Just bought a new power supply.

[Al Smith]

A Vantec Ion 400 Watt Silent Dual Fan. To replace an Okia 420 Watt
single fan model.

I bought the new one to try to reduce the noise level of my
computer. The joke is on me. It's actually a tiny bit noisier with
the new power supply! So much for the "Silent" part of the Vantec
description.

On the other hand, what a difference in quality! The Vantec is
three times as heavy, and the wires are much, much heavier. It has
a maximum output of 500 W, whereas the Okia maximum is 420 W. I
figure is isn't a bad upgrade just on the principle that a stable
and reliable power supply is a good thing to have.

I'm disappointed about the sound level, though. Most of the noise
seems to be coming from my CPU fan, which is an extra-quiet model,
not the stock AMD Athlon 64 fan. I even turned off my case fan,
which was pressed up against those little drilled holes at the
back of the case and making wind noise as it pushed air through
the holes. Lack of a case fan seems to be immaterial. I don't
think I really need a case fan at all.

Oh, well. A hundred bucks shot for nothing, but I guess now I've
got a spare power supply when I get around to building a new
second computer.

 

[Guest]

Vantecs have been widely reviewed as not being particularly quiet, and
unlike power and voltages, noise is one of the very few aspects usually
tested correctly. For power supply reviews, these sites are among the
very, very few that are good:

www.xbitlabs.com
www.silentpcreview.com
www.tomshardware.com
www.slcentral.com
www.3dvelocity.com

 

[petermcmillan_uk]

A Vantec Ion 400 Watt Silent Dual Fan. To replace an Okia 420 Watt
single fan model.

I bought the new one to try to reduce the noise level of my
computer. The joke is on me. It's actually a tiny bit noisier with
the new power supply! So much for the "Silent" part of the Vantec
description.

On the other hand, what a difference in quality! The Vantec is
three times as heavy, and the wires are much, much heavier. It has
a maximum output of 500 W, whereas the Okia maximum is 420 W. I
figure is isn't a bad upgrade just on the principle that a stable
and reliable power supply is a good thing to have.

I'm disappointed about the sound level, though. Most of the noise
seems to be coming from my CPU fan, which is an extra-quiet model,
not the stock AMD Athlon 64 fan. I even turned off my case fan,
which was pressed up against those little drilled holes at the
back of the case and making wind noise as it pushed air through
the holes. Lack of a case fan seems to be immaterial. I don't
think I really need a case fan at all.

Oh, well. A hundred bucks shot for nothing, but I guess now I've
got a spare power supply when I get around to building a new
second computer.

You can sometimes run machines without case fans, but I'm not sure what
specs your machine is. Being an Athlon 64 I would expect it to be
quite powerful, and hot. On my machine I found that a 2nd fan made the
temps about 3 degrees lower. The first one IIRC was probably about 6
degrees lower. I now have no, case fans, just the PSU fan (80mm), and
a 120mm fan on a Zalman fan backet (Zalman flower heatsink).

My computer is pretty quiet, the CPU peaks at 53 degrees, and the case
peaks at about 44 degrees. My CPU is as far as I know the coolest
Athlon XP ever made, a T-bred 1700+ which outputs just under 50W IIRC.
Very few modern CPU's would cope with my cooling.

 

[Al Smith]

You can sometimes run machines without case fans, but I'm not sure what

specs your machine is. Being an Athlon 64 I would expect it to be
quite powerful, and hot. On my machine I found that a 2nd fan made the
temps about 3 degrees lower. The first one IIRC was probably about 6
degrees lower. I now have no, case fans, just the PSU fan (80mm), and
a 120mm fan on a Zalman fan backet (Zalman flower heatsink).

My computer is pretty quiet, the CPU peaks at 53 degrees, and the case
peaks at about 44 degrees. My CPU is as far as I know the coolest
Athlon XP ever made, a T-bred 1700+ which outputs just under 50W IIRC.
Very few modern CPU's would cope with my cooling.

It's an Athlon 64 3200+ with an Asus K8V-X motherboard. Right now
my CPU temperature is 33 C and my motherboard is 37 C. Without the
case fan the motherboard runs slightly warmer -- it used to idle
along at around 35 C. I haven't yet tried it at full stress with a
game for several hours, but will do that soon, probably tonight.
The Asus Cool n Quiet software really reduced the CPU temperature
for me when I first activated it -- without Cool n Quiet my
temperatures were much higher. If the game causes the computer to
become unstable due to heat, I can always plug the case fan back
in, but I think I am going to be able to get along without it.

 

[Al Smith]

Vantecs have been widely reviewed as not being particularly quiet, and

unlike power and voltages, noise is one of the very few aspects usually
tested correctly. For power supply reviews, these sites are among the
very, very few that are good:

www.xbitlabs.com
www.silentpcreview.com
www.tomshardware.com
www.slcentral.com
www.3dvelocity.com

Arrg! Now you tell me. I agree, Vantec is not particularly quiet.
Which makes them advertising "Silent" and "Quiet" in their
advertising titles for their power supplies a bit misleading. Good
quality, however, at least to judge by the weight and feel, and by
the wiring.