4. Power Supply

Knowing that power supplies are usually one of the noisier components in a PC, I wanted to be careful with my selection. The first thing that I did was visit an online power calculator so that I could add up the basic power requirements of my system. The results put me at about 300 watts so I started looking into quiet power supplies in that range.

Past experience had taught me that even when a manufacturer uses the words "silent" or "quiet" in the name of a power supply, the component will not necessarily be anywhere near noiseless (I suspect that some PS manufacturer's idea of "quiet" is a little skewed). It didn't take long to discover that passive cooling power supplies cost a mint and their performance can become sketchy at sustained high outputs.

I was willing to compromise with a nearly quiet power supply rather than risk a failure during a long video compression. I found the Zalman ZM300B-APS 300W power supply that had a temperature sensitive fan controller that adjusted the fan speed according to the heat produced. It was one third of the cost of some of the passively cooled units available, and Zalman has a great reputation for quiet cooling. I was pleased to find that it was exceptionally quiet and has been solid and stable for six months.

Zalman ZM300B-Aps quiet power supply.