Product Comparison - Acoustics



The acoustics graphs tell a very clear story: three of the units have higher noise levels than the others throughout the test. The Antec TruePower Quattro, Hiper Type-R 770 Mk II, and Silverstone Olympia have the noisiest fans within this group of high-end power supplies. Even at lower loads, the fan speeds are quite high, resulting in the higher noise levels. All the remaining units perform well as the graphs show. During room temperature testing, most of the units stay under 20dB(A) up to around 80% load, at which point the fans need to work harder to cool the insides down.

Seasonic uses a very strict fan control scheme, which attempts to leave the fan running at lower speeds as long as possible. It's only when temperatures reach critical levels that the fan speed kicks up, and even then noise only increases by around 15dB(A). Two of the Hiper units also generate good results; both 880W models (shown with a green curve) stick out from the rest with low noise results. Even higher ambient temperatures don't disturb them much, as the temperature reaches about 76°C which is a normal result.

Product Comparison - Efficiency Prices and Conclusion
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  • tynopik - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link

    the efficiency charts are fantastic as you can see exactly how all the units compare at a specified wattage

    but then you go back and do the acoustics charts by % load? why?

    if i want to see how all the units compare at a 500w load, there's no easy way to do that as that might be a 68% load on one unit and a 55% load on another unit
  • Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link

    Next time will do
  • Vidmar - Saturday, November 24, 2007 - link

    Thanks for doing the charts in watts instead of load. I've been asking for that for some time. As has been said here it makes it much easier to find a good unit based upon a known wattage your system uses. Good article.
  • tynopik - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link

    great!

    and then once all units are tested to the same baseline, that opens the door for dynamic comparisons

    as you build up a database of reviews, you could have a dynamic system where you can choose a 400-500 watt unit you reviewed 9 months ago and a 600 watt unit you just reviewed and it will generate the comparison charts on the fly

    something for the future perhaps ;)
  • Etern205 - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link

    Newegg is selling the Antec TruePower Quattro 850 at $249 while
    the 1KW version is selling for $299 with a -$80 instant rebate!

    850w version
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...

    1KW version
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
  • Traciatim - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link

    Could you please design and test with a machine that actually uses 700+ Watts of DC output?
  • Jjoshua2 - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link

    I like the old review better. I don't have time to read the whole reviews, so I just read the conclusion and then go over a few interesting paragraphs. I hope you have a longer conclusion next time!
    Thanks.
  • Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link

    Ehm there are 8 pages comparison/conclusion.... not enough?

    Of course people not appreciating the work and just read the last page find it boring... so next time I write a page about 10 PSUs and that'd be enough? ...
  • Googer - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link

    quote:

    You are far better off with the PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 QUAD for a lower price and equal or better performance.


    Check the hot deals section of Anandtech forums, a little while ago I posted a $50 price drop of the Silencer 750 down to a budgetable $150.


    http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...=40&...
  • Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link

    That would be a really good deal indeed.

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