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A publication of Malloc Technology
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| Exclusive: Massive 15 Power Supply (PSU) Roundup |
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| Written by Winston - Posted on Wednesday, 18 August 2010 02:03 | ||
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Page 1 of 8
Introduction It's not very often that someone can get the chance to play with testing equipment costing upto 50,000 Euros or more. Well, this is what our Funky Kit team did during a recent visit to Coolermaster's European HQ in Netherlands. So why did our Funky Kit team go there? Well, we wanted to check out Coolermaster's office and labs but more importantly, we wanted use their PSU testing equipment so that we can test a whopping 15 power supplies, which we brought with us. Believe me ... 15 PSUs in your suitcase can be pretty darn HEAVY! Testing power supplies can be tricky without the right equipment. Power multi-meters and other home appliance testers are not suited for the job. What you really need, is professional equipment that can test a range of scenarios and record maximum load, average load, maximum Amps and various voltage readings. Becasue of this, power supply testing equipment, such as ones from Chroma, can be hugely expensive. No hardware review website big or small, would be able to really afford one (unless it's old, second-hand or used). And this is the whole reason why our Funky Kit team was invited, to visit the testing labs in Coolermaster's office.
With so many variables that can determine the result of a PSU test, Coolermaster's engineers/technicians have modified their testing equipment to cater for the latest power supplies. It features a modular system which includes a PCB board that allows you can plug in several, or all of the power connectors (4-pin molex, SATA, PCIe).
      
Using the actual Chroma testing equipment is quite mind-pickling, if you don't know what you're doing, but luckily we have the expertise of Coolermaster's engineers/technicians at hand. With their guidance, we'll be able to give you an exclusive power supply roundup, only available at Funky Kit. This roundup is the first of its kind, especially for testing a total of 15 PSUs. We've arranged the 15 power supplies into 4 groups as listed below.
Highend (1000W - 900W)
Power User (750W - 700W)
Mainstream (680W - 600W)
Budget (500W - 450W)
As I mentioned before, the Chroma testing equipment is extremely expensive, so I didn't dare touch it without the technician's permission. However, after a few supervised attempts I felt pretty confident. During our tests, we recorded several measurements including power efficiency at Max Load, Average Load, Max Amps and various voltage readings, including +12V, +5V and +3.3V lines ... all at full load. It will be interesting to see which of these power supplies are fully 80Plus compliant. Remember a minimum of 80% power efficiency at FULL load is required for 80Plus certification. However, there are varying levels of the 80Plus standard, as listed below (taken from 80Plus.org).
A little off-topic here, but I just had to mention it. During our visit to Coolermaster's office, I couldn't help but notice, how clean and organised their offices really were. Trust me, I've been to a few offices (no names here), and this is by far one of the most interesting one I've visited so far. As I entered one of the testing labs, something caught my eye. There was a closed door down one of the hallways, which had an old Coolermaster "Wave" chassis next to it ... it definitely required further investigating. I later found out that the room is actually a museum of old Coolermaster products dating back to the early 1990's ... omg, I was in heaven when I entered the room LOL! Right, enough talk, let's get the ball rolling with our exclusive 15 PSU roundup. First off ... we have 3 highend PSUs in the 1000W - 900W range.
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