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Computer Specials |
True Silent Titanium, 420W Power Supply (cont.)Inside: A fan is located at the back of the power supply. The air intake vents are located across from it. This allows air to flow over a large heatsink inside of the PSU. A solid stream of air over the heatsink will stop warm components from over heating and drying out. Unfortunately, there is no fan or vent at the bottom of the PSU; therefore, this PSU will not help the user to aid in cooling performance.
Internal quality is the most important part of a power supply. The large heatsinks will allow the hard to dissipate more heat. Other components look well built with large capacitors and large coils. Smaller capacitors will overload quicker than larger ones, causing disaster. The board of the power supply also looks well soldered. Bad solder joints can lead to shorts and spikes in power.
An interesting side note, there are plenty of fan controller jacks. Not sure why. Testing: Testing all the specifics of a power supply can take a year to explain and test. Plus, I do not have all the equipment necessary. Voltages are a strong test. I will check the voltages with a multi-meter. Using a motherboard's voltage readout will result in less accurate results. Other components sit between the power line and the voltage reporter. This causes slight differences between actual voltage and voltage that is reported by the motherboard. Other tests to perform on a power supply are loading the max AMPs on each line to test the protection features and the output of the supply; thus, testing the peak surge. A test to check how well the power supply switches from line to line, checking for under voltage and over voltages. Of these other tests, my best way to approach performing something close is by loading up each line with some fans and hard drives. I know I will not pull a strong enough load to test the limits of the supply. I will also plug devices into other lines while the a line is in use and record the voltages. This test is close in simulating the power supply's response as if it were working inside of your case with devices turning on and off; thus, forcing the supply to switch lines. I will grab voltages for 5 hours of operation each hour. Results: After turning the power supply on, I had to open the case back up to make sure the fan was on. It is that quiet, you will not hear it at all. A definite plus on the quiet side, but question on the cooling side.
A reading was taken every hour; average is based on averaging each reading. The voltages look alright. Nothing too exceptional except the 12V line. The other ones are within the 5%, a must for a power supply. Anything more and I would not use the PSU. The 5V line on the True Silent PSU is a little scary. 5.26 volts were obtained when first turning the power supply on, after that it settled down to 5.24V. I would imagine I have about a 0.5% error tolerance with my multi-meter; therefore, the 5V line could be more than 5%. Conclusion: The True Silent PSU is everything it promises. There is almost zero noise coming from the PSU, impossible to hear. The voltages are within a 5% tolerance. Safety features are in place to protect your hardware and the components are solid. The titanium cover is very shiny and looks sharp but does finger print easily. The only thing holding this power supply back is that the voltages. This could be just this particular one that I got to review, but it is the only one I have. Pros:
Cons:
Rating: (Ratings Possible Terrible, Very Bad, Bad, Fair, Good, Very Good, Excellent) |
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