Need a good, cheap and QUIET PSU

[LTR12101B]

Planning a round of upgrades.... Already got an 80Gb Maxtor Plus 9 to treat my old heap to (overkill for an ATA66 chipset, but WTH) - bought NOW, as some guy at a computer fair reckoned one of Seagate's component suppliers had gone bust, and there'd be shortages and price rises.

I cooked my PSU a while back, fan stalled, and it overheated and cut out - amazingly, some "percussive maintainence" unstuck the fan, and it still worked!

Had a spare PSU I'd bought not long before, a QTEC 450W dual fan, fitted it, but the -V was so inaccurate that it tripped the voltage alarm!

So I stripped the old psu down, and fitted a spare fan, and the re-installed it again.

One thing I did notice, after ages of not being able to get "sleep" to work (freeze on wake), I did it by accident and it worked with the QTEC - so I guess the current 300w might be unable to hold stable during the surge as it restarts.


Any suggestions (UK)

 

[Wedge]

I read Silent PC Review regularly (here). In particular, I have read a lot about silent PSUs (recommended Power Supplies found here).

The least expensive power supplies that are both of good quality and quiet to the ear would have to be the Seasonic SS-300 non-PFC (found in the recommended list in the 300w catagory) and the Forton FSP300-60PN with the 120mm fan (this is not found in the recommended list, but you can read a lengthy thread about it here). An official review of this one should be at the site sometime in the near future.

Both PSUs can be found at popluar vendors like Newegg, Directron, etc., quite cheaply. Keep in mind that the Seasonic is recommended because one can easily swap the stock fan with a Panaflo FBA08A12L1A, which is the reference fan at Silent PC Review (number #1 recommended case fan at Silent PC Review due to its noise level, cost, and availability).

The fan in the Seasonic is a thermistor controlled fan (speeds up when more airflow is needed, slows down when temp is cool) and the recommended fan swap reportedly renders this Power Supply extremely quiet.

The Fortron is quiet, assuming you get the correct model number, which I listed above. Do not make the mistake of getting any of the Fortron models that have Active Power Factor Correction, which always have a (PF) at the end of the model number. Example: FSP300-60PN(PF)
These reportedly have a lot of spin up due to excessive sensitivity to heat, causing them to create more noise. You can read all about that in the thread I provided, as well as many testimonials favoring this power supply.

Silent PC Review is a wealthy source of information on how to silence your computer. The power supply is only the beginning for most of the enthusiasts there. All other noise-producing components are dealt with as well.

 

[LTR12101B]

I like that Fortron/Aopen one with the big fan at the bottom - should rip hot air away from the CPU.

Now to find a UK supplier!

 

[bionic]

Fortron source should be a sound choise, gets good reviews Have an idea that if you by a fex 450w its more likely to stay silent(if you deside for a temp controlled) than a 300w, depending on your systems power needs of course
I always mod mine