I have reviewed a lot of power supplies over the years here at OCmodshop and now I look at the SilenX 400w. This power supply claims to be the quietest active cooled power supplies on the market. I have done reviews on many other silent power supplies from many other companies. Some have been as quiet and they boasted to be and others were much louder than they should have been.
This power supply features Over Voltage Protection, Over Power Protection, and Short Circuit Protection. All of these features will ensure that the power to your system is stable and fixed. I don’t like loud systems at all, before I got this power supply I was using the True Silent 450w PSU I previously reviewed because it was the quietest I have encountered so far. I will be using the True Silent power supply to compare this SilenX one to see which is quieter.
The power supply does not come boxed, rather it comes in a plastic bag with the power cord supplied. The power supply was shipped via USPS Priority Mail and was in one of their boxes. The power supply was protected well during shipping with packing material and came undamaged. I think that SilenX should really look into getting a box for their power supply, for many different reasons.
The power supply doesn’t boast any flashy designs or cool colors however that is not the purpose of this power supply. Silence is what the main goal of the unit is and there are tons of features to help achieve that. It would be nice if there was something extra as far as looks is concerned with this power supply if it did not raise the price.
The back of the power supply has an on/off switch, 110/220v toggle, and power connector. The 80mm fan that is used as an exhaust has a unique blade design and hybrid immersion bearings to lower the noise level. Instead of the traditional metal screws the fan is held in place by a silicone composite fan vibration dampening system. The fan on a power supply is what makes the noise so the quieter the fan the quieter the it will be.
Because this power supply is designed to be silent there is only one fan so there needs to be some decent heatsinking inside of the unit to keep it cool. One thing I noticed is that the screws holding the cover in place had Loctite or some similar product on them to keep them from vibrating. Small details like this show that the manufacturer has really taken time to make the best possible product. After getting the cover off I found that there was a impressive amount of heatsinks inside. You can also see on top of one of the heatsinks that there is a thermal probe which controls the fans RPM.
This SilenX 400w has pretty standard connections including: 6 Molex, 1 berg, 1 Auxillary, 1 12v, and 1 ATX. None of the cables have sleeving or any other form of cable management which would have been nice to see but is alright none the less. The cables also don’t look to be too long which is the case of many other power supplies.
I installed this SilenX 400w power supply to my normal test bed which is the above hardware. As I suspected the cables are a good length and not too long which is nice. To test the noise level of this power supply I bridged one of the black wires with the green one on the 20 pin connector so I could run it without anything else. After comparing the two power supplies I found that the SilenX 400w was much quieter than the True Silent 450w. I installed the power supply to my computer and hooked everything up. I also took out the temporary video card that I have been using and replaced it with a XFX GeForce FX5700 Ultra that will soon be reviewed. The cables are a not too long but were long enough with some slack to reach down to the Molex on the video card.
Test Bed:
- Albatron K8X800 Pro II (review to come)
- AMD Athlon64 3200+ (review to come)
- 60GB Seagate Barracuda IV HDD
- 1024MB PC3200 Corsair TwinX
- XFX GeForceFX 5700 Ultra (revire to come)
- Koolcase’s Panther
- Plextor 40x12x40 CDRW
- SilenX 400w PSU
- Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu
- Netgear WG311 wireless NIC
After booting up the computer I loaded up Motherboard Monitor 5 so that I would be able to get the voltage readings from the power supply. I always focus on the 5v and 12v line which is what I feel is the most important thing to look for when it comes to power supplies. I let the system idle for about 20 minutes and after that time the voltages on both lines had not changed much. I am very impressed at how stable this power supply is and how strong the 5v and 12v lines are. With a reading of 5.19v and 12.04 you will have nothing to worry about. The True Silent 450w power supply output was a little lower at 5.11v and 11.92v.
After getting the idle voltages I loaded up Prime95 which I used to get the CPU to 100% load. The 5v line dropped 0.8v to 5.11v which is still very good and the 12v line changed to 12.16v. The results from the idle and load testing prove that this power supply is able to perform well and stay silent at the same time. I have to also mention that I could not note any difference in how loud the PSU was while it was stress testing. Normally with silent power supplies the fans that cool them speed up when they get hotter which makes them louder than expected.
Conclusion
This is a great power supply, though it lacks a box and fancy aesthetic features it does what it is intended to do very well. This power supply is designed for professionals who want a truly silent system. The fact that it is designed so well inside and out is truly a credit to SilenX.
This is the most silent power supply that I have ever reviewed and would definitely recommend it so someone seeking silence. This unit will run you about $100 which is a bit pricy for a 400w unit, however if you want silence you will not regret your purchase.
Overall I am giving this power supply a 10/10 and awarding it the OCmodshop Seal of Approval. I would like to thank SilenX for sending over this power supply for the review.
Pros:
- Only 14dB which means its silent
- 5v &12v lines are very strong
- Cables are a good length
Cons:
- Does not have a box