Seasonic XP2 Platinum 660W Power Supply Review
Peter Donnell / 9 years ago
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
OK, this is pretty amazing, not only did the fan run at a little over 800RPM right up to 80% load, but even when it kicked up to 1200RPM it was still surprisingly quiet.
In hybrid mode, the fan didn’t kick in at all which is pretty amazing, as this ran like a 660W fanless unit. To make things even more interesting, we had the PSU under full load and on a fairly warm day too. Of course, it won’t stay off forever or after a few hours of gaming at high load, but it’s a fine example of how capable this PSU really is.
