PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W

Fan Speed

The fan starts rotating at 1240 RPM, which is already somewhat high. It would be perfectly acceptable to keep the fan at this speed until higher loads, since the power supply doesn't really get much warmer inside until higher loads. However, as the graphs show the fan starts turning faster with every single step of load we applied. The maximum 3200 RPM is reached quite fast at only 80% of load, which is clearly not necessary. PCP&C continues to ascribe to the "better safe than sorry" approach to PSU cooling - not a bad idea, but also not necessary at some point.

Acoustics

The acoustics table shows it clearly that there is a heavy increase in acoustic noise during operation. We could live with the 20dB(A) reached at a medium load of 250W, but 35dB(A) with just a little more than 350W more isn't something we would be happy with. To put things in perspective, we've tested other power supplies that deliver over 1000W of power without reaching such a high noise level. We're not at all convinced by the "Silencer" name in this case.