Ahh, Quiet and Stable with New PSU
Today I swapped out my old PSU that had developed a drooping +12v line for an almost-new (thanks MtGoat!) Antec True 430. The Antec's voltage rails are excellent. The +12v rail does not seem to fluctuate at all, remaining at 11.86. That's on this system:
Abit IC7
P4C (Northwood) 2.8 @ 3.5
1 GB (2X512MB) Kingston HyperX, PC3500
Thermalright SLK 948 with 53cfm/80mm Mechatronics fan
120mm Panaflo 'L' intake fan
120mm Panaflo 'L' exhaust fan
ATI 9700Pro
2 X IDE hard drive
2 X optical drive
a couple USB devices
running 2 instances of Folding@Home, a slideshow, internet, and MS word simultaneously
The icing on the cake is now the system is immensely quieter than before. I did not know this machine could be this quiet. I had always thought the computer was a bit noisy considering I had taken such care in selecting the system and heat sink fans. Now I know where the noise was from - the old PSU. Glad it had problems! It's outta there!
The Antec has a fan-only molex connector set. This feature allows the fans' RPM to fluctuate according to a heat sensor in the PSU. With both the exhaust and intake connected to the fan-only connector, the computer system temperature got a little too high for my peace of mind. I left the intake on the PSU's variable voltage connector, but put the exhaust back on full time 12v. Best of both worlds now - cool running and still very quiet.
And so ends my mini-review.
Abit IC7
P4C (Northwood) 2.8 @ 3.5
1 GB (2X512MB) Kingston HyperX, PC3500
Thermalright SLK 948 with 53cfm/80mm Mechatronics fan
120mm Panaflo 'L' intake fan
120mm Panaflo 'L' exhaust fan
ATI 9700Pro
2 X IDE hard drive
2 X optical drive
a couple USB devices
running 2 instances of Folding@Home, a slideshow, internet, and MS word simultaneously
The icing on the cake is now the system is immensely quieter than before. I did not know this machine could be this quiet. I had always thought the computer was a bit noisy considering I had taken such care in selecting the system and heat sink fans. Now I know where the noise was from - the old PSU. Glad it had problems! It's outta there!
The Antec has a fan-only molex connector set. This feature allows the fans' RPM to fluctuate according to a heat sensor in the PSU. With both the exhaust and intake connected to the fan-only connector, the computer system temperature got a little too high for my peace of mind. I left the intake on the PSU's variable voltage connector, but put the exhaust back on full time 12v. Best of both worlds now - cool running and still very quiet.
And so ends my mini-review.
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