Need a silent, compact ATX PSU for a mini ITX build

gopher1369

Distinguished
Jan 20, 2012
1,011
0
19,660
Hello all,

I've recently upsized from a Silverstone Sugo SG05 to a Coolermaster Elite 130 case. The reason is that the fan in the standard SFX 300 Watt power supply in the Sugo is pretty noisey and the Coolermaster supports full size ATX power supplies.

Requirements are quite specific:

The PSU needs to be shorter than 160mm to fit.
Gold certified preferably (although not essential)
Silent at low loads. Preferably semi-fanless
Have good cable management as space in the case is very limited
Be capable of running something like a Geforce 670.

Candidates so far are the Silverstone Strider PSU range. You can buy flat, short cable sets for a very reasonable price. Downside: with the cables you're talking £100 which to me is a lot of money. Also not semi-fanless.

Silverstone SFX 300 Watt Bronze http://www.scan.co.uk/products/300w-silverstone-st30sf-strider-sfx-80plus-bronze-psu Note that this is not the same PSU that comes with the Sugo case. It's semi fanless and lovely and cheap. Downside is it's only 300 Watt. I know for sure the Geforce 670 will work (I know of people who've done it successfully) but 300 Watts sure is cutting it fine.

Corsair RM series. Flat modular cables are good for cable mamagement, semi fanless. Price is reasonable. Downside is I've read a lot of reports about these PSUs having cheap capacitors so I'm worried about the quality.


Thoughts?
 
Solution
The RM 550 is a good one:

Has some secondary level caps but the 550W is decent.


Tier 2 Brands - Top Quality components With Top Notch Stability - For Those With Price/Availability Issues With Tier 1


Antec Neo HE
Antec High Current Gamer Series
Antec EarthWatts greater than 700 watt
Antec TruePower Trio
Antec TruePower Quattro
Antec TruePower New -- 750w
Akasa PowerGreen 80+
CoolMax CTG-750 watt/850 watt/1000 watt
Cooler Master Ultimate/UCP
Cooltek CT
Corsair GS600 / GS800
Corsair HX
Corsair RM 550
Corsair TX
Corsair VX
Cougar SX700 and GX700
Enermax Liberty
Enermax Infiniti
Enermax MaxRevo 1350
Enermax MODU82+
Enermax Platimax...

Dark Lord of Tech

Retired Moderator
The RM 550 is a good one:

Has some secondary level caps but the 550W is decent.


Tier 2 Brands - Top Quality components With Top Notch Stability - For Those With Price/Availability Issues With Tier 1


Antec Neo HE
Antec High Current Gamer Series
Antec EarthWatts greater than 700 watt
Antec TruePower Trio
Antec TruePower Quattro
Antec TruePower New -- 750w
Akasa PowerGreen 80+
CoolMax CTG-750 watt/850 watt/1000 watt
Cooler Master Ultimate/UCP
Cooltek CT
Corsair GS600 / GS800
Corsair HX
Corsair RM 550
Corsair TX
Corsair VX
Cougar SX700 and GX700
Enermax Liberty
Enermax Infiniti
Enermax MaxRevo 1350
Enermax MODU82+
Enermax Platimax (600, 750, 850, 1.2K)
Enermax PRO82+
Enermax PRO87+ (500w + 700w)
Enermax Triathlor (550, 650, 700)
Enhance ENP-GH
Fortron (FSP) GLN
Hale82-m 650-750w
iStarUSA PD2
iStarUSA PD3
LEPA G500
OCZ EliteXStream
OCZ Fatal1ty
OCZ GameXStream less than 1000 watt (only if manufactured in December 2007 or later)
OCZ StealthXStream 400 watt
OCZ StealthXStream 2 greater than 700 watt
OCZ Modstream (only if manufactured in December 2007 or later)
OCZ EvoStream
OCZ ProXStream
OCZ Z(t)(s) Series Less than 1000W
OCZ ZX 850w
PC P&C Silencer less than 610 watt
PC P&C Silencer MkII
Rosewill Capstone (450, 750)
Rosewill Fortress
Rosewill Hive (550, 650)
Seasonic G series
Seasonic S12
Seasonic M12
Seasonic Energy Plus
Sentey Golden Steel Power 850w
SevenTeam ST less than 600 watt
Silverstone OP/DA 700 watt or less
Supermicro/AbleCom
Thermaltake Toughpower greater than 600 watt
Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 800w
Topower Powerbird 900w
Xclio StablePower
XFX Core Edition
Xigmatek MC
Xigmatek HC
Ultra X3
Ultra X-Pro
Zalman ZM less than 1000 watt
 
Solution

gopher1369

Distinguished
Jan 20, 2012
1,011
0
19,660
Thanks, I was already leaning towards the RM550 so unless anyone gives me a good reason why not, I'll go with that. It's only powering a 65 Watt core i5 and 7850 at the moment so I'm betting even when gaming the fan won't spin up at all.