StarTech 480 Watt Silent Power Supply
Review by Jason Jacobs on 3/30/04
Power Supply Provided by Star Tech

A Word on Silence

Its becoming increasing popular in the enthusiast crowd to run a system with the side panel off to allow for maximum airflow and ventilation. I can just see the stress filled looks piling up in the audience now. "I like the cooling with the side panel off, but the fan noise interferes with gaming, or is annoying" you are saying to yourself. I agree, the 80mm and especially 60mm fans found on most heatsinks will produce quite a lot of background noise. Don't believe me? Try unplugging the extra system fans (not the CPU fan), and tell me if your system is not more quiet. Some enthusiasts don't mind sacrificing the extra degrees for reduced system noise. The Star Tech 480 Watt Silent Power Supply claims to run quietly through its naming. Interestingly enough the website makes no mention of actual dba noise levels produced. Techwarelabs was concerned that "Silent" was more of a title than actual description of function until we tested it.

When the Star Tech 480 Watt Silent PSU was turned on it was obvious that the name was very close to the actual functionality of the device. While not strictly being "Silent" the power supply will not be heard at more than 12 inches from the fan. Proof is in listening to it function and so Techwarelabs is pleased to offer an actual in use video showing the noise levels of this device.

Star Tech 480 Watt Silent Power Supply Video (Avi Format)

Cooling:

Now that we know the unit functions quietly, the question becomes how well does it keep the internal heatsinks and circuitry cool and allow for prolonged life and use. To this end video was recorded while using a laser thermometer. This device measures emissivity and is accurate to within +/- 1 degree. The internal temperature was taken after 1 hour of DVD playback.

On to the Conclusion

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