I can only offer anecdotal support but I don't think you should worry about that, as long as the PSU itself is of good quality.
I've been using the same Seasonic SS-FL460 (a fanless 460W, Gold-rated unit) since 2011 and while it's still powering the same i7 2600K I bought along with it it's scaled perfectly all the way up to a Vega 56, 4 HDDs and a SSD.
I don't game 24/7 by any means but even when stressing the unit as far as my setup allows (Prime95 + FurMark) it doesn't get particularly warm.
Unfortunately my particular unit isn't the perfect example of the benefits of fanless PSUs as it has some audible electrical noise under particular loads, so there's that. :)
Audible electrical noise is the exact reason I sold off my last Seasonic passive PSU. Mine made more noticeable noise than the fan did on another Seasonic PSU. Unacceptable, IMO, so I actually haven't bought another Seasonic since then (apparently a good choice, since they have since languished in PSU design, even if their quality remains reasonably high).
I'm in the market for a new desktop later this year and if I end up replacing the chassi and PSU as well it probably won't be with a fanless model. Not because of any issue with passive cooling but rather the noise.
I'm still interested in Seasonic primarily I admit but since I value silence and the electrical noise of the new models are an unknown to me I'm inclined to go with a traditional solution.
I have a Seasonic Prime Ultra 850 Titanium SSR-850TR in my desktop build with a Ryzen 1800 and a GTX 1070. Having 850 watts its complete and utter overkill but it's basically fanless unit in hybrid mode for 99% of my usage and being Titanium I don't lose much efficiency running it at 25-40% of max wattage. It also has zero electrical noise that can make out even when I put me ear up to it with the fan not running I hear nothing.
If I do switch PSUs it's likely going to be a Titanium unit, for the 10% efficiency minimum. Hitting ideal efficiency under load is usually easy enough at any load from 25-100% but I'm hoping to improve my efficiency at idle and basic desktop use too.
A 650W Titanium unit should still be 90% efficient at 65W and that's not an unrealistic figure at the desktop, I think?
At least that's about what I'm seeing now, though obviously a more modern platform may well draw less power.
I have a Corsair SF600, in a FractalDesign Node 202 powering a Ryzen 1600X (with Scythe Big Suriken - modified) and GF 1060 and unless I start a game, the PSU does not start the fans, and even when it starts, it is way less noisy than CPU or GPU fans, and they are not very loud either
Although the electrical noise is major irritant for those that suffer from it, it's by no means universal, and it's not just one or two manufacturer's that have this problem. I'm pretty sure it's also not even really model-specific in the sense that even within the same model some batches are problematic, and other's aren't.
Which means you might want to simply resign yourself to trying several ones, and sending bad ones back, rather than relying on trying to divine some pattern from the online reviews, many of which don't mention this at all.
PSU electrical noises are usually high frequency noises and travel by air, so with NJ450-SXL's external aluminum heatsink shell having no vents, it actually helps reduce those noises better than any PC power supply ever could.
If silence is your priority, you should give NJ450-SXL a try.
I have 2 monitors with interal power supplies that are caged by metal sheets and the only gap in that sheet are the power and display plugs. I can hear the whining noise very easily, once I move my head behind the monitor. In front of it, there is no noticeable noise (likely blocked by the display itself). But it is not that cut and dry.
I have had one of these running 24-7 in my rig for about 7 years with no problems, have a higher wattage passive in my new box too. My PCs are very quiet with no PSU fans or mech HDDs. These are built to a high quality compared to a typical $50 PSU and is reflected in their cost.
I've used a Seasonic X400 passive cooled PSU in my media PC (Silverstone ML03 case) for around 10 years. No problems at all. It started as an Intel i5-650 with a GeForce 430, then graduated to an AMD A10-9700, and is currently an i3-8100 still with the same GeForce 430 I used a decade ago because to me it makes a virtually perfect HTPC video card.
The entire PC has always been passively cooled. A voltmod and BIOS flash to the EVGA GeForce 430 reduced its clock speed to 500MHz (1000MHz shader) and basically cut its TDP in half, allowing for a passive heatsink to be more than effective, and the CPU has used a NoFan CR-80eh cooler for most of this units life. The old Lynnfield CPU I used a Scythe Kozuti that needed modification to fit the motherboard\case by bending some heatpipes and the attached fins, which I broke removing it from the CPU when I upgraded (technically downgraded lol) the platform to an AMD A10. The A10 was a slower CPU but had much better thermal efficiency than the old i5, and the GPU was pretty good. The i3-8100 is absolutely perfect and the system has never run cooler. Total wall power draw during 1080p 24.976hz h264 video playback is 66 watts measured from a kill-a-watt and there are TWO SSD's and a 10TB HDD inside the case!
It's worth mentioning this is also my torrent PC so it is 24/7 albeit pretty low constant load.
All that said, the PSU and case have been through multiple generations of components.
As a general question, I'm wondering when we might start to see PSUs ship with only sata connector strings and a sata-molex adapter or two in the package similar to how the berg connector originally for the 3.5" floppy drive has been mostly done over the last decade.
Probably never since the SATA connector isn't rated for enough current (1.5A I believe) and might melt if you hook up anything power hungry to the Molex in such a setup. A Molex can supply up to 13A i think. So a single Molex can supply 8x the current as a single SATA.
I think S-ATA is 1.5A per pin, and if I remember well there are 3 pins for 3.3V, 3 for 5V and 3 for 12V, that would be 9.9w + 15w + 36w = 60.9V. Molex is 11A i think for 12V, 132w. However, the cables themselves are more important, also the specs of the PSU itself. I've seen PSUs with much less Amps per Molex or SATA rails. Also, I think some of my modular PSUs have the same port for SATA and Molex use on the PSU side. While Molex and Floppy connector might be needed for powering fans and such, I doubt you will ever use for powering anything close to 130w. AFAIK the most power hungry HDDs were about 10-12w
I had no idea what a Nightjar was until I looked it up. I had previously thought it was some gamer l33t or comic book anti-hero silliness, but its an actual type of real world bird. That's actually somewhat classy for a marketing department. Kudos to Silverstone for it (and shame on me for not knowing previously).
No mention of price ? gbp/usd/eur ? these are expensive £166 .. I think the review is a coded way of saying that for most* people the benefit of this over a cheaper fan-ned PSU would not be worthwhile esp as the heat gazinter the case. i would be a customer except for that reason, pretty much got everything right , flat modular short black cables, enough to power any modern GPU. super efficient. But I reckon they should get into the HDPLEX market for super tiny PSU (DC-DC) those are way too expensive atm. (but more efficient?)
I essentially started about a month and a 1/2 agone and i have gotten a couple of test for a whole of $2,200...this is the bestcall I made amidst pretty some time! "grateful to you for giving Maine this incredible possibility to profit from home. This similarly cash has changed my existence in such an excellent measure of courses, to the point that, bypass on you!".......GOOD LUCK Click this Below connect
Most audible noise is coming from HDDs and high rev fans.
My approach is to buy a low noise case - I use Cooler Master.
Install the largest fans the case support. Have SSDs only in the PC. If you have to have HDDs at least set up your system not to use the HDDs all the time. Put everything you use often to the SSD. Get a PSU with large fan and highest efficiency you can afford. CPU cooler again with a large fan. GPU should went air into the case.
The low noise case dims all noises from inside. PSU noise is not audible over other sources of noise.
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ingwe - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
This looks like a great PSU overall, but a passive PSU would make me pretty nervous about longevity.Exodite - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
I can only offer anecdotal support but I don't think you should worry about that, as long as the PSU itself is of good quality.I've been using the same Seasonic SS-FL460 (a fanless 460W, Gold-rated unit) since 2011 and while it's still powering the same i7 2600K I bought along with it it's scaled perfectly all the way up to a Vega 56, 4 HDDs and a SSD.
I don't game 24/7 by any means but even when stressing the unit as far as my setup allows (Prime95 + FurMark) it doesn't get particularly warm.
Unfortunately my particular unit isn't the perfect example of the benefits of fanless PSUs as it has some audible electrical noise under particular loads, so there's that. :)
jeremyshaw - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
Audible electrical noise is the exact reason I sold off my last Seasonic passive PSU. Mine made more noticeable noise than the fan did on another Seasonic PSU. Unacceptable, IMO, so I actually haven't bought another Seasonic since then (apparently a good choice, since they have since languished in PSU design, even if their quality remains reasonably high).Exodite - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
Completely understandable.I'm in the market for a new desktop later this year and if I end up replacing the chassi and PSU as well it probably won't be with a fanless model. Not because of any issue with passive cooling but rather the noise.
I'm still interested in Seasonic primarily I admit but since I value silence and the electrical noise of the new models are an unknown to me I'm inclined to go with a traditional solution.
FreckledTrout - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
I have a Seasonic Prime Ultra 850 Titanium SSR-850TR in my desktop build with a Ryzen 1800 and a GTX 1070. Having 850 watts its complete and utter overkill but it's basically fanless unit in hybrid mode for 99% of my usage and being Titanium I don't lose much efficiency running it at 25-40% of max wattage. It also has zero electrical noise that can make out even when I put me ear up to it with the fan not running I hear nothing.Exodite - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
Thank you, that's good information!If I do switch PSUs it's likely going to be a Titanium unit, for the 10% efficiency minimum. Hitting ideal efficiency under load is usually easy enough at any load from 25-100% but I'm hoping to improve my efficiency at idle and basic desktop use too.
A 650W Titanium unit should still be 90% efficient at 65W and that's not an unrealistic figure at the desktop, I think?
At least that's about what I'm seeing now, though obviously a more modern platform may well draw less power.
daniel78R - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
I have a Corsair SF600, in a FractalDesign Node 202 powering a Ryzen 1600X (with Scythe Big Suriken - modified) and GF 1060 and unless I start a game, the PSU does not start the fans, and even when it starts, it is way less noisy than CPU or GPU fans, and they are not very loud eithernagi603 - Monday, April 8, 2019 - link
> At least that's about what I'm seeing now, though obviously a more modern platform may well draw less power.Not necessarily, especially for GPUs. (1080 vs 2080 is quite a jump, 180 to 215W) The bump in core count has not resulted in lower idle draws either.
emn13 - Wednesday, April 10, 2019 - link
Although the electrical noise is major irritant for those that suffer from it, it's by no means universal, and it's not just one or two manufacturer's that have this problem. I'm pretty sure it's also not even really model-specific in the sense that even within the same model some batches are problematic, and other's aren't.Which means you might want to simply resign yourself to trying several ones, and sending bad ones back, rather than relying on trying to divine some pattern from the online reviews, many of which don't mention this at all.
tonyou - Sunday, April 7, 2019 - link
PSU electrical noises are usually high frequency noises and travel by air, so with NJ450-SXL's external aluminum heatsink shell having no vents, it actually helps reduce those noises better than any PC power supply ever could.If silence is your priority, you should give NJ450-SXL a try.
Death666Angel - Monday, April 8, 2019 - link
I have 2 monitors with interal power supplies that are caged by metal sheets and the only gap in that sheet are the power and display plugs. I can hear the whining noise very easily, once I move my head behind the monitor. In front of it, there is no noticeable noise (likely blocked by the display itself). But it is not that cut and dry.nagi603 - Monday, April 8, 2019 - link
Yeah, metal sheets are not good noise dampeners :DIcehawk - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
I have had one of these running 24-7 in my rig for about 7 years with no problems, have a higher wattage passive in my new box too. My PCs are very quiet with no PSU fans or mech HDDs. These are built to a high quality compared to a typical $50 PSU and is reflected in their cost.R3MF - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
i have a ~13 year old Nightjar 300W still running fine.Samus - Friday, April 5, 2019 - link
I've used a Seasonic X400 passive cooled PSU in my media PC (Silverstone ML03 case) for around 10 years. No problems at all. It started as an Intel i5-650 with a GeForce 430, then graduated to an AMD A10-9700, and is currently an i3-8100 still with the same GeForce 430 I used a decade ago because to me it makes a virtually perfect HTPC video card.The entire PC has always been passively cooled. A voltmod and BIOS flash to the EVGA GeForce 430 reduced its clock speed to 500MHz (1000MHz shader) and basically cut its TDP in half, allowing for a passive heatsink to be more than effective, and the CPU has used a NoFan CR-80eh cooler for most of this units life. The old Lynnfield CPU I used a Scythe Kozuti that needed modification to fit the motherboard\case by bending some heatpipes and the attached fins, which I broke removing it from the CPU when I upgraded (technically downgraded lol) the platform to an AMD A10. The A10 was a slower CPU but had much better thermal efficiency than the old i5, and the GPU was pretty good. The i3-8100 is absolutely perfect and the system has never run cooler. Total wall power draw during 1080p 24.976hz h264 video playback is 66 watts measured from a kill-a-watt and there are TWO SSD's and a 10TB HDD inside the case!
It's worth mentioning this is also my torrent PC so it is 24/7 albeit pretty low constant load.
All that said, the PSU and case have been through multiple generations of components.
DanNeely - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
As a general question, I'm wondering when we might start to see PSUs ship with only sata connector strings and a sata-molex adapter or two in the package similar to how the berg connector originally for the 3.5" floppy drive has been mostly done over the last decade.b1ghen - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
Probably never since the SATA connector isn't rated for enough current (1.5A I believe) and might melt if you hook up anything power hungry to the Molex in such a setup. A Molex can supply up to 13A i think. So a single Molex can supply 8x the current as a single SATA.daniel78R - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
I think S-ATA is 1.5A per pin, and if I remember well there are 3 pins for 3.3V, 3 for 5V and 3 for 12V, that would be 9.9w + 15w + 36w = 60.9V. Molex is 11A i think for 12V, 132w. However, the cables themselves are more important, also the specs of the PSU itself. I've seen PSUs with much less Amps per Molex or SATA rails. Also, I think some of my modular PSUs have the same port for SATA and Molex use on the PSU side.While Molex and Floppy connector might be needed for powering fans and such, I doubt you will ever use for powering anything close to 130w. AFAIK the most power hungry HDDs were about 10-12w
29a - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
Hopefully never. I'd much rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them.flyingpants265 - Tuesday, April 9, 2019 - link
What if they made them modular and let you select your own cables?PeachNCream - Thursday, April 4, 2019 - link
I had no idea what a Nightjar was until I looked it up. I had previously thought it was some gamer l33t or comic book anti-hero silliness, but its an actual type of real world bird. That's actually somewhat classy for a marketing department. Kudos to Silverstone for it (and shame on me for not knowing previously).dromoxen - Tuesday, April 9, 2019 - link
No mention of price ? gbp/usd/eur ? these are expensive £166 .. I think the review is a coded way of saying that for most* people the benefit of this over a cheaper fan-ned PSU would not be worthwhile esp as the heat gazinter the case. i would be a customer except for that reason, pretty much got everything right , flat modular short black cables, enough to power any modern GPU. super efficient.But I reckon they should get into the HDPLEX market for super tiny PSU (DC-DC) those are way too expensive atm. (but more efficient?)
PhilipSMazza - Tuesday, April 9, 2019 - link
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JTBM_real - Tuesday, April 9, 2019 - link
I have some experience with PC noise.Most audible noise is coming from HDDs and high rev fans.
My approach is to buy a low noise case - I use Cooler Master.
Install the largest fans the case support.
Have SSDs only in the PC.
If you have to have HDDs at least set up your system not to use the HDDs all the time. Put everything you use often to the SSD.
Get a PSU with large fan and highest efficiency you can afford.
CPU cooler again with a large fan.
GPU should went air into the case.
The low noise case dims all noises from inside. PSU noise is not audible over other sources of noise.
Keyboard can create a lot of noise too...
beginning - Saturday, July 13, 2019 - link
Glad to see a passively cooled PSU being reviewed here. Thank you.