Reviews
Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 600W Review
In 2008 Cooler Master decided to set up a dedicated lab for testing Power Supply Units, and invested in some specialist high-end equipment designed to carry out extremely accurate procedures to ensure that the Power Supplies are within Specification and function without interruption.
First up we have the Chroma AC Source 6530 arguably the most important piece of equipment in the setup, as it provides the setup with the required voltage ranging from 0-300V. AC Frequency is also adjustable, as is phase shift. In our case we alternated between 230V/50Hz and 115V/60Hz as that’s the input voltages used in domestic environments.
The next piece of equipment is the Yokogawa WT210, which is responsible for the measuring of the input of the PSU. This high precision power meter is capable of accurately reporting power usage, current, voltage, frequency, and power factor within 0.1% accuracy. This is how we get the reading for the total draw from the PSU itself.
Moving on we have the Chroma DC-Loads 63303 & 63306. These beauties are used to apply varying loads to the power supply units and can be used simultaneously to load the PSU under testing. Adjusting the load is as easy as turning the knobs on the front panel which allow very precise adjustment. These take a little getting used to, but by the end of testing I felt like I’d got the knack of it. The onscreen displays provides you with the current drawn and a live voltage reading. These units are designed with short circuiting in mind and have a button dedicated to creating a short circuit.
The scope used in the setup is a Tektronix DPO3034, capable of recording voltage, current, frequency, ripple-noise, rise and fall-times. The 300MHz scope has 4 channels and is fully plug and play computer compatible, and has usb ports and a lan port for extra connectivity.
Monitoring the overall current was handled by the Tektronix TCP150 current probe which works in conjunction with the DPO3034.
As the aforementioned equipment isn’t specifically designed for testing Power Supply Units there is no direct method of connecting to various power supply connectors to the equipment, however Chroma have produced a test fixture which has plenty of connectors to hook up practically any PSU to the unit to undergo testing. A master on/off switch is present, as are measurement points for the meters and scopes.
The Fluke 8845A is a high precision hand scope designed to record and measure voltage, current, frequency and sine waves. During testing it was used to monitor and record the 12V rail.
Last on the list, but by no means list is the dual channel thermometer, capable of recording two temperatures simultaneously, in this case intake and exhaust temperatures. The Center 301 thermometer logs the straight directly to the connected computer.
(photos courtesy of Cooler Master)
On the next page we take a look at the Test Results.
Tags: 600W, Cooler Master, Power Supply, PSU, Silent Pro Gold
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