Featured

be quiet! SFX Power 2 300W Power Supply Review

Fan Speed


When testing in a power supply laboratory it is difficult to take fan noise readings as the noise from the Sunmoon test equipment and air conditioning corrupts everything. The next best thing in our circumstances was reading off the fan speed with a tachometer to get an idea for the noise. The ambient temperature during testing held constant at 22 degrees, with 1 degree of variation. Each power supply had a consistent time period of 5 minutes to stabilise between each load scenario. 

In my experience the following general relationships apply between noise levels and fan speeds, though it can vary greatly between the type of fan used.

  • Below 800 RPM – Inaudible/Silent
  • 800 to 1000 RPM – Barely audible
  • 1000 – 1200 RPM – Audible but still quiet
  • 1200 – 1400 RPM – Moderately noisy
  • 1400 – 1800 RPM – Noisy
  • 1800 RPM or higher – Intolerable

The above fan guideline is mainly for the usual 120,135 and 140mm fans equipped on power supplies. For 80mm fans it is very different. At 1300 RPM an 80mm fan is near inaudible, after about 2000RPM it does become noisy and nearing 3000 RPM it was very noisy. Overall the be quiet! SFX power 2 is quiet for 0-60% operation and after that the noise kicks up. To be fair this is a limitation of the form factor, it is difficult to cool 300 watts of DC power conversion and regulation in such a small space.

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Ryan Martin

Disqus Comments Loading...

Recent Posts

NVIDIA Reveals New Games That Support DLSS 3 and Ray Tracing

NVIDIA has revealed the new games that support its latest graphics card technologies. We're talking…

2 days ago

Apple M4 Max Outperforms RTX 4070 and RTX 3080 Ti in Blender Test

The Apple M4 Max, the high-end option among the new Apple processors that launched in…

2 days ago

Intel Core Ultra 200 Non-K CPUs Spotted in Canadian Retail Listing

As Intel prepares to expand its Core Ultra 200 series of processors with “non-K” models,…

3 days ago

Baldur’s Gate 3 Is Thriving Even More Than a Year Ago, Larian Studios Credits Mods

Baldur's Gate 3 is a success, and it seems redundant to say so, but what…

3 days ago

The Callisto Protocol on PS5 Pro Achieves 8K and 30fps With Ray Tracing

The Callisto Protocol on PS5 Pro reaches 8K at 30 fps with ray tracing enabled:…

3 days ago

Sony Reportedly in Talks to Acquire FromSoftware’s Parent Company, Kadokawa

Buying studios is a fairly common thing these days. However, in recent years, we've seen…

3 days ago