Topic by AKM

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Topic: Next level upgrade - fanless PSU for your Pianoteq setup

I was under impression that my recent PC was relatively quiet. I always payed attention to more "silent" components, such as fans and HDD's.

After my recent PSU (power supply unit) start dying, I bought myself a fanless one. I also disabled my couple of HDDs. So it is the only one CPU fan at a very low speeds in the system. The results are impressive. The loudest thing I can hear now - it happen that one of my PC displays have a noise-buzz, never heard it before. Previously I would consider 2.5 HDD as being virtually silent to me, now I hear it LOUD.

Would definitely recommend anyone looking for a boost for their Pianoteq setups to get a fanless PSU for their PCs (and to get rid of their HDDs). I would recommend these two models:
http://www2.seasonic.com/product/platinum-400/ - it is what I got, a choice for those who may need (any modern) dedicated GPU in their setups.
http://www.streacom.com/products/nano160-fanless-psu/ - for any (reasonable) setups without a dedicated GPUs.

There are also another fanless PSU choices from both Seasonic and Streacom.

I consider this upgrade for myself as having almost the same significance as getting a 'pro' soundcard

Last edited by AKM (15-03-2018 09:25)
Andrei Kuznetsov
https://www.youtube.com/pianopictures

AKM's Website

Reply by AKM

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Re: Next level upgrade - fanless PSU for your Pianoteq setup

Regarding the HDDs, I'm still considering for myself what solution to go for, I'm thinking about getting one of these:
https://ru.aliexpress.com/item/ORICO-65...269.LdGlXy

or setting up a cheap PC (without a display) somewhere else in my apartment to hold my 2 HDDs - it is quite easy to set up a network access to them.

Andrei Kuznetsov
https://www.youtube.com/pianopictures

AKM's Website

Reply by AKM

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Re: Next level upgrade - fanless PSU for your Pianoteq setup

Regarding Seasonic 400 Fanless Platinum, just to be exact, it is not 'dead-silent'. If you put your ear right to the unit you can hear some buzz. You can still barely hear it from about 40-50 cm. But in normal placing, you will not be able to hear it, the static noise from the speaker drivers or the CPU fan will still be more audible. But overall it is nothing compared to my previous PSU that made crazy whining sounds in the quiet (plus fan).

Last edited by AKM (15-03-2018 09:38)
Andrei Kuznetsov
https://www.youtube.com/pianopictures

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Reply by _DJ_

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Re: Next level upgrade - fanless PSU for your Pianoteq setup

why hdd?  why not ssd??
ssd = zero noise (no spinning platter or head motion) 

Matthieu 7:6

Reply by AKM

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Re: Next level upgrade - fanless PSU for your Pianoteq setup

@_DJ_

I thought it is obvious that I have a SSD in my main system. I still need HDDs for storage as it is much more cost effective.

Last edited by AKM (15-03-2018 09:40)
Andrei Kuznetsov
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Reply by scherbakov.al

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Re: Next level upgrade - fanless PSU for your Pianoteq setup

Silence is a great thing. I, too, feel irritated by the fan in my laptop (it survived the repair and became louder). Although it is not loud, but it interferes with the quiet listening of music. This interferes with listening through the speakers and slightly interferes with playing / listening through the headphones of an open type. So I look / listen to fanless systems. For example:

http://s.aliexpress.com/MNJfaARR

These computers are cooled by the enclosure and you can put a quiet and fast SSD. Because of the noise, I bought an external vifi box for a hard drive. I was hoping to use it in another room, having access to it remotely by wifi. In practice, this turned out to be a very unstable solution. Therefore, it now serves as a food for the usb-hub, since the ports on the laptop are critically lacking. By the way, Apple's notebooks have a specially designed fan blade shape that reduces hum, turning it into low-pitched noise. (can the cooler even hang in a magnetic field, excluding friction?). The next moment is noise from the busy street and the periodic hum from the old refrigerator from the next room .. Our world is now acoustically polluted ..

Reply by Kramster1

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Re: Next level upgrade - fanless PSU for your Pianoteq setup

scherbakov.al wrote:

  .. Our world is now acoustically polluted ..

Ha, good one and so true.

Pianoteq 7, all the pianos , a  Casio:  Px-560M, PX 3000, (2) PX350's, Mac i27 and MacBook Pro, Focusrite, Scarlette 18/20 and a bunch of speakers and headphones

Reply by AKM

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Re: Next level upgrade - fanless PSU for your Pianoteq setup

@scherbakov.al

Sure. Even better to go for a totally passive case (and psu): http://www.streacom.com/products/chassis/
I'm thinking about even further upgrading to FC8 ALPHA FANLESS and Nano160 Fanless PSU (mITX board and 65W i5).

I just can't tell you enough how enjoyable it is, after all the years.

Last edited by AKM (15-03-2018 14:27)
Andrei Kuznetsov
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Reply by marcos daniel

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Re: Next level upgrade - fanless PSU for your Pianoteq setup

Entry level gaming laptop are a good alternative too, I own a MSI GL62M which has 6 heatpipes, and two fans with adjustable speeds. 
With 25ºC ambient temperature, the CPU hardly ever will go beyond 45ºC if only running Pianoteq. And for those low temperatures it is possible to set the fans' speed to 0 rpm.
System is on SSD,  and the auxiliar HDD stops spinning if you don't use it for some minutes (I believe this could be adjusted in windows power settings, I did not bother to look at these things).

Pianoteq Pro - Bechstein - Blüthner - Grotrian - K2 - Kremsegg 1 & 2 - Petrof - Steingraeber - Steinway B & D - YC5
Kawai CL35 & MP11

Reply by AKM

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Re: Next level upgrade - fanless PSU for your Pianoteq setup

http://www.fanlesstech.com/ - great PC silence oriented website, highly recommended for Pianoteq people.

And just ordered this case for the new build, waiting, fingers crossed: https://www.hdplex.com/hdplex-h3-v2-fan...assis.html

Last edited by AKM (24-03-2018 04:03)
Andrei Kuznetsov
https://www.youtube.com/pianopictures

AKM's Website