XXHighEnd

In the words of the Steely Dan song "Everyfan Must Go" or something like that!.

I still have three fans in my PC case and they are working considerably harder with Peter's latest software upgrade (no surprises there then).

My new years resolution is to get rid of them. First of all I am going for water cooled CPU so that will get rid of the CPU fan.

But I would appreciate any views on the power supply which I will change out for a fanless. There are posts about fanless power supplies on the forum but I would appreciate any views on what is the best way to go. What power rating is recomended? my PC is music dedicated so I was wondering if 430W would be OK or do I need more. Any views would be very welcome.

I guess that a linear PS is not really a practical option

Cheers

Paul

350W will do for sure if you only have a "normal" video card. One which is passively cooled, say.

Not only look at the supply itself, but also investigate the outbound wires; especially with the lower Wattage supplies they may be less than you need.

My 2c,
Peter

Hi Paul, yep forget about using a linear PS. I researched all this a year or so ago and came to the conclusion that linear might work for low TDP applications, but not for XX duties, and certainly not now with XTweaks. Also, I'm still not 100% bought into the value of linear supplies for PCs, seeing as there are so many switching DC-DC conversions going on in the mobo anyway. And I say this as someone who uses a linear supply on my very low TDP linux music PC.

In 'Le Monster', use a couple of Seasonic X-460FL 460W fanless PSs - one dedicated to powering the mobo and the other just for the HDDs/SSDs/optical-drives (though since your visit, the optical drive has been disconnected). These PSs have the lowest output ripple I could find.

But what I think is still useful is to use an isolation transformer for the PC. My 'noise sniffer' suggests that this really reduces the hash going back into the mains from these switching PSs. I'm hoping to get my oscilloscope out in the next couple of days and actually look more deeply into the whole area of switching PS noise. Will report back if I come up with anything interesting.

Mani.

Thanks Mani & Peter - very useful advice

Hi Paul,

These are my recommendations for a fanless power supply:

Seasonic Platinum Fanless 520W:
http://www.seasonicusa.com/Platinum_Series_FL2.htm (http://www.seasonicusa.com/Platinum_Series_FL2.htm)

Rosewill SilentNight 500W
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Rosewill-SilentNight-500-W-Power-Supply-Review/1666/1 (http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Rosewill-SilentNight-500-W-Power-Supply-Review/1666/1)

You could think also about the powerful Seasonic X1250 that can be configured in several different ways, even as fanless:
http://www.seasonicusa.com/NEW_X-series_1050-1250.htm (http://www.seasonicusa.com/NEW_X-series_1050-1250.htm)


You can use this utility to know how much power you need:
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp (http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp)


Btw, what´s the cooler system you are thinking about?

Best regards,
Juan

Hey Paul, based on Juan and Nick's experience I went with a Corsair AX 650 Professional Series. I've been very pleased with it, especially the SATA 6gb connectors that came with it. It has a fan that only runs above a certain temp. I don't believe that I've ever had the fan turn on.  When I put my computer together the 650 was the smallest PS offered in the AX series. I think that has changed. Lastly, with my MB, using Peter's Xtweek settings my water cooled cpu temps have fallen from around 39 degrees to 33. At some point I want to try a seasonic fanless PS as a secondary supply for a backup HD.  

Yes, of course this is other solution, my Corsair AX750 is absolutely silent and I also doubt that the fan has ever been working on sometime.

Juan