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be quiet! are using a 120mm fan made in China. The model number is BQ QF1-12025-MS. This fan is rated 12V, 0.3A at 1,800 rpm. be quiet! class this fan as ‘silence optimised'. The fan blades are ‘airflow optimised' as well to reduce turbulence (and noise).
The overall build quality is quite high with several small heatsinks scattered around the PCB to help maintain decent temperatures. Soldering quality on the PCB is quite clean throughout as well, which is reassuring to see.
This unit is based around an Active Clamp + SR (Synchronous Rectifier) topology. The design uses additional active components such as a set of MOSFET's, capacitors and an IC on the primary and secondary side. These are adopted instead of passive diodes, allowing control over individual parts. A second IC controls rectification on the DC side.
The IC's on primary and secondary sides can communicate and are able to monitor components to improve efficiency. This is called Zero Voltage and Zero Current Switching technology (ZCS, ZVS).
The daughter card for the modular management is using high quality solid capacitors. When compared directly to electrolytic models, they can help improve residual ripple across the rails. This particular design ditches the use of an MOV and adopts a surge absorber to protect against voltage spikes. This is supplied by Mitsubishi and can handle up to 10 kilovolts.
Two metal plates are placed a small distance apart inside a gas filled body which elimates the surge to an exothermic reaction. It is further packed inside a heat shrink sleeve to reduce the impact of outside influences.
I can't help but feel disappointed that be quiet! have opted to use a lower grade 85C rated primary capacitor from Chinese manufacturer TEAPO. I have had several TEAPO caps leak and explode on me over the years, so I don't have a lot of faith in them as a company. Some people may argue that Chinese branded capacitors are getting better but I strongly feel that a company such as be quiet! should be using 85c-105c Japanese capacitors throughout. Especially with their focus on German quality engineering.
The hardwired cables are sleeved into the chassis, and protected against direct contact with the metal chassis via a plastic grommet. No problems here.
