FSP Group Silent System Kits for S462 and S478 Review

Cooling/CPU Cooling by piotke @ 2004-05-28

FSP group brought 2 kits on the market containing PSU, HSF and a casefan. Can we expect any quality from this all-in-one soltuion? We?ll be testing and comparing both the S478 (Intel) as the S462 (AMD) so it?s time to power up those test setups!

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Introduction

A silent, flashy, stable and good performing computer is what most of us want. FSP Group sets out to provide us with 3 out of 4 with their Silent-Solution Kit.

Silence: with the case & CPU cooling.
Flashy: remarkable fan colors and the PSU fan is a blue with LEDs
Stable: the PSU, to provide your PC with a steady current of power

We received two FSP Silent-Solution Kits from Cloetens, A socket 462 (AMD XP) and the 478 (Intel P4) version.


Package

Let's take a look in the AMD box. We found:

  • Short manual
  • Four screws
  • 350 Watt Silent Power Supply
  • Silent CPU Cooler Socket 462
  • 9 Cm Silent System Fan
  • 9 to 8 CM Fan Duct

    The content of the P4 box is almost the same. Of course another CPU cooler and that version had a 300 watt PSU.

    More information can be found on the FSP group website.

    The box + content...(Click for bigger picture)

    Madshrimps (c) Madshrimps (c)


    Silence

    Having a silent computer isn't that difficult. Just unplug all the fans.... Unfortunately, in most cases you won't be able to use you computer for longer then half an hour after it crashes due to heat problems.

    Let's take a look on how silent these parts are. But before I'll give you my judgement, I'll have to admit first that my current setup comes very close to un-hearable. JMke once gave me a Titan case cooler for review. I tested it quickly, and told him it was loud. That same evening I received a mail from him, telling me I was weird and that the titan cooler wasn’t that loud.

    Well, the CPU cooler has a rated noise level of < 30 dB. And for most people that's silent. I also found it to be silent, except for a slightly irritating high pitched whining sound. But once again, for most people, this will be silence heaven.
    The CPU fan is temperature controlled, but overall it runs really quiet.

    The case fan could not be heard (rated 20 - 22.6 dB). There is no high pitched noise because this fan is bigger (9 Cm compared to 7 Cm) and spins slower. This fan is also temperature controlled.

    The PSU is cooled down by a large 120mm, also temp-controlled, fan. But you can also turn the fan to a higher speed with the tachometer on the backside of the PSU. The sound level is rated < 25 dB. But when I put it to full speed the fan becomes quite loud.

    The 9 Cm fan & fan duct... (Click for bigger picture)

    Madshrimps (c)



    Flashy

    Both CPU and the system fan have colored fan blades (AMD has green blades, P4 has blue blades). Not something you see every day, but also not that special...
    The PSU on the other hand, is purple painted. And the 120 mm fan is not just a normal fan. Three blue LEDs lighten the clear fan blades and a part of your case and room.

    120 mm blue ledded PSU fan... (Click for bigger picture)

    Madshrimps (c)


    Stable

    A computer will keep running stable when it's adequately cooled and the power supply delivers decent and correct voltage rails. We'll be comparing both the S462 as the S478 CPU coolers with the boxed cooler and other widely used and available coolers on the next page ->
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