Fanless power supply

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amanzi

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#28785 11-Dec-2008 15:05

Has anyone here used one of Silverstone's fanless power supplies in their HTPCs? I'm looking at this model (st30nf) which seems to get reasonably good reviews. The reason I want this model is obviously because the lack of a fan should mean that it's truly silent and I want the HTPC to run all day, even when not being used. Are there any downsides to this particular model, or has anyone got a recommendation of an equally silent power supply?

Cheers.

AmooMan

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#183536 11-Dec-2008 15:09

The Zalman brand has always put out top quality products .

Have a look at some of their power supplys

amanzi

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#183544 11-Dec-2008 15:18

AmooMan:
The Zalman brand has always put out top quality products .
Have a look at some of their power supplys

I can't see any fanless power supplies, though they do supply "Ultra-quiet" PSUs. Not sure whether Ultra-quiet = silent? My aim for the HTPC is for there to be no noise coming from the unit.

Nety

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#183549 11-Dec-2008 15:25

IMHO I would suggest going for very quiet rather then fanless.. at the end of the day PC's generate heat. Your PSU is not just removing it's own heat it is also removing the heat from other components. The PSU and fans that I use (look in my sig) are very very quiet in fact the HDD makes more noise then the fan 90% of the time. The only time I have noticed any noise is when it was a stinking hot day and we watched a couple of blu rays back to back. The video card I have is passive so the case fans have to remove the heat from that.
Even then though it was only after everything else had switched off and the room was quiet.

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#183551 11-Dec-2008 15:37

Nety: IMHO I would suggest going for very quiet rather then fanless.. at the end of the day PC's generate heat. Your PSU is not just removing it's own heat it is also removing the heat from other components. The PSU and fans that I use (look in my sig) are very very quiet in fact the HDD makes more noise then the fan 90% of the time. The only time I have noticed any noise is when it was a stinking hot day and we watched a couple of blu rays back to back. The video card I have is passive so the case fans have to remove the heat from that.
Even then though it was only after everything else had switched off and the room was quiet.

Thanks for the advice. This Zalman 460W Ultra-quiet PSU looks good: http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=344066

waldoverkill

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#183599 11-Dec-2008 18:02

I have had the ST30NF for 3 years in my HTPC. It works great. However my case is designed for it and has a large heatsink that the Power Supply touches. This removes the heat from the case. I have a friend who has one in a normal fan case and it got fairly hot but worked ok.

Wal

AmooMan

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#183618 11-Dec-2008 20:08

Yup Zalman is a great brand..
I have never had any problems with their products..

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#183639 11-Dec-2008 22:08

amanzi:
Thanks for the advice. This Zalman 460W Ultra-quiet PSU looks good: http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=344066

I have one of these and I dont think i even hear it. The HDD and the CPU cooler make the only noise in my rig - the case fans are virtually silent too.

I have noticed that the cheap PSUs available these days seem to be pretty quiet too..

EDIT: i bough my zalman kit (i have the HD160 case too, which is an excellent case) from these guys: http://www.quietpc.com/

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limegreen

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#183653 11-Dec-2008 23:16

It will be interesting to see how good it actually is, but I'm just about to build with Corsair VX450W PSU. It is very efficient (=less heat), and has variable speed 120mm fan, so I'm hopeful will be pretty quiet.
This review I found suggests it pretty good
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/540
Might know better after the weekend

HTPC: Silverstone LC16-MR Silver, Corsair VX450W PSU, AMD X2 5200+, 2Gb RAM, Gigabyte MA-770 DS3 Mobo, ASUS 9400GT Silent, 1TB Western Digital HDD, 1TB Samsung EcoGreen, 1.5TB WD external; LG DVD Writer, Hauppage HVR2200, Hauppage T-500, 2xArtical Cooling PSD fans
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