The quietest PSU under 100 USD

Question

Currently I plan buying the components below:

MSI Z170A GAMING PRO (Z170 3xPCI-E DDR4)
Intel i5-6500 3.20GHz 6MB with 212 EVO
A-DATA 240GB 2,5'' SATA SSD Premier SP550
GeForce GTX960 4096MB 128bit OC (Armor 2X)
Fractal Design Define S case
4 SHIRU 140mm (8.9 db) fans

I calculated that a 430W - 500W PSU is optimal. What PSU would you recommend? I'm specifically interested in low noise.

Budget: 100$

Fanless or fanned? A fanless PSU can be quieter (though it isn't systematic, some have a noticeable electronic whine), but cause the computer as a whole to be noisier because other fans have to work harder. — Gilles 'SO- stop being evil', Nov 26 '15 at 23:08
@Gilles I was thinking fanned, though couldnt find anything about fan noise production on any product. So I figure a 140mm fan would be less noisy like in Thermaltake 530W SMART SE Modular or Be Quiet 500W Straight Power 10 CM, though the latter is little overbudget, but worth the price? — Piotr Falkowski, Nov 27 '15 at 00:40
Have you read the power supply fundamentals article on Silent PC Review? If not, do so, this site is a great resource on quiet PC parts. They also have hardware reviews and recommendations. — Gilles 'SO- stop being evil', Nov 27 '15 at 10:35

score 6 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 11 '16 at 01:49

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There are a couple Cooler Master, Corsair (AX and RM) and EVGA series power supplies that disable their fan under low load.

My recommendation: EVGA SuperNova 550 G2 (220-G2-0550-Y1)

Within budget ($80 at newegg)
EVGA Eco Mode: Fan does not switch on until PSU load is above 25%
550 Watts, which is just above your calculated optimal.
80 plus Gold for efficiency.
Made by Super Flower, which almost always guarentees a high quality PSU.

edited Jan 11 '16 at 01:49

Rubydesic

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answered Nov 26 '15 at 13:50

Spike

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Are you recomennding higher voltage, because the 25% of the load (123W) is more than in 500W wersion (112W), so the fan will stay put for longer, or for some other reason? I would actually not invest in gold rating, when 50Watts+ will always go to waste, rather adjust the voltage precisly to the need. – Piotr Falkowski Nov 26 '15 at 14:12
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It's always a good idea to atleast leave a little bit of headroom when it comes to power supplies just to stay safe from capacitor aging or a wrong wattage rating. Also the general rule of thumb for maximum efficiency is that the power supply load should be around 80 percent. 465/550 equals about 84 percent load. But since efficiency doesn't really matter to you, you might go for a larger unit to leave a little more headroom for future changes to your build and it will take longer before the fan starts spinning. – Spike Nov 26 '15 at 14:45
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I'm fairly sure the G2 line is made by Super Flower. Still high quality, just a different manufacturer. – timuzhti Nov 28 '15 at 09:17
@Alpha3031 You're right. The SuperNova GS is made by Seasonic, while the SuperNova G2 is made by SuperFlower. Thanks, I'll edit it. – Spike Nov 28 '15 at 11:52

Piotr Falkowski · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-17T22:33:32.813

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It appears that the Be Quiet 500W Straight Power 10 is a reasonably priced very quiet PSU - it is 10.7 dB loud on 50% load and 15.6 db at 100%, due to enormous, for PSU standards, 135 mm fan and very low max speed which is 1200 rpm¹. It's currently $9 above the budget, but I think it's definitely worth it.

edited Jan 17 '16 at 22:33

answered Jan 09 '16 at 18:09

Piotr Falkowski

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The quietest PSU under 100 USD

2 Answers2