Passively cooled computer components are kind of a holy grail item. It’s difficult to design them in such a way that they’ll operate well without failure. Especially when considering variables like climate and system application. In other words, a passively cooled computer component might operate perfectly well in the Pacific Northwest of the US, but find it a challenge to operate within tolerances in Southeast Asia. One such product that needs to be done right are power supplies. Fortunately, electrical innovation has resulted in better designs giving manufacturers like Rosewill the opportunity to provide a great product that works.
Today, we have their completely fan-less, passively cooled, and very attractive Silentnight 500 watt power supply. And, to top it off, it’s even 80PLUS Platinum efficient! Could this be the PSU you’ve been waiting for to complete your silent PC build? Let’s find out!
Features and Specifications
It may sound too good to be true but the Silentnight 500 is truly 80Plus Platinum Certified (at least 89%) thanks to proper validation. It’s a single rail 12 volt design which should provide plenty of power to needy components. The specification info is helpful to anyone needing particular cables or dimensions if you’re going to put it in a more compact enclosure. Have a quick look below.
You’ll find 20 Amps available on both the +3.3V and +5V rails. A single 41.5 Amp +12V rail powers the main heart of the system. It’ll completely support a pair of video cards or single higher end card. This means your NVIDIA GTX 680 has enough power to work. Or, perhaps you have two GTX 760s in your new system. It also helps that both PCIE connectors are 6+2 pin, allowing for the use of any reasonable GPU combination.
Keep in mind that many Gold and Platinum power supplies often have extra power inside beyond their rating. We’ll find out whether this one does as well in our benchmarks and testing.
The Rosewill Silentnight 500 Platinum PSU can be purchased for as low as $159.99 US and even comes with a hefty 7 year parts and labor warranty. You can even find it for as low as $139.99 US at the “Egg”.
What Comes with the Silentnight?
The contents are pretty much basic as usual. Besides the PSU, consumers will find a manual, AC power cable, cable zip ties (but we really want velcro straps), extra PSU power cables, a carrying bag for the extra unused wires and standard black screws as well as thumb screws for a full tool-less installation.
Although cable ties are nice to have, we feel that they can be a little too permanent. Some Velcro straps are dirt cheap and can spruce up a PSU bundle, providing for easy upgrades down the road without having to cut everything off to install a new component.
Examining the Silentnight 500 Platinum
The most obvious stand out feature of the chassis design of the Silentnight is that it’s fanless. While there is plenty of venting, there isn’t any fan inside. Instead, the top where the fan usually is found is covered with a massive black anodized aluminum heat sink that has a couple extra holes for better venting. It makes contact with the internal MOSFETs and other components that get the hottest. The higher quality components probably don’t generate heat but it’s still a nice assuring measure. As you can imagine, the heat sink does add some extra weight to the unit when compared with other power supplies in its wattage range.
Consumers will find one 20+4pin main power cable, one 12V 4+4pin (EPS) cable, and two PCIE 6+2pin cables. Modular cables include one SATA cable with four SATA connectors, one cable with 2 SATA plus 2 Molex connectors, one cable with 3 Molex plus one floppy connector and two more PCIE 6+2pin cables. The main power cables are sleeved while the rest of the cables use a lower profile non sleeved design.
Let’s find out what’s on the inside next…
The Heart of the Silentnight
The internal power plant is similar to any other at first glance. Granted, it utilizes two thin and two huge tall black heat sinks that make a connection with the PSU chassis heat sink which we don’t see every day. The plant is fed by a 400 volt 470uF Nippon Chemi-Con capacitor. Everything else from the rectifiers to the controllers is more than capable of handling the job. I suspect the unit could have been built in Super Flower’s plant because it’s so similar to a Kingwin STR-500, which is another passive unit on the market. The big difference is that Kingwin has a 5 year warranty whereas the Rosewill offers a 7 year warranty to one up it.
With all the external looks and specs out of the way, let’s test this bad boy out!
Testing System Setup and Methodology
A simple test system was used to make sure the PSU offers the ability to at least power it and give it what it needs. Our test system featured a Intel Core i7-3770K CPU on an ASUS Sabertooth Z77. We plugged in some Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB DDR3 memory and a Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD. To take care of the graphics duties, we employed the NVIDIA GTX 760 video card which has an estimated consumption of around 350 watts max.
While measuring the voltage through the motherboard software tends to be just a little different than the trusty o-scope tests, the ASUS AI Suite onboard the ASUS Sabertooth Z77 does report the specifics that are important to the system’s performance to start. However, the final results include the o-scope tests to verify.
The voltage rails aren’t so much always the target in question as much as the ripple and any large power jumps so we will be looking for those. And with that in mind and a couple hours of monitoring, here’s how the Silentnight performs.
Silentnight Performance
Voltage output isn’t a problem at all for the Rosewill Silentnight 5oo Watt power supply. It’s solid from idle to 100% load. Ripple is quite low as well as any fluctuations during operation. Efficiency remains 91 to 92% which is excellent and right inline with its 80PLUS Platinum rating.
Temperatures ranged from 50 to 54C which is to be expected and tells us that the passive cooling mechanism is definitely doing what it does and does it well. Maximum output topped out at about 575 Watts maintaining an 89-90% efficiency which is really great news for users worried about whether ample power can be supplied under more punishing loads. And, of course, there is absolutely no noise to measure.
When you consider the engineering obstacles (and the price point along with the 7 year parts and labor warranty) this is an excellent silent unit.
Final Thoughts
What applications fit the Rosewill Silentnight 500 Watt Platinum power supply best? Users could use it for any computer based on our testing. But the PSU would really support home theater and audio-visual computer systems since these users desire the silence and the performance too. That said, the Silentnight will also pair nicely with the right CPU cooler and video card for a quieter gaming system. In fact, despite NVIDIA’s 600 Watt recommendation, we also tested the power supply with a GIGABYTE GTX 770 OC 2GB, which ran smoothly on our test system without issue, without adding to the noise levels.
Overall, the Silentnight 500 delivers exactly what it promises: silence, 80Plus Platinum efficiency, 500 watts (and then some), and stable voltage output. There are a few other other passively cooled units to choose from but I’ve only seen one other which I suspect was made in the same plant, but with a slightly lesser warranty. The choice may be clear especially if you factor in the price and Rosewill’s determination to become a true player in the PC DIY market.
If you’re looking for a superb fanless 500 Watt power supply sporting a 7 year warranty, with a company that is proving every day that they want to play ball, then the Rosewill SilentNight 500 80Plus Platinum is my Editor’s Choice. And with pricing as low as $139.99 US with an “Iron Egg Guarantee”, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be yours too.
Pros
- True 80Plus Platinum efficiency
- Fanless, noiseless, silent!
- Reliable, strong power output
- Heart of a 600 Watt 80Plus Gold
- High quality components and design
- 7 Year warranty
Cons
- None really, just needs Velcro straps
Overall Rating: 9.5/10
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