Need a quiet pc power supply - any suggestions please?

[beanzontoast]

I'm hoping to replace the power supply on my old pc because it's really noisy. It's got to fit an Asus motherboard with one of the older type power connectors - ATX 20 pin block type.

I know it's a long shot, but has anyone got a recommendation (ideally based on experience) for a really quiet replacement power supply that would work with my motherboard?

 

[HJ]

You could try the Cooler Master Silent Pro M700, but you would need to check it is compatible with your motherboard.

 

[twowheelsgood]

Look for three things:

1. 80+ certification this means the PSU is more efficient (more than 80% unsurprisingly) meaning less power, less heat and less fan noise.

2. A 12cm fan. Old PSUs had a small fan on the back that sucked out air. Newer ones have a big 12cm fan on the inside that push air out over the power supply and through a vent at the back. Because of the bigger fan, it can turn more slowly and more quietly.

3. Thermal fan speed control. Most of the time you PC is sitting there doing nothing much, if the fan is constant speed it will be for the maximum possibly load, which just isn't necessary for most people most of the time i.e. web surfing and word processing.

Seasonic are very good, but not the cheapest: http://www.seasonic.com/product/pc_atx.jsp

Don't worry about the atx connectors, provided there are no physical obstructions, you can use a 24 pin one in a 20 pin connector (in fact mostly you can do it the other way around too as long as your system hasn't got a high power CPU). If you upgrade the machine of course you can take the PSU with you, so it's worth investing in something reasonable. Crap PSUs are also the leading cause of "unexplained" hardware issues and hardware related OS crashes.

Hope that helps. Modern PSUs are bloody brilliant compared to 3-4 years ago.

 

[beanzontoast]

Thanks both.

It's a socket A Asus AN7266vm motherboard with an athlon 2400+ processor. It's about to become my linux machine - I'm quite happy with the case, the motherboard etc - it's just so loud! - and I envisage using it more and more, so worth a bit of time and bother getting it running quietly.

I've also discovered that the cpu fan is really noisy, so that will be on the list for an upgrade too. They don't seem to cost much nowadays. Most of the 'quiet' fans I see advertised come in at about 20db - is that really quiet?

Is there going to be a bios issue I wonder? Do the 'quiet' cpu fans have to know to run at a particular speed. My friend's newer pc has a fan that runs really loudly for about 2 seconds at power up and after that is whisper quiet. Is the bios telling it to do that? Presumably a fan like that wouldn't know to behave like that on my older motherboard?

 

[ColinJ]

QuietPC specialise in that kind of thing.

 

[twowheelsgood]

Thanks both.

It's a socket A Asus AN7266vm motherboard with an athlon 2400+ processor. It's about to become my linux machine - I'm quite happy with the case, the motherboard etc - it's just so loud! - and I envisage using it more and more, so worth a bit of time and bother getting it running quietly.

I've also discovered that the cpu fan is really noisy, so that will be on the list for an upgrade too. They don't seem to cost much nowadays. Most of the 'quiet' fans I see advertised come in at about 20db - is that really quiet?

Is there going to be a bios issue I wonder? Do the 'quiet' cpu fans have to know to run at a particular speed. My friend's newer pc has a fan that runs really loudly for about 2 seconds at power up and after that is whisper quiet. Is the bios telling it to do that? Presumably a fan like that wouldn't know to behave like that on my older motherboard?

Modern motherboards do manage the fan speed (enabled in BIOS normally). Older ones probably not. A good tip is to look at Artic cooling CPU fans. Not only are they cheap and effective, they have a thermistor and basically control their own speed.

Trouble is a new decent fan and PSU will be probably more than your system is worth.

I've quietened down some old PC's in my time (I rather like the idea of recycling and most people simply don't use the power of a new system anyway) but I take the approach of not spending anything on a system that age as you can buy a new, quiet Intel Atom "all in one" board for next to nothing (look up INTEL D945GCLF2).

Basically my method is to remove any 12V 12cm fans from any scrap PCs at work and then replace the small fans in the systems I'm quieting down.

You can usually remove the standard (nearly always 8 or 9.2cm) fan from the CPU and then bend-out the pins of the heatsink like a flower to improve cooling and attach the bigger fan. (do it with a steel rule between each row).

I then use a strip of terminal block and some diodes and drop the fan voltage until it just keeps the PC cool enough (maybe remove one diode for a safety margin).

I then mount any hard-drives and fans using elastic and rubber grommets to avoid vibration through the case. Maybe add some scraps of self-adhesive roofing felt to the larger panel.

Basically this all costs pennies. You could do the same with the PSU if you take care - cut out a 12cm hole and mount a 12cm fan to the hole which will be insdie the case and slow it down.

 

[beanzontoast]

Thanks ColinJ.

Twowheelsgood - completely agree with the recycling ethic. I think I'll investigate the bios on my pc to see whether anyone's got it running with a more silent fan first (as the easiest and cheapest option), then if that doesn't pan out, I may have a go at a more radical solution along the lines you mention. Noise is a funny thing - you can put up with it for years until the time comes when you realise it may be possible to get rid of it. After that, it becomes an annoyance!

 

[HJ]

Of course the advantage of a new PSU is that the modern one are considerable more efficient and therefore much cheaper to run in the longer term...

 

[nigelnorris]

Thanks both.

It's a socket A Asus AN7266vm motherboard with an athlon 2400+ processor. It's about to become my linux machine - I'm quite happy with the case, the motherboard etc - it's just so loud! - and I envisage using it more and more, so worth a bit of time and bother getting it running quietly.

I've also discovered that the cpu fan is really noisy, so that will be on the list for an upgrade too. They don't seem to cost much nowadays. Most of the 'quiet' fans I see advertised come in at about 20db - is that really quiet?

Is there going to be a bios issue I wonder? Do the 'quiet' cpu fans have to know to run at a particular speed. My friend's newer pc has a fan that runs really loudly for about 2 seconds at power up and after that is whisper quiet. Is the bios telling it to do that? Presumably a fan like that wouldn't know to behave like that on my older motherboard?

Your friend is probably running ASUS Cool & Quiet, which clocks the CPU right down when not maxed out. It takes my (Very noisy by nature) Athlon 64 x2 3000 processor right down to 1000 mhz for 90% of the time, resulting in the fan being almost silent. Sounds like there's a bus in the room when I'm running a game though.

This isn't available for your mobo/CPU combination, plus it's a Windows only utility I think so useless for a Linux box.

 

[twowheelsgood]

xp2400 was the 32.bit k7. It hasn't got any thermal management or dynamic clocking - at least in desktop form.

In those days not so many boards had fan speed management either.

PC noise drives me absolutely spare.

OK some free or nearly free stuff:

Clean the heatsinks and grill appertures of the CPU fan and the PSU. If they are thermally managed, then they won't work well when clogged. Before opening the PSU. Boot the PC to the BIOS screen and pull the power cable allowing the operating machine to draw any residual current out of the capacitors. Preferrably leave overnight too. The BIOS screen will make sure nothing is accessing the hard drive at the time.

Damping the case to prevent vibrations. Thin steel was the norm back in them days and made a very effective sound board. Basically find any old scraps of heavy cloth, felt, wood whatever and glue it to the inside of any large panels i.e. mainly the side. Making sure you you don't foul anything.

Try and decouple the hardrive completely - this makes a huge difference. Scraps of elastic and rubber and creativity are the order of the day. I simply tie elastic through the screw holes across a 5.25" drive bay (CDROM) tightly and then simply twist over both ends of a standard 3.5" hard drive. Works a treat and takes minutes.

If you have no case fan, fit one. Counter-intuitive noise-wise but it's actually quieter having good airflow through the case with two modest fans than one CPU fan working it's guts out with hot air in the case with only the PSU for an exhaust. Cost about £5 for a half decent fan. Fit the biggest and slowest you can.

Refit all the screws tightly with loctite.

Only then consider buying a new CPU heatsink. The artic cooling one with a thermistor is about £15.

I would go any further than this costwise on a system this age. I can buy decommisioned machines similar to this for about £25 with monitor.