How silent is silent on a PSU?

[mynci]

I am endevouring to build a very quite system on a budget.i currently have a relatively cheap q-tec 550w psu (though im not convinced of the acuracy of the rating). My problem isnt the power it gives more the noise. it is said to be a quite/silent model however it is without a doubt the loudest component in my system. i have a zalman copper/aluminium flower cooling my 2.5GHz P4 and no case fans (it doesn't seem necessary - the case temp never gets much about 32-35 degrees even in a quite hot room). the fan on my geforce 4 ti does produce a slight wine, but i feel that could be fixed with a resistor and a bit of underclocking or splashing out on the zalman vga heat pipe.
Anyway back to the problem in hand, i have read the anandtech PSU reviews and the quitest psu is the antect one running at about 31dB's. now i know my cpu cooler runs at about 20-22dB's as i run it in 'silent' mode. so bareing in mind the logarithmic nature of the dB scale it seems the psu's are an awful lot louder.
Basically i wanted to know how quite i can get a reasonably heavily loaded system to run (2hdd, fdd, 2 optical, lots of usb devices inc wavefinder digital radio(v high drain), pci modem + pci adsl modem, network card etc.) as quietly as possible. could i run a more expensive 350w supply or must i have 450W-550W. What power supplies can i get that are truely silent? Also i would like to do it all for around £50 ($75-$80 i guess), i suspect it may be impossible but any suggestions are apreciated.

 

[AndrewT]

you can always replace the fan in the power supply, get a nice silent 80mm fan and switch

it most likely run cool since you got more power in reserve in that than what you need, so a loud high speed fan is an overkill anyway

maybe one of those heat sensing fans. if it ever start heating up, the fan will take care of it

Enermax and Antec are great, but a silent 80mm fan for your current power supply cost even less.

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[mynci]

wow that sounds a brilient solution, i did not even think of that way of doing it. i shall look for some advice on the net today. i assume it will be nessecary to mount the fans externally, or do some cutting of the psu. if anyone has any advice id love to hear it.
thanks again.

 

[svol]

Changing fans of a PSU is really simple... you only have to take one precaution: <b>make sure the PSU isn't used for 12 hours and even then watch out... the capicitators inside the PSU can hold a very big charge</b>

You just open the PSU, carefully cut the fan wires and screw the standard fan loose. After that you place the new fan and twist or solder the wires from the new fan at the wires inside the PSU powering the fan and tape them to prevent shorting out. Close the PSU and done.

My dual-PSU PC is so powerfull that the neighbourhood dimms when I turn it on

 

[BrianSieben]

Hi,
There is considerable discussion and review of silent power supplies at the following site:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

I just discovered the site and it is excellent for info on silent computing. The site has reviews (with sound measurements!), tips and forums.

 

[mynci]

thanks i was half way through asking a long list of questions when i got you post, saved everyone time there.
cheers

 

[lhgpoobaa]

I have a slightly older model 550W enermax, the one with temp dependent fan speeds, going from 1500 to 2500rpm.

Even at full speed its VERY quiet, despite not being a "whisper" brand, and is easily drowned out by the noise of the hard drives.

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[mynci]

just a little update, incase you cared.
ive now gone from wanting a quiter psu to being about to add around 6 silent fans to my case to ensure quiet and good airflow. That what i believe is called "opening a can of worms"

 

[svol]

6 fans?!? Don't you think that is a little much?
I mean... I have 6 casefans, but I only use one for casecooling.

My dual-PSU PC is so powerfull that the neighbourhood dimms when I turn it on

 

[mynci]

yes, i think four or five is more likely, but that does include one for the psu one for the processor and one for the graphics card.

 

[svol]

Oh, you also mean chip fans, then 5-6 is normal.

My dual-PSU PC is so powerfull that the neighbourhood dimms when I turn it on