Most quiet PSU alternatives? Is 1000W overkill?

[winterwonderland]

With black friday coming up, I am trying to look for a QUIET PSU that i should go for. Last year, EVGA Supernova G3 1000W was cheaper than the G3 550W... so yeah, now i wanna be prepared to snatch one if it comes up for an offer.

Budget: €100'ish

1: What alternatives do i have for this? My current PSU is the mentioned G3 550W, and to me, it seems to be quiet enough.

2: Is 1000W overkill or can i safely go for it? Does it make more/less/equal noise than i.e 550W?

I am planning to upgrade my pc, and this will be what i am planning to get:

• CPU: Ryzen 5 3600 (according to reviews and others, it seems like 3600 has great performance for my purposes and goes well with the other components on the list while also costing about $155 less than the 3700X, which i was looking to get at first...)
• CPU Cooler: Scythe Ninja 5 (in about all the reviews, it's gotten THE best and most solid results in terms of quietness, performance AND it costs even less than the D15... a no-brainer this!)
• SSD: PNY CS3030 M.2 1tb (overall, i get even more for the same price as the Adata M.2, which costs the same as this one)
• Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Black V 2x8GB 3200MHz C16
• Mobo: Asus X570-F Gaming (haven't decided on the mobo yet, actually, but for now, this seems to be the choice...unless a better option comes up...)
• PSU: EVGA Supernova G3 550W
• Cabinet: Fractal Design R5

 

[ratirt]

With black friday coming up, I am trying to look for a QUIET PSU that i should go for. Last year, EVGA Supernova G3 1000W was cheaper than the G3 550W... so yeah, now i wanna be prepared to snatch one if it comes up for an offer.

1: What alternatives do i have for this? My current PSU is the mentioned G3 550W, and to me, it seems to be quiet enough.

2: Is 1000W overkill or can i safely go for it?

Considering your rig 1000Watt would be an overkill. Honestly I have never seen a loud PSU. Are you sure you are referring to a PSU? These days most of PCUs are quiet so if I were you I'd concern myself with, if I'm going to upgrade something in my rig what PSU I will need to make it work OK.

 

[Bill_Bright]

2: Is 1000W overkill or can i safely go for it?

Not sure what you mean by "safely". Going for "overkill" with a monster PSU will not damage anything, except your budget. It is important to remember a PSU will deliver only what the computer (motherboard, CPU, graphics, RAM, drives, fans, USB devices) needs. So if the computer needs 250W, the PSU will provide 250W regardless if the PSU is rated at 350W, 550W or 1200W. And those same PSUs will pull from the wall only what they need to provide that 250W. So that will be 250W plus a little more that is lost (in the form of heat) due to PSU inefficiencies.

If those PSUs are rated at 80% efficiency at that load level, they will pull from the wall ~312W (312 x .8 = 249.6). And again, that is regardless if they are 350W or 1200W PSUs.

You didn't list your graphics solution above but clearly, if your current 550W Supernova (an excellent CPU, BTW) supports your needs, nearly doubling that to 1000W would be WAY overkill.

If I use your current GTX 970 card, that 550W is already plenty big. If you just wanted to add a little extra head room, I personally would go not higher than 650W.

A power supply itself should make no noise. If you hear the power supply, it is because its cooling fan is spinning. Quality supplies use quality fans. And quality supplies typically have variable speed fans too - meaning they should not be spinning at full speed (and loudness) unless the PSU is getting very warm. Many PSUs fans stay off until some thermal threshold is reached. A 650W supply would probably run with its fan off or barely spinning most of the time.

 

[phill]

Not sure what you mean by "safely". Going for "overkill" with a monster PSU will not damage anything, except your budget. It is important to remember a PSU will deliver only what the computer (motherboard, CPU, graphics, RAM, drives, fans, USB devices) needs. So if the computer needs 250W, the PSU will provide 250W regardless if the PSU is rated at 350W, 550W or 1200W. And those same PSUs will pull from the wall only what they need to provide that 250W. So that will be 250W plus a little more that is lost (in the form of heat) due to PSU inefficiencies.

If those PSUs are rated at 80% efficiency at that load level, they will pull from the wall ~312W (312 x .8 = 249.6). And again, that is regardless if they are 350W or 1200W PSUs.

You didn't list your graphics solution above but clearly, if your current 550W Supernova (an excellent PSU, BTW) supports your needs, nearly doubling that to 1000W would be WAY overkill.

If I use your current GTX 970 card, that 550W is already plenty big. If you just wanted to add a little extra head room, I personally would go not higher than 650W.

A power supply itself should make no noise. If you hear the power supply, it is because its cooling fan is spinning. Quality supplies use quality fans. And quality supplies typically have variable speed fans too - meaning they should not be spinning at full speed (and loudness) unless the PSU is getting very warm. Many PSUs fans stay off until some thermal threshold is reached. A 650W supply would probably run with its fan off or barely spinning most of the time.

A 650w would run pretty much any single GPU configuration so 650w would be more than enough The EVGA G+ models I have both 650w's and 850w's They are both amazing Not a single fault with either so far and been using them for about a year or more now

 

[1000t]

If you're concerned about noise get the CPU cooler. I think it will be much more reasonable choice that buying needlessly overpowered PSU. It's compatible with socket 1151 and AM4 so you can reuse it in your new build.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I agree with the quality of EVGA PSUs. We have used them almost exclusively in our builds in the last few years with no complaints. I have a 550W G2 SuperNova in this system and the only way I can tell if the fan is spinning is to put my ear up to the back of the computer and "feel" the warm air blowing in it.

I will note, however, that the physical size G3 series is slightly smaller than the G2 series. That means they come with a slightly smaller fan. Smaller fans have to spin faster to move the same amount of air as a larger fan. So IF the fan needs to spin up to speed, it might be a tiny bit louder. But I quickly add, EVGA uses quality fans in their PSUs, regardless their size.

 

[P4-630]

Seasonic Focus GX-750: beste prijs - Tweakers

Seasonic Focus GX-750 kopen? Vergelijk de shops met de beste prijzen op Tweakers. Wacht je op een prijsdaling? Stel een alert in.

tweakers.net

Or a Be Quiet one but these come mostly with a 5 year warranty unlike this Seasonic with 10 years.

 

[Zach_01]

With black friday coming up, I am trying to look for a QUIET PSU that i should go for. Last year, EVGA Supernova G3 1000W was cheaper than the G3 550W... so yeah, now i wanna be prepared to snatch one if it comes up for an offer.

Budget: €100'ish

1: What alternatives do i have for this? My current PSU is the mentioned G3 550W, and to me, it seems to be quiet enough.

2: Is 1000W overkill or can i safely go for it? Does it make more/less/equal noise than i.e 550W?

I am planning to upgrade my pc, and this will be what i am planning to get:

• CPU: Ryzen 5 3600 (according to reviews and others, it seems like 3600 has great performance for my purposes and goes well with the other components on the list while also costing about $155 less than the 3700X, which i was looking to get at first...)
• CPU Cooler: Scythe Ninja 5 (in about all the reviews, it's gotten THE best and most solid results in terms of quietness, performance AND it costs even less than the D15... a no-brainer this!)
• SSD: PNY CS3030 M.2 1tb (overall, i get even more for the same price as the Adata M.2, which costs the same as this one)
• Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Black V 2x8GB 3200MHz C16
• Mobo: Asus X570-F Gaming (haven't decided on the mobo yet, actually, but for now, this seems to be the choice...unless a better option comes up...)
• PSU: EVGA Supernova G3 550W
• Cabinet: Fractal Design R5

Look at my specs... Its pretty similar.
This configuration when gaming hovers around 300~320W and peaks briefly to 350~360W. I have a 750W PSU and still is overkill. I'm not loading it even to 50%. There are 3 reasons for having this oversized PSU for this rig.
1) I had it already (new for a bigger rig that never took place)
2) In a few months I plan to get a higher GPU
3) In 2~3 years I plan to get a higher CPU

2+3) may add another 50~150W depending on what am I going to get. Taking the worst into account (150W) I will end up with 450W peaking at 500W. Still the 750W is enough with headroom.
So you may consider to ditch the 1000W idea, first of all and most important you are not going to find a decent 1000W one with ~100$ rather a crappy one. And second you dont need 1000W PSU.

Try to find a quality 650~750W gold rated (90%) that has the ability to stop the fan completely.
At my current max power draw 300~350W the fan of my PSU never spins on auto mode and temp never exceed 40C. Right now is about 34~35C. Take into account that is a Platinum rated one (93%) and dissipates ~30% less heat from a Gold one. But also costs over 150$.

 

[eidairaman1]

If you intend on keeping the psu for a long long time then 750+ is a good base.

The sweet spot is 650-750 for reputable bronze, Silver, Gold units.

Look at the OEM at realhardtechx.com or jonnyguru

 

[Zach_01]

Found this... we may have a winner...

EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G3 Power Supply – JonnyGURU.com

www.jonnyguru.com

EVGA G3 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

pcpartpicker.com

And the fan can stop!

 

[winterwonderland]

Found this... we may have a winner...

EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G3 Power Supply – JonnyGURU.com

www.jonnyguru.com

EVGA G3 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

pcpartpicker.com

And the fan can stop!

Yes, we have. That will surely be enough for my upcoming PC, i believe. We do not have the Gold edition available here, but i will look at the 750W G3 on BF then.

Thanks for the inputs and help, you all!

Thread SOLVED.

 

[John Naylor]

1. My son was in the exact same situation as you ... we figured he needed an 850 watter (750 was a bit tight0 but the EVGA 1000 was cheaper. And if the 1000 is cheaper than the 550, it most certainly is noy going to damage anything ... including your budget. Thinking was four fold:

a) With an anticipated gaming load peaking at about 680 watts, figure 500 - 600 with many less strenuous loadings, he'd be closer to the BEP (best efficiency point)

b) With a larger hear sink and cooling system capacity, the lower loading % would keep fan rpms lower.

c) Voltage stability and ripple are generally lower at lower loadings... look at the Cybernetics labs site for model lines and check a 500 watter at 100% versus a 100 watter at 50%.

d) Boom, the big one ... it w s substantially cheaper.


2. Problem was that PSU was loud.... loudest thing in the PC ... in fact it was the only thing that could be heard at idle or peak loadings ... which was odd. I talked to many folks who said the their were fine ... but others that said they had the same problem. The PSU died after about 18 months... and the replacement was also loud ... so much so that he replaced it with a Seasonic. We had another user that wound up with a "loud" EVGA model that was loud ... it also failed.

3. These days, the 1st place we look is the Seasonic Foucs Plus Gold ... the performance / price has been so consistently favorable that I don't even look elsewhere unless a user asks about a specific model. However, the Platinum models offer substantially better performance and are often priced lower than the gold models.

4. We don't know the GFX card solution you are considering so can't comment on the sizing but , this is what we recommend:

a) Basic usage, no overclocking ... add 50 watts to your component loading (under max load) .
b) Moderate overclocking ..... multiply component loading by 1.25
c) Heavy overclocking ..... multiply component loading by 1.50
d) ya gotta deal ... if the price is right, no harm in going up to twice your most typical loading

5. Loud will be defined differently by each person ... my definition of loud ... if i can tell the PC is on with my ears, it's too loud.

6. The Sythe Fuma 2 is about 4C better than the Ninja 5 which is 3 dbA quieter ... which ya pick will depend on what is more important to ya

https://tpucdn.com/review/scythe-fuma-2-dual-tower-cpu-cooler/images/temp_oc_aida64.png

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

When choosing any power supply, quality should always a first concern.

 

[Solid State Soul ( SSS )]

Change the RAMs to Trident Z NEO, it is the latest series by G skill designed specifically for Ryzen 3 compatibility

 

[winterwonderland]

When choosing any power supply, quality should always a first concern.

Definitely. That's why i am using G3 550W now, which works brilliantly for my current specs (see my specs for details), but i will probably need an upgrade whenever i decide to upgrade my system (sometime next year)

1. My son was in the exact same situation as you ... we figured he needed an 850 watter (750 was a bit tight0 but the EVGA 1000 was cheaper. And if the 1000 is cheaper than the 550, it most certainly is noy going to damage anything ... including your budget. Thinking was four fold:

a) With an anticipated gaming load peaking at about 680 watts, figure 500 - 600 with many less strenuous loadings, he'd be closer to the BEP (best efficiency point)

b) With a larger hear sink and cooling system capacity, the lower loading % would keep fan rpms lower.

c) Voltage stability and ripple are generally lower at lower loadings... look at the Cybernetics labs site for model lines and check a 500 watter at 100% versus a 100 watter at 50%.

d) Boom, the big one ... it w s substantially cheaper.


2. Problem was that PSU was loud.... loudest thing in the PC ... in fact it was the only thing that could be heard at idle or peak loadings ... which was odd. I talked to many folks who said the their were fine ... but others that said they had the same problem. The PSU died after about 18 months... and the replacement was also loud ... so much so that he replaced it with a Seasonic. We had another user that wound up with a "loud" EVGA model that was loud ... it also failed.

3. These days, the 1st place we look is the Seasonic Foucs Plus Gold ... the performance / price has been so consistently favorable that I don't even look elsewhere unless a user asks about a specific model. However, the Platinum models offer substantially better performance and are often priced lower than the gold models.

4. We don't know the GFX card solution you are considering so can't comment on the sizing but , this is what we recommend:

a) Basic usage, no overclocking ... add 50 watts to your component loading (under max load) .
b) Moderate overclocking ..... multiply component loading by 1.25
c) Heavy overclocking ..... multiply component loading by 1.50
d) ya gotta deal ... if the price is right, no harm in going up to twice your most typical loading

5. Loud will be defined differently by each person ... my definition of loud ... if i can tell the PC is on with my ears, it's too loud.

6. The Sythe Fuma 2 is about 4C better than the Ninja 5 which is 3 dbA quieter ... which ya pick will depend on what is more important to ya

https://tpucdn.com/review/scythe-fuma-2-dual-tower-cpu-cooler/images/temp_oc_aida64.png

Scythe Fuma 2 doesn't triumph over Ninja 5 for me. For me, the quiet it is, the better it is, hence why Ninja 5 is the choice for me. It is also about $40 cheaper than the Fuma 2...

Yeah, i will probably go for the G3 850W if it gets a ridiculous price reduction on BF like it did last year, cuz that PSU seems to be a gem to have!

For GPU, i will either opt for the Nitro+ or Red Devil.

Change the RAMs to Trident Z NEO, it is the latest series by G skill designed specifically for Ryzen 3 compatibility

But... i am not getting Ryzen 3.... i am going for Ryzen 5... will it work fine for that as well, or?

 

[Metroid]

The idea is to buy a 850w or 1000w psu and use only up to 50% of it, which means no more than 400w - 600w, that is the right procedure to do. Most good psus are 10 year warranty and saving 2 to 5% of electricity per year will pay off your quality psu in few years.

 

[newtekie1]

Honestly, if the Supernova G3 1000w is in your budget, and you pretty much silent, I say go for it. Yes, it is very much overkill, however for silence that is a good thing. The reason being the fan will get louder the more load you put on a PSU. The G3 will keep the fan completely off until 20% load, so that means up to 200w on the 1000w unit. So you get a totally passive PSU up to 200w. So whenever your computer is idle basically. The 750w is also an option, but it will only stay silent up to 150w. Either would be a good option depending on how much you really want to spend and the price difference. If you can get a great deal on the G3 1000w, I say go for it. I know when I picked mine up last Black Friday it was $90, and there really wasn't anything even close to completing with it at that price.

The idea is to buy a 850w or 1000w psu and use only up to 50% of it, which means no more than 400w - 600w, that is the right procedure to do.

That used to be the way to do it because the efficiency curve on PSUs used to be a bell curve, so they were most efficient at around the 50% load mark. But newer generation PSUs have really flattened that curve out, so it's not nearly as important.

 

[EarthDog]

The idea is to buy a 850w or 1000w psu and use only up to 50% of it, which means no more than 400w - 600w, that is the right procedure to do. Most good psus are 10 year warranty and saving 2 to 5% of electricity per year will pay off your quality psu in few years.

1. That idea is only good for an ultra quiet PSU where you do not want the fan to spin up when in use. Otherwise, you are chucking money down the tubes.
2. The 3% difference in efficiency will NEVER BE MADE UP unless you pay 2 arms and 2 legs and run the PSU under load 24/7/365 for several years. In other words, there is a 99% chance you will not will make up the cost difference when buying a higher tier or buying a unit 2x of the need. Simply do the math man... the answers are there if you work it out.

That used to be the way to do it

Yep, like well over a decade ago... 80Plus has been out for God knows how long now. His thinking is really antiquated if not misleading.

 

[winterwonderland]

I shall keep an eye on both the 850W and 1000W. Besides, i would need a secondary PSU anyways, because when i get a new system, it will be much stronger (see OP) and powerful than my current system (see my specs), so that is why i am looking for either 850W or 1000W, because last year, they were both put down to insane bargain prices (around $80-90) + then BOTH of my systems will have QUALITY PSUs.

Thanks for the links, advises and clearing it up for me.

 

[Zach_01]

But... i am not getting Ryzen 3.... i am going for Ryzen 5... will it work fine for that as well, or?

I bet he ment Ryzen 3rd gen... 3000series... ZEN2...
Thats why we should be exact to what we want to say.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Honestly, if the Supernova G3 1000w is in your budget, and you pretty much silent, I say go for it. Yes, it is very much overkill, however for silence that is a good thing. The reason being the fan will get louder the more load you put on a PSU. The G3 will keep the fan completely off until 20% load, so that means up to 200w on the 1000w unit. So you get a totally passive PSU up to 200w. So whenever your computer is idle basically.

I had this in mind when I bought my PSU, but I had bigger plans in mind when selecting it. However, according to one individual, the ROI is not worth the extra wattage disregarding the desire to be silent. I have a switch to turn case lighting on and off, the case gets so quiet the only way to tell its on is by lights.
The wait for a sale on PSUs can be lengthy but sometimes worth it.