Silverstone ST30NF 300W Silent PSU reviewed 143
VL writes "Silence is golden as they say, but in Silverstone's case, it's, uh, silver. Will this silent PSU bring it, or will enthusiasts continue to be plagued with noisy PSUs? 'Initially I had some reservations of how a 300W PSU would handle our test system in real-world testing. Needless to say the Silverstone ST30NF 300W PSU got the job done efficiently and quietly, or should I say silently. It doesn't come cheap, ringing in at close to $150, but that's the price you pay for a high quality PSU that does not make any noise at all.'"
Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:5, Informative)
so inclined). I started my career in Silicon Valley working for a
company that made small lots of custom power supplies for "the
government": everything from teeny low power jobbies to big HV
monstrosities in the KW range that drove TWT's. In the 5 years I
spent there, we probably designed over 125 power supplies and nont
one had a fan and all had very high MTBFs. The key is using
high-grade, mil-spec components that can run hot (what were called
JAN, JANTXV, and JANS back in the day), and using monster heat
sinks. They are, however, not cheap. If you want to run at 105
deg C, you pay accordingly.
~
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:2)
You know, it is perfectly possible to find it a good idea to buy a badly designed product, and yet not being insane. It all depends of what you need. Buying a product does not mean you approve its design.
--
Krazy Kat, An American Comic Strip [ignatzmouse.net]
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:2)
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:5, Interesting)
A PC PSU must coexist with other components that can't be re-specified. Also, the PC PSU is generally assumed to suck air out of the case and blow it out the back, cooling the other PC components. (I'm aware that the one in this article doesn't.)
-Peter
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:2)
Maybe you should tell that to Apple, who seem to disagree with you.
Just move the power supply outside the PC (like the mini), already.
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:2)
Maybe you should tell that to Apple, who seem to disagree with you.,/p>
Apple doesn't make PCs, they make Macs. You know - single-source, limited configuration, with custom cases?
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:3, Insightful)
Ohhhh yeah! Like Dell.
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:3, Interesting)
Blah blah blah flamebait.
Why is it that none of your wonderful customizable computer makers seem to make a case that dosn't require a built in power supply.
None but Apple, anyway.
(ok, there are probably a few, but doesn't it seem like there should be more?)
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:2)
And yes, there are PCs with external power supplies. Most of them have sm
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:2)
But I expect that the trend will be away from fans in general. With more and more PC sales being laptops (not to mention handhelds), heat dissipation is becoming even more important. Yes, there will still be towers and racks, but I imagine more and more PCs will move toward having external power supplies. It seems especially obvio
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:4, Interesting)
But it can be done. I own a Silvestone PSU, and I use it in a fanless case. I have connected the PSU to a Zalman Reserator [zalman.co.kr], which is a fanless watercooling solution. I'm also using the Reserator to cool my GPU, CPU and Northbridge. In order to silence my HDD I built a really sturdy noise-proof box, and put the HDD in it, together with a water block connected to the Reserator.
The result? I've been running a nearly 100% silent system with reasonable performance (Athlon64 3000+, dual videocards, fast HDD) for about one year. The biggest downside is the maintainability. Changing a system component can take well over an hour, what with emptying the system of water, removing the tubing, etc..
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:2)
Not only is moving air assumed, it is part of the ATX specification. At least it is in the original ATX spec. You can find the pdfs online. Look at the mechanical specification and you should see a bit about air movement.
Re:Quiet PSU's should not be hard (Score:1)
Hence heat sink design seems to be the obvious for any low noise PSU solution. Better design would be having vent on top of casing with heat sink outside of encloded casing.
Misleading (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Misleading (Score:2)
Adding a fanless liquid cooling system?
Re:Misleading (Score:2)
Re:Misleading (Score:2)
Re:Misleading (Score:2)
You know, as I have discovered recently, the more fans, the less noise. I bought 3 Noiseblocker S1 and recycled two old Antec 80mm fans (plugged serially, so 6V each) to make my PC cooler and quieter. Effectively, two fans can blox as much air as one making no noise at all where one fan would be very noisy.
Airflow still remains the easiest way to cool a computer. Just double the number of fans you have but make them run twice as slow. Silence you will have, and for a very
"It doesn't come cheap..." (Score:5, Funny)
Wow. Those $200 WalMart PC's have got everyone's value systems really fucked up.
Re:"It doesn't come cheap..." (Score:1)
$150 for one component of a system isn't really 'cheap'.I don't think $200 PCs have trashed value systems. As the adage goes, you get what you pay for.
Re:"It doesn't come cheap..." (Score:3, Informative)
That's a pretty idiotic comment. PSUs tend to cost about $50, so, yes one that costs three times that would be expensive. Similarly, if someone was charging $10 for a very good apple, one might comment that they didn't come cheap also. Value isn't some absolute: $100 isn't very expensive, but $500 is. It depends on the product in question.
Re:"It doesn't come cheap..." (Score:2)
How much do _fanless_ PSU's tend to cost? You are comparing apples to oranges here. Yes, we are talking about PC PSU's here, but on the one hand we have your standard PSU with a fan, and on the other hand we have a fanless PSU. While they might serve the same function (power up the PC), one is not really an alternative to the other.
You might as well compare 28" CRT-television to 37" LCD-television, and proclaim the LCD to be "expensive", since the CRT-tube is so much cheaper. I me
Re:"It doesn't come cheap..." (Score:3, Interesting)
No, it's deep. I think that your reasoning is idiotic.
I stand by what I wrote. People (like you, apparently) have become accustomed to getting great stuff for almost free -- in fact, EXPECTING it to be almost free.
You have become confused and believe that because something is common that is then somehow good or right.
I do believe you are correct when you say, "Value isn't some absolute..." but I think you don't really understand what you mean. You just stumbled acr
No fan (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:No fan (Score:4, Informative)
It's infinitely quieter than the 450W noname brand I had before, and probably much more reliable, too.
300W? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:300W? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:300W? (Score:2)
I just had to upgrade my 310W PSU because it wasn't enough to power my average system. My second SATA HD would spin down and up once in a while for no apparent reason and when I only connected 1 drive, no problems.
I would say the minimum f
Re:300W? (Score:2)
Re:300W? (Score:2)
A 240Watt PSU runs my Athlon64 3700+ Shuttle XPC! (Score:2)
I have one of those Shuttle XPC systems that has an Athlon64 3700+ w/1GB RAM in it, as well as a GeForce 6600GT AGP, a DVD+/-RW, and of course a hard drive. This XPC only comes with a 240W PSU(!). I was worried at first about cramming a GeForce 6600GT in it, since it is a power hungry card (plus this xpc is a socket
Re:300W? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:300W? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:300W? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:300W? (Score:3, Insightful)
Different market (Score:2)
However, this would do fairly well for office machines, especially places with rows on rows of noisy machines (of course, a silent-style CPU fan would also be needed, and a lower pricetag for most offices).
Re:300W? (Score:2)
I've had one for a while now (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I've had one for a while now (Score:1)
I only have one slow fan for the cpu. I use a big roomy old style server case, which I think is key for a fanless system.
Even if you were to use a fanless cpu heatsink, the heat still needs to be dissipated out the case, and you can use slow 160 mm fan for that (which will be the configuration for my next computer).
alternative (Score:4, Informative)
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=Seasonic+S12+
Got mine for $50 and the 120mm fan doesn't contribute any more noise than my CPU cooler or old noisy hard drives.
Re:alternative (Score:1)
Gotta agree (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Gotta agree (Score:2)
Re: No-name PSU (Score:2)
So I did some measurements and found the RPMs I wanted to run them at -- measured the voltage drop and current. Then I soldered in some resisto
Re:Gotta agree (Score:2)
Fanless PSUs are a nice idea in theory but less impressive in practice.
Re:Gotta agree (Score:2)
The S12 is also very efficent (78-82%), runs cool (particularly compared to fanless units), has good voltage stability, active PFC, automatically adapts to 100-240V and 50/60Hz, and has all of the expected safety certifications.
Basically, the problem with fanless PSUs is that they often become unacceptably hot during high-load conditions. Moreover, they often incr
not very efficient (Score:2)
Re:alternative (Score:1)
(save your RIAA jokes - we produced commercials for radio, private corporations and such)
Sometimes it's just more practical to go with a fanless system than it is to route tons of lossy USB and video cable to an acoustically sealed server closet.
Ever try to cut a vocal with even a low-noise fan whizzing in the corner?
Some people.......
Re:Hard Drives & USB Digital (Score:2)
If I was building a computer today that needed a long video cable, I would go with DVI and a flat panel monitor. DVI is digital, so no loss of quality (and looks way better than using the VGA input on the flatpanel in any circumstance). I
Thes things are really nice (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Thes things are really nice (Score:3, Informative)
The Antec Phantom is US$150 at newegg [newegg.com]. That compares very well with the Silverstone ST30NF from the review: the Phantom is 500W vs the ST30NF which is 300W.
It makes perfect sense to have a fan that spins up when under high load. It'll increase the longevity of the PSU, and the small amount of noise when under load will easily be covered up by the sound from your game, or won't matter too much because you're acutually working on the computer. When it's time to sleep, the fan will spin down.
The best of b
Re:Thes things are really nice (Score:2)
Is this really a problem? (Score:2)
Re:Is this really a problem? (Score:1)
Having the same small amount of noise in a bedroom when you're trying to sleep will quickly become annoying because the background noise level is virtually zero.
Incidentally, I find it's the same with LEDs. Having heaps of flashy lights on things is fun while the lights are on but quickly become annoying when the lights are of
Re:Is this really a problem? (Score:1)
Re:Is this really a problem? (Score:2)
We had these installed in our office. The speakers were about the size/shape of paint cans. They actually pump out pink noise [wikipedia.org], because we perceive pink noise to be the same loudness at all frequencies (i.e. white noise sounds too harsh at higher frequencies). Everytime the power went out, the place got *really* quiet.
Incidentally, the pink noise system in our office had a mini-pl
Re:Is this really a problem? (Score:1)
Needless to say? (Score:5, Insightful)
Needless to say? Then why did you write a review about it? Or were you just padding your remarks with random babble to bring the word count up and to try to make yourself sound smart and competent?
Please, leave the verbiage to people who know how to do it, and just get right to the point.
Re:Needless to say? (Score:3, Insightful)
Sad to say, too many website are just like this. Reviews of simple componenets discuss the packaging, the company that makes the product, the box the product was shipped in, and then finally, they get to the actual review. But, not before 200 pictures of the aformentionned. Then you find it performs about the same as everything else. Surprise! Except
Oblig. link (Score:2)
more oblig. links (Score:2)
How about a good PSU with a fast fan? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How about a good PSU with a fast fan? (Score:2)
"Server room" or "broom closet with servers in it"? Filling a closet with milk doesn't mean you have a fridge. Same goes for server rooms.
If you are having heat problems:
1) Make sure the server room is adequately ventilated and that the air is circulating properly to avoid "hotspots".
2) If necessary get an air conditioner to bring ambient temperature down.
Re:How about a good PSU with a fast fan? (Score:2)
Thanks for the tips but a well chilled computer room does not adequately compensate for poor airflow in the server.
Re:How about a good PSU with a fast fan? (Score:2)
Still, a PSU dieing to heat death in a properly maintained server room with proper air circulation around the servers is either in an absolutely horrid case. (Which doesn't seem likely given what you've said...) or the result of fan that died within the PSU, ultimately causing a heat death.
I just can't see *any* decent brand name PSU in a proper environment getting heat fried unless the PS
Re:How about a good PSU with a fast fan? (Score:2)
The case is a nice 4U antec rackmount; it has relatively good airflow front-to-back though not quite as good as I'd like around the cards. The PSU fan didn't wear out. Enermax picked a fan with a relatively poor CFM to start with and then under-volted it so that it spun even slower to stay quiet.
The 600W PSU had to support 9 drives and
Re:How about a good PSU with a fast fan? (Score:2)
Many power supplies from the big names have dubious features as they chase the enthusiast market. These companies are driven by marketing. PC Power and Cooling have engineered their supplies to be power supplies first, and quiet second. PC Power and Cooling is one of the few companies still driven by
Seasonic a much better idea (Score:4, Informative)
Now, while this PSU is "totally silent", the power supply is assumed to have at least a minimal fan by just about every ATX system designer. As another poster mentioned, if yours doesn't have a fan, you're going to have to either choose very low-power components, or put in/ramp up other fans to compensate. So unless you're going to put this on some teeny underpowered VIA or Pentium-M-based system, you're going to make up in noise anyway.
Re:Seasonic a much better idea (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Seasonic a much better idea (Score:1)
If said system is under your desk, and you get a good, quiet PSU (like the Seasonic), you probably won't be able to hear it. If it's on your desk, it's probably SFF, and so this ATX supply isn't going to help.
If you're in audio production or whatever, you might actually nee
Re:Seasonic a much better idea (Score:1)
Re:Seasonic a much better idea (Score:2)
Silent? Been there, done that (Score:1)
I run a Sempron 3200+, 1GB RAM, GeForce 6600
Insufficient price to benefit ratio (Score:1, Interesting)
My Blog: http://blog.damnednice.com/ [damnednice.com]
Pics of System: http://www.flickr.com/photos/damnednice/99975127/ [flickr.com]
Re:Insufficient price to benefit ratio (Score:1)
Bright image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/damnednice/101985744/ [flickr.com]
Dark image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/damnednice/101985741/ [flickr.com]
my blog: http://blog.damnednice.com/ [damnednice.com]
A celebration of mediocrity (Score:2, Insightful)
Just go to the www.silentpcreview.com (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Just go to the www.silentpcreview.com (Score:2)
250 Watts in the US and Canada (Score:2)
My Computer is VERY LOUD... (Score:2)
The USB hub is closer... a couple doors away which means I have to get up to change DVDs every so often. The RF remote works fine... and there are almost no wires around my desk. Plus the main unit is completely accessible and comfortable to fiddle with.
Now I only need large solid-state storage! (Score:1)
Re:Now I only need large solid-state storage! (Score:2)
Compressed != Lossy
(about a 1/2 TB of "compressed" lossless here.)
It's really made by Etasis in Taiwan (Score:4, Informative)
This is important, because there are too many unapproved power supplies out there. Those are the ones that fail, or worse, catch fire, when loaded up to their rated load.
The heat pipe arrangement looks like an afterthought. A simpler design would have the power semiconductors on the back plate with the fins. That's how industrial power supplies are usually built.
Uh, silent? (Score:2)
This isn't scorn against the PSU mentioned in this article, nor those people who are searching for a silent PSU but I have to ask,
What the hell are people doing to make their PSU's noisy?
I've got a 450Watt PSU that came in my Codegen Mini-server case when I bought it a few years ago. I have never heard it, even when I stick my ear near it. The only way I know it's functioning is that I can feel the breeze blowing out the back of the PSU.
The noisiest fans in my case are the little fans on the back
Re: (Score:2)
Re:9 fans?!? (Score:2)
The whole computer isn't completely silent - he said as he listened to the gentle sounding, perpetually crashing waves on the beach -, just the three big mothers in the back (two case, one PSU) that push a lot of air but spin kind of slow. The little ones spin faster than the big'uns but they're not trying to spin at 10,000 RPM or more.
A little bit of heat isn't going to kill my machine.
I'm not deaf either, I can still hear the sound of muted television set. :)
Faulty review (Score:4, Insightful)
For some reason they used an actual computer as a load. That is going to result in an inconsistant load and useless results.
They claim to have measured "power" with a simple DMM. You cannot measure AC power this way. What they probably measured was apparant power. This doesn't take into account inductive or capacitive loads.
The voltage table is useless because the amount of load is unknown and inconsistent between tests.
There is no measurement of electrical noise on the output - which is the only problem I have ever had with PC PSUs (besides outright failures).
Basically their only real conclusion as "all of the power supplies worked".
0 dBA != silent (Score:2, Interesting)
<pedant>I just have to get it off my chest as I see this mistake so often in 'silent' hardware reviews. dBA is a logarithmic scale, so 0 dBA isn't silent - that would be negative infinity dBA.</pedant>
0 dBA is extremely quiet, and fanless PSUs may be extremely quiet, but using '0 dBA' to mean 'practically silent' just perpetuates confusion over the dB scale.
Re:0 dBA != silent (Score:2)
Re:0 dBA != silent (Score:2)
My doubts on completely silent claim (Score:2, Informative)
Good news for project studios.... (Score:2, Interesting)
I've had issues when doing PC recording with the fan noise bleeding into sensitive condensor mics. Silent power supplies are great because they will allow more flexible design on home recording studios with the ability to keep the system in the room with you. A longtime issue fo DIY bands.
Right now I use a FW800 MDD Mac Dual 1.0 G4 which still has a siginicifant amount of fan noise. But much quieter than my first recording box which was a cobbled Frankenstien
Waste heat? (Score:2)
What do these silent PSUs do with their excess heat? If they merely radiate it off of the PSU case, they're going to seriously pump up the ambient heat in your case. Transferring it to the chassis would help, but that's still not as effective as dumping it entirely outside the case.
$150?? (Score:2)
I bought a 300 watt power supply for $17 (CDN) - call it under $15.
The issue is: how to make it QUIET. I take a "system" level approach to the problem. Built a cabinet around the whole computer, providing sound-proofing. Did the cabinet cost around $135? It was less. Much less.
Now, my power supply has a fan (it actually has two). But so does the processor, the video card, and there are two fans in the hard drive carrier.
6 fans making noise. The box also has 3 hard drives, and a DVD.
A lot of stuff making noi
300W PSU? Pathetic (Score:2)
Fan size (Score:2)
Some of the newer server machines here at work have larger-than normal fans to the rear of the case. They run slow, steady, and quiet.
er, As you might notice, this doesn't
Re:Not a good option for High End PCs (Score:2)
(Though I question whether in most environments it'd matter above a good, quiet fan-based PSU which you can get for 1/3 the price...)
Re:Rather half-arsed review ... (Score:4, Informative)
If you wish to get a proper review of PSU's, my suggestion would be to grab that issue, as it is quite intresting to read. Infact, I've just checked, and they have put the whole Labs online from that issue, so http://www.pcpro.co.uk/custompc/labs/26/psus/intr
NeoThermic