 'Silencer' name from their PSUs that are noisy. I've owned two Silencer models in the past and they were among the noisiest PSUs I've ever had. As a consumer it's nice to have some truth in advertising, especially from a reputable company.

• nubie - Monday, June 9, 2008 - link

  Sorry your Silencer is not quiet, mine is virtually impossible to hear over the hard drive inside the case (and this is a hard drive that I pulled from a Tivo2, so it is a fairly quiet drive itself.)
  
  My Silencer 470 is so quiet that I have to double and triple check that the fan is even moving.
  
  I notice every time these PC Power and Cooling reviews come out there are noise bashing comments and no mention of the load or temperature that you are exposing them to. Please qualify your comments with some observed facts.
  
  The fans should ramp up if exposed to high temperatures and load, this should not be counted against them as the case design should take into account proper cooling for the PSU. See this guide from SilentPCReview.com to build a duct to cool the PSU (and prevent Fan ramp up) : http://www.silentpcreview.com/article293-page2.htm...">http://www.silentpcreview.com/article293-page2.htm...
  
  If there is an actual problem with the PSU, you should take it up with the PC Power and Cooling.

• Christoph Katzer - Monday, June 9, 2008 - link

  Sorry but I am sure your PC has less than 100 watts power consumption. because then it is really quiet. Post your specs, we will see.

• nubie - Saturday, June 14, 2008 - link

  It is always possible my system is drawing less, but I doubt it.* Specs change, but currently I run a P5NE-SLI with a 7300GT (formerly 8800GTS 320MB, no difference, even with some overclocking and under 5-hour gaming sessions with multi-sampling and shader generation by the game as part of level creation.)
  
  2GB DDR2, 80GB WD, Celeron 430 @ 3.17Ghz.
  
  I have at times run an overclocked 7900GS (650mhz core, voltmod) on a 2.6Ghz Athlon 3200+ with a DFI Infinity SLI-M2 and a 6600GT for extra screens, same DDR2 for memory, also an HD tuner card and another HDD have been used at the same time.
  
  The case I am running now has top-to-bottom mesh for the front, only USB and front audio at the very bottom, and a DVD at the top, 9 bays worth of mesh run from top to bottom. Scythe 120mm intake at the bottom. Scythe Infinity with 120mm in the middle for the CPU, and 92mm AC exhuast fan. I try to keep the heat away from the PCPower as much as possible.
  
  I look forward to trying a Dual/Quad overclocked and an nvidia 200 series card overclocked with a voltmod to see if it is too loud, currently I cannot afford that, but prices drop, so I will in the future. I suppose I could put my 7900GS OC back in and load it and the 7300 with Ati-tool (the 7300 is long-overdue for a mod to 7600GT clocks, just need to get the cooling and volt-mod out of the way.), chuck in another hard drive, and start recording off of the HD tuner. But why bother? It is quiet, and my system is drawing plenty of power for it to ramp up, my room gets 90°F+, so I don't think noise is a problem.
  
  * according to http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine">http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine my current system is 245W with 89% load on the CPU and 90% system load, which is the default, I didn't futz with that to generate a fake report (overclock generated at 1.3v 3.17ghz).
  
  I am not saying that they are all good, for all I know there is different software, or different settings, or somebody threw a loud fan in from the wrong bin on the assembly line. More likely the specs change over time, and all systems are different. I can only report on the unit I have with the hardware I am using.

• Merman - Monday, June 9, 2008 - link

  Why is there no more reporting about the quality of the DC output, Ripple and Noise, in your power supply reviews??? I think the last time ripple was reported was in Nov 2007 in the 400-450w PSU Roundup.
  
  Is there a problem in measurement??? If not shouldn't there at least be a comment about current output quality???

• Christoph Katzer - Monday, June 9, 2008 - link

  That was actually the first one I didnt include a comment about it. But no worries, if something would have been wrong be sure i would have added it to the list.

• Merman - Monday, June 9, 2008 - link

  Christoph is your comment condescending or an indication of the importance of Ripple and Noise???
  
  

• Christoph Katzer - Monday, June 9, 2008 - link

  I find Ripple/Noise also very important but since nobody said a word I thought I could leave the graphics out and just add a comment. I always needed quite some time for the ripple graphs. I will add at least the comments again in the future and new models I get will have the ripple graphs again... alright? It's just there are not many people actually understanding what this topic is about and we need to still keep it accessible. No worries, I am working 7 years with power supplies and had several product managing positions in several companies. I know it's an important topic :)

• Merman - Tuesday, June 10, 2008 - link

  Since I am just a layman comments are the most important IMO unless a graph is needed to make a point about the power's quality. Reporting the results can help decide if one PSU is worth a premium in price or is a steal compared to other products. Of course only if the better power supply reviewers measure the same way so we can rely on the results and compare reviews from different sites. There are only a few of you on the net and am sure you are at least aware of each other. You all have methodolgy articles post your procedures there.
  
  Your opinion of the results would be most beneficial qualifying the results. I know the lower the number the better the results but context of the results is needed. As an example a maximum of 40mV of noise on the 12 volt rail at full power is a great result but is 95mV at full power on another PSU still OK because at 50% power the ripple and noise is 40mV???
  
  Please let importance dictate what you report not unware opinion or no comments. :)
  
  I have only realized this year about the importance of clean power while reading reviews to make a decision of which PSU to purchase. So I am still trying to understand how important it is and which power supplies provide it.
  
  Thank you for your consideration.