Fanless Power: SilverStone Nightjar 400W Zero dBA
SilverStone's Nightjar 400W Zero dBA is fairly heavy as a result of its completely passive design. Thermally, this power supply should work really well in the Temjin TJ08-E because of how it's built. The Nightjar’s current street price of $160 is high, but within reason. We won’t need the PSU's 400 W output by a long shot. Of course, we know that wasting power by buying too large of a power supply (and consequently not optimizing for efficiency) is a problem). But we're getting as close as possible with SilverStone's Nightjar 400W Zero dBA. It’s getting hard to find a PSU under 400 W these days, after all.
| SilverStone NightJar ST40NF Technical Specifications | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum Power | 400 W (Passive) | ||||||
| Voltage Rails | +3.3 V | +5 V | +12 V | +5 VSB | -12 V | -5 V | |
| Maximum (A) | 20 A | 14 A | 17 A | 2.5 A | 0.5 A | n/a | |
| Peak (A) | n/a | n/a | 31.5 A | 3.5 A | n/a | n/a | |
| Minimum (A) | 0 A | 0 A | 0.2 A | 0 A | 0 A | n/a | |
| Combined +3.3 V, +5 V | 130 W maximum | ||||||
| Combine +12 V | 324 W (27 A) maximum | ||||||
| Line Voltage | 99 V ~ 264 V | ||||||
| Line Frequency | 47 Hz ~ 63 Hz | ||||||
| PFC | Active PFC (PF>0.99 at Full Load) | ||||||
| Efficiency | 82% ~ 86% at 20% ~ 100% Load (80 PLUS Bronze) | ||||||
| Protection | OCP - Overcurrent Protection OPP - Overpower (Overload) Protection OVP - Overvoltage Protection UVP - Undervoltage Protection SCP - Short Circuit Protection | ||||||
| Connectors | 1 x 24 / 20-Pin Motherboard Connector (550 mm) 1 x 8 / 4-Pin EPS / ATX 12V Connector (550 mm) 1 x 6-Pin PCIe Connector (500 mm) 1 x 8/6-Pin PCIe Connector (500 mm / 150 mm) 2 x SATA x3 Connector (500 mm / 150 mm / 150 mm) 1 x PATA x3 Connector (500 mm / 250 mm / 150 mm) 1 x PATA Connector + 4-Pin Floppy Connector (500 mm / 250 mm / 150 mm / 150 mm) | ||||||
| Color | Silver | ||||||
| Cooling | Passive, No Fans, 0 dBA | ||||||
| Dimensions | Width: 150 mm Height: 86 mm Depth: 160 mm | ||||||
| Weight | 6.6 lbs | ||||||
Careful Installation
Installing the power supply takes some effort, and involves taking off the case’s top panel (the hard part) and then placing it inside the chassis from above (the easy part). The PSU's sharp edges can scratch the enclosure's finish very easily, so handle the hardware carefully during installation.
After the PSU is in place, it’s fastened from the back with four included thumb screws, making it easy to finish the installation. Too bad the screws and power supply aren't available in black, though.
The 400 W version of this PSU doesn’t have a status LED (the 500 Watt version does). Instead, the on/off switch lights up when the PSU is turned on. Using a motherboard that supports ErP/EuP, we measured an off-mode power consumption of only 0.4 W.
- Case: SilverStone Temjin TJ08-E
- Case: Technical Specifications And Features
- Case: Picture Gallery
- PSU: SilverStone Nightjar 400W Zero dBA
- Drives: Blu-ray Drive Installation
- Drives: Corsair Neutron GTX 480 GB
- Hard Choices: Motherboard And CPU
- CPU Cooler: SilverStone Heligon HE02
- CPU Cooler: Assembly And Installation
- Motherboard: A Challenging Installation
- Operation, Benchmark, And Bottom Line
- Adding Some Graphics Power
- Building A Passive Nvidia GeForce GTX 650
- CrossFire: A10-5700 And Radeon HD 6670
- Temperatures Under Full Load
- Installing An Ultra-Quiet Fan
- Automatically Switching On The Fan
- Small, Inexpensive, Silent Gaming Is Here





Much appreciated.
1. undervolting the CPU and GPU
2. underclocking and farther undervolting the GPU for 2D mode
3. hybrid cooling setup for GPUs where the fan only turns on at a high temperature (may require GPU BIOS editing depending on GPU model)
OPTIONAL (due to risk): removal of CPU IHS
But otherwise it's a neat article, personally I would sacrifice dead silence to use a cheaper HDD and perhaps more of those silent fans if I were to build one myself.
Much appreciated.
1. undervolting the CPU and GPU
2. underclocking and farther undervolting the GPU for 2D mode
3. hybrid cooling setup for GPUs where the fan only turns on at a high temperature (may require GPU BIOS editing depending on GPU model)
OPTIONAL (due to risk): removal of CPU IHS
The main issue is the GPU, and that would require a hybrid passive-active cooling solution much like was done for the CPU, but for some reason they didn't even try such a thing...
By the way, I own two of those Samsung Blu-Ray drives and the blue LED in the button is overly bright. I would NOT want to set that case on my desk.
great article toms