Power Supply Roundup: 730W to 900W

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.