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Cases and power supplies

Posted on 12 May 2008 at 11:17

If you're building a PC for silent operation, however, you may be tempted by one of the many passively cooled PSUs currently on the market. While these promise a complete lack of noise, we wouldn't recommend this strategy. High-quality PSUs with temperature-controlled fans are only marginally noisier than passively cooled models, and you probably won't notice the difference in practice. Power supplies need adequate cooling more than any component in your PC. Overheating will make the supply much less efficient, and potentially dangerous. When a PSU goes bang, it can damage your PC or even cause an electrical fire. So, if you're after a quiet life, we'd recommend a regular fan-cooled PSU specifically designed for silence. Quiet PC (www.quietpc.com) offers a range of low-noise power supplies. We opted for the Zalman ZM600-HP, which still provides up to 600W, despite being one of the quietest PSUs around thanks to its joint fan and heat-pipe cooling system.

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Build a future-proof PC... for £200

Author: James Morris