by LoneWolf on Fri May 13, 2005 11:54 am
I haven't considered going fanless for the reason that the fanless PSU I want isn't out yet and will probably be insanely expensive when available.
The Antec Phantom 500. 500 watts of ultra-efficient fanless power. Their 350-watt model has been rated as incredibly efficient, and probably would power my system, but I like having a bit of overhead for that next upgrade. The Phantom 350 costs more than the Antec Neo 480w.
I like the compromise some companies have made by just using a single 120mm fan. The Fortron Blue Storm AX500 has gotten rave reviews, is already sleeved, has all the connectors one needs (and the 5.25" Molex connectors are the EZ-Grip easy-to-remove kind) all for about $90. If you aren't running an SLI system, it appears to be one of the best choices for the money.
My Enermax is a great PSU...it's just not the quietest (plus there's 3 other 120mm fans in the case). You always balance noise with airflow. If I wanted uber-quiet, I could switch the fans out for Coolermasters ultra-quiet 120mm models, or Vantec Stealth, but I'd get less airflow. Then again, the three fans plus the power supply allow pretty good airflow in my case, so it might be worth considering.
I currently have a huge Panaflo 120mm low-noise in the custom blowhole on top of the case, and standard Antec 120mm's front and rear (medium noise, medium airflow. The Panaflos are great, but they're 38mm deep, so they don't fit everywhere (in my case, it fits the blowhole and would fit the back fan mount, but not the front) unlike most fans that are only 25mm deep.
I still think the Chenbro Gaming Bomb II is a great case as well. It's just too doggone expensive. I'm glad I didn't wait to buy it, I would have been driven away by the cost. The Firewire/USB/Audio ports should be mounted on the top front rather than the bottom, too.
Intel Q9450 @3.2GHz, Gigabyte GA EP45-UD3P, 4 x 2GB G.Skill @4-4-4-12
Antec P160SW case (modded), Xigmatek 750w PSU
3x 500GB (RAID-5), , OptiArc 7200S, ASUS E818A3T
Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer, Hauppauge HVR-1800, Radeon 4890
Dell 2407WFP