Question Is 600 watts powerful enough for my system?

[jack.h.tierney]

So I recently bought a Thermaltake 850 watt RGB PRO 80+ Bronze power supply, but I hate it. I don't care about the RGB and it is super loud compared to all the other components in my system. Basically the fan isn't supposed to spin unless it's under load, but sometimes I will just have like 1 tab open and the fan will start spinning very fast and loud. I am tempted to return it and spend the extra to get a Seasonic Flagship prime 600 Titanium fanless PSU. I know it is the quietest PSU on the market and it has a crazy long warranty so I'd be set for a long time but I don't know if it's strong enough for my system. Here are my specs.

CPU: I5-9600k
MOBO: Z370p-d3
Ram: 16 gigs Patriot Vengeance 2400 mhz
GPU; EVGA RTX 2060 Gaming SC
Cooler: EVGA 280mm AIO CLC (Stock Fans changed to BEQUIET fans)
Case: Cullinan MX
Storage. 2x Samsung 860 Evo 500gig
Monitor Samsung 27" 1440p 144hz curved

I don't really overclock but I game pretty frequently in 1440p.

Should I spend the crazy amount for the fanless seasonic, or does someone have a suggestion for another PSU that is still very quiet and slightly less expensive?

 

[Darkbreeze]

You don't need a fanless PSU. You just need a DECENT one. There is no way that, under load conditions, you should ever hear the PSU AT ALL over the sound of the radiator fans and graphics card, plus case fans. Ever. Thermaltake mostly makes junk power supplies or power supplies that lack in some regard or other even on their higher end models for the most part.

Something like the Seasonic Prime Gold 650w, Corsair RMx Gold 650w or EVGA G2 750w would be excellent, and I guarantee you'd likely never hear it at all, even under the most demanding loads.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: SeaSonic - PRIME Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.93 @ Amazon)
Total: $104.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-15 23:05 EDT-0400

Heck, even a Seasonic Focus Plus gold 650-750w unit would be fine. Keep in mind, the closer your power supplies maximum sustainable output is to what you are actually pulling, the more likely it becomes that you will have increased fan operation. Going a few hundred watts over your needs ensures that you will have a unit that runs in the 50-60% range, which is where it is most efficient and quietest anyhow. So a 750w model, if it's a good one, might be a good choice for you. If you get a semi-passive model that is 750w, you may never even see it come out of passive mode with your system.

 

[jack.h.tierney]

Thanks a lot! I will definitely take a look at those. Freaking Thermaltake. So garbage.

 

[Viprex]

Your thermaltake fan ramps up because as it's idle, heat will build up in the PSU. Heat is what controls the fan. A simply solution may be disabling the hybrid fan more if that's an option, or orienting the PSU so the intake is facing up, so hot air will rise out of the unit.

If you're looking for quiet PSUs my go to recommendations are the Corsair RM550X and Bitfenix Whisper 550. At Cybenetics.com you can see reliable noise ratings for each power supply. You can even find how quiet they'll be at different loads.
Your computer would be drawing ~250w.

 

[spencer.cleaves2]

Your PSU is probably ramping up the fan because the air flow in your PC is probably causing it too heat up. That being said as far as the loud fan, it could have just been a bad batch. I had a Thermaltake PSU and it worked fine, it wasn't the top tier on the market like Seasonic or Corsair, but I had no issues with it. You can never really go wrong with a good Seasonic PSU and it would definitely be a justifiable upgrade. If your case allows you to flip the configuration of your PSU, it might help a bit though. As far as fanless PSU, I don't really think they are worth the price because a regular decent quality PSU is virtually unnoticeable as far as noise (if it working properly)

 

[Karadjgne]

Nah. Psu should be upside down, intake under the case, exhaust out the back. It's seriously not affected much, if any, by case temps unless you have a pressure cooker of a pc.

Most coherent answer so far is by Viprex. The eco setting on the psu turns off the fan until the interior thermistor reaches a specific temp, then it kicks the fan on. Unfortunately, if the thermistor is set too high, the psu gets quite warm, so instead of kicking the fan on at 30ish% rpm, the temp now in the 70ish% rpm range, so the fan responds accordingly. Best solution for eliminating the insta-ramps on/off noise is to take away the thermistor usage, just run the fan always. Meaning the psu never gets hot enough under normal loads to even think about getting noisy.

Max draw on that pc is closer to 350-375w. Gaming loads are @ 60-70% of max, so around 250ish watts You could easily run a good 550w psu, 650w only if it's on sale.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Your thermaltake fan ramps up because as it's idle, heat will build up in the PSU. Heat is what controls the fan. A simply solution may be disabling the hybrid fan more if that's an option, or orienting the PSU so the intake is facing up, so hot air will rise out of the unit.

This is not accurate. Heat doesn't "build up" when the system is idle. Things get hot when they are under a load. The whole point of a semi-passive system is that at idle or low load situations there is no need for active cooling, because the heatsinks and design do well enough as is because they are typically over engineered on a good unit.

The last thing you really want is heat rising up out of the PSU into the case. The PSU, on bottom mounted configurations, is designed to be a SEPARATE system, and not part of the rest of the internal cooling ecosystem. There are a FEW niche configurations where it might be desirable, or so I've heard, on specific models with very specific use cases, but in general it is something looked upon as more of a problem than a solution. I would recommend against it for ANY bottom mounted PSU configuration.

I FULLY agree that turning off the ECO setting on any PSU that is equipped with it is a good idea. Unless you have a power supply that is seriously toeing the line in regard to it's capacity versus the system requirements, then the standard setting for most units will result in not only a longer lifespan for the PSU since it will always have some measure of active cooling but will also be less likely to go from 0-60mph (Yes, I said that) when confronted with a load rather than simply gradually increasing to a reasonable fan level as load increases.

Personally, I like 200w over recommendation on the PSU capacity based on card draw. It usually puts it's max draw squarely in the efficient zone and practically guarantees you'll never hear any high speed fan operation unless you have a mediocre model that goes full speed anytime there is a moderate load.