I’m not terribly concerned about power output, as long as it can handle an Athlon XP, two hdd’s, and two cd drives. It’s for a computer I’m putting together for my mother who is a real bear on computer noise, so the quieter the better. Thanks.
I’m sure there are super quier power supplies out there, for the silent PC folks, but in terms of garden-variety stuff, I find Antecs quite quiet. I’ve got a 450 in my main rig that is pretty much completely silent when running standard Windows apps. Even under load, when the fan picks up a bit, it’s pretty inoffensive. Have an older 350 in my other machine, and it is even quieter.
http://www.silentpcreview.com has the best summaries of available ones, but the gist is that Seasonic (available at Fry’s and on-line) and Zalman are going to be your best bets. Antec’s TruePower line is also very good, but “quiet”, not “Silent”. The Antec has the advantage of being EVERYWHERE.
If you want a very quiet and cheap power supply, I used LC Power 6550 Active PFC for some friends. I do not recommend using passive PSU, they are components in PSUs that need some cooling by air which a single copper plate can´t cool.
Thanks for the help guys. Phantom 350 sounds about perfect, even if it is going for $169(Damn!) at Newegg.
I spend like $30 on a Fortron power supply. Its nice and quiet.