Noisy NoiseTaker: Am I missing something?

M

MartinX

One Hour Martinizing While You Wait
Joined
Jan 23, 2003
Messages
7,184
A while back I had a graphics problem that I traced back to my PSU, although it was a 450w unit, it came from the days of socketA and had a pitiful +12v rail, so I decided to swap it out.

The replacement I bought was a nice shiny CoolerGiant 480w unit, which served my needs well powerwise but was too loud for my liking, so I decided to ditch that in favour of an Enermax NoiseTaker.
However, much to my suprise the NoiseTaker sounds exactly the same as the coolergiant did.
For comparison sake, after I shut down my PC with the old 450w psu the fans would run for a couple minutes, they literally made no noise during this period, you could see the blades turning (if you looked through the grill) and feel the warm air moving, but unless you put your ear within a couple of inches of the grill you couldn't hear anything, and even then just a faint whisper.
The CoolerGiant and Noisetaker do the same thing, except, in this post shutdown operation they are as loud as my whole system was while running normally with the old PSU!

I have also observed, that on both PSUs the little fan-dial thing on the back apparently makes no difference what so ever, I can't hear any indictation that the fans change speed at all based on it's position.

I'm thinking at this point that the fans are stuck on "high" or something, because in my view there's no way Enermax could market the NoiseTaker as being even remotly low noise if this is as quiet as it gets.

Has anyone else come across this problem?

Any suggestions?
 
The little fan dial thing does do something, but it's not very noticable. It can change the fan speed from a low of 900rpm to a high of 1500rpm, which only changes the noise factor a measly few decibals so you can't really notice a difference sound wise which is stupid. However you can clearly feel that there is more air being blown when its turned up on high.
 
IIRC, both the noisetaker and coolergiant sometimes has faulty thermosistors and issues with both where they are mounted and the circuitry controlling the fans
 
It may be that both your Coolergiant and Noisetaker were stuck on high, but unlikely. The fact of the matter is that the Noisetakers are not the quietest supplies around. I've got an EG-701 and SilentPC review rates noise as 23-27db up ranging up to 45db at 600W. The average modern system would see around 30-33db under load, and that's what mine sounds like. I don't hear actual mechanical fan noise, but whoosh of the air is certainly there. After shutdown when only the 80mm exhaust fan is running it's nearly silent, which tells me most of the noise is from the 92mm intake fan.

My experience with Enermax supplies is their best feature is their efficiency, reliability and longevity, not their regulation precision or noise radiation which are ok, but not among the best.

oc
 
After reading some of the reviews on the Enermax NoiseTaker I believe they should rename it the Enermax NoiseMaker. ;) :D
 
My own investigations have indicated that:

Even when working right it's not actually a particularly quiet PSU.

My hearing is apparently more sensitive than I thought, and my definition of quiet is much more strict than most peoples.

I have way too much time on my hands.

At this point I've pretty much given up on it and am waiting for the Antec Phantom 500.
 
MartinX, I just noticed your rank under your username. What's the story behind that - LOL. :D
 
Roberty said:
MartinX, I just noticed your rank under your username. What's the story behind that - LOL. :D
Click to expand...

It's a reference to my sideline as a Levis clone retailer. ;)
 
Roberty said:
OK bro'. I thought it might have been something besides Blue Jeans. :p ;)
Click to expand...
lol i wasn't directing that anywhere really

still laughing

sry i'll quit spamming now
 
You have got to be kidding me.. my noise taker is extremely quiet. I have the dial knob at full blast and still its silent. I think there is something faulty with yours if its that loud. If it were loud I would know it on mine.. all my fans are running at low setting on a fan controller and my cpu fan is a panaflow on low setting. I had an Antec True 430Watt before this and got rid of it becuase it was noisy... Enermax is much quieter. Here again maybe its because of I only have a 420W.
 
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