OCZ Power Supply Roundup

When buying parts to build a new system many people underestimate the importance of the power supply. We receive a lot of emails and Facebook questions from readers who are experiencing system stability issues, many of which we find out are related to poor power delivery. When buying a power supply it is very important to work out exactly what you will need. A little forethought and planning will mean you won't be spending extra money on a supply you don't need, or one that won't meet your demands or expectations. For this review today we approached OCZ to send us a range of power supplies at various price points. These units are designed to cater to a wide audience. The budget models on test today are big sellers due to the very competitive pricing. Many OEM builders use these units. The high end models are designed for hard core gamers who are running multiple, expensive graphics cards in Crossfire or SLI configurations. Before we get into the testing, we wanted to go over some points to help our readers when they are shopping for a new power supply. With such a wide range available online there have never been more choices available to the consumer. To the inexperienced user it can be confusing however. What should you be looking for? If you have a system chassis with a window and are focusing on a tidy system build, then you will more than likely want to buy a modular power supply. There are several kinds of modular power supply available today. A 'Pure' modular power supply will have no hardwired cables. This means when you open the box and remove the power supply, there won't be any dangling from the unit itself. A separate bag will be supplied, with every cable in it. Other modular power supplies will have some cables hardwired into the chassis. These hardwired cables will often be the main motherboard connector, a couple of PCIe cables and the CPU 8/4 pin connector - these primary cables are often used all the time. If you don't get a modular power supply, then you will end up dealing with a plethora of cables you might not be using. All of these will need carefully routed out of sight behind the motherboard tray. Depending on the case you are using and the specific power supply, this can get messy. Many computer cases don't have a lot of space behind the motherboard tray, so you will need to get creative. If the cable routing is a key priority for you, we advise you opt for one of the modular supplies currently available online. Don't just blindly buy a power supply with a 1000W+ rating. Unless you are running an ultra high end system with two HD7990's or four high end graphics cards you are highly unlikely to need one. Our recent review of the Sapphire HD7990 dual GPU graphics card running in a Quadfire configuration is a good example of just how much power you need. The test system we used comprised a liquid cooled, overclocked Core i7 3960X with several hard drives, 16GB of 2,400mhz memory and two AMD HD7990's running in Quad Crossfire. This is possibly one of the most powerful gaming systems you could build today and under load it demanded 825 watts. For this system we would recommend a 1000W or 1250W power supply, but what about if you are using a more modest configuration? Many high gaming systems using an overclocked Core i5 3570k or Core i7 3770k with a GTX680 or HD7970 are likely to be requiring between 300-400 watts of power under load. An example? Our recent review of the Cyberpower Infinity Fusion Titan SE featured information on system wide power demands. This gaming PC was built around a Core i5 3570k which was liquid cooled and overclocked to 4.6ghz. CyberPower also used the class leading £850 Nvidia GTX Titan graphics card. Was this another 800W power drain system? Not even close, this system demanded less than 330 watts under load. Many people would think just because a system is using a high end graphics card that a 1000W power supply is needed. It isn't. A power supply will reach maximum efficiency between 40% and 60% of its maximum rated load. For the Cyberpower Infinity Fusion Titan SE system mentioned directly above, a quality power supply around 750W would be ideal, leaving a little headroom for adding in some additional hardware at a later date. Cyberpower decided to use the budget oriented Corsair CX600M (600W) which is close to 50% demand at load. Not a bad move really on their part but they were clearly trying to balance the monstrous cost of the GTX Titan to achieve the price point of £1999.99 inc vat. Obviously this is only part of the procedure for buying the right power supply. You can also factor in the 80 Plus certification. This is the certification of rated efficiency. This will certify products that have more than 80% energy efficiency at 20%, 50% and 100% of rated load, and a power factor of 0.9 or greater at 100% load. That is, such PSUs will waste 20% or less electric energy as heat at the specified load levels, thus reducing electricity use and bills compared to less efficient PSUs. We would always recommend at least 80 Plus Bronze certification for a budget power supply and when you spend more money, this certification will often increase to Silver, Gold and finally Platinum certification. Be aware that some power supplies don't achieve their claimed efficiency levels. There have been many articles on this in the past and it certainly complicates the issue. Just because you see an 80 Plus Gold badge on the front of the box, it doesn't mean the power supply actually has been certified. That is an article for a different day however. Ripple performance is also an important factor when deciding on a power supply, because if a specific unit falls outside industry tolerance specifications, it can be potentially dangerous. Ripple occurs with all SMPSU's (switch mode power supply units). These are tiny fluctuations in a power supplies output voltage on the order of tens of millivolts, millions of times a second. Ripple is measured as a peak-to-peak value in milivolts and is measured using an oscilloscope. The ATX specification sets these limits on computer PSU ripple levels (meaning we don't want to see results in excess of these figures below): +12V - 120mV +5V - 50mV +3.3V - 50mV +5VSB - 50mV Ideally (in my opinion) we want to see figures in this range: +12V - 80mV +5V - 35mV +3.3V - 35mV +5VSB - 50mV A power supply which shows ripple outside (higher) than that listed by the ATX specifications can potentially cause hardware damage. There is no way of measuring when a problem might occur, but it is likely something will go wrong, long term. A power supply that shows good ripple suppression will help aid hardware longevity. Ripple can have a negative impact on electrolytic capacitors. A ripple reading close to a capacitors rated ripple will potentially shorten the lifespan and ripple exceeding its rated level could cause it to blow. It is worth pointing out that electrolytic capacitors are found on a motherboard, a graphics card, the power supply and more - so the potential for damage is high. Using a power supply with good ripple suppression is very important. If you want to learn more about this, there are plenty of indepth technical articles available online. Additionally, If you are trying to build a quiet system it is important to factor in the fan performance of the unit. A fan that has to work hard to maintain good internal ambient temperatures will likely produce a lot of noise which can be distracting, especially if the rest of your system has been built with silence in mind. So let's get on with the testing of these OCZ power supplies. We will be working our way up the power supply prices the further we get into this review and trying to explain what each power supply would be best suited to handling. The OCZ CoreXstream 500W is designed for an entry level system, being priced at only £32.99 inc vat. We have never tested one of these power supplies before, so we were interested to see how it would handle. Inside the box there is a regional specific power cable, a little user manual and some mounting screws. The power supply itself is protected inside a soft bubblewrap bag. This is not a modular power supply, although at this price it is hardly to be expected. First impressions point to just how light this power supply is, it is featherweight and quite nicely finished considering. The paint work is not too deep however so it does scratch quite easily. It measures 150 x 140 x 86 mm. All of the cables are hardwired into the chassis, not all of them are sleeved either. A large 120mm fan is hidden behind the black grill. We will look at this shortly when we crack open the chassis. The other side shows that this power supply is set at 230V. There is a vent here to help cooling and a power connector and switch at the side. OCZ CoreXstream 500W DC Output +3.3V +5V +12V1 / +12V2 -12V +5Vsb Max Output 24A 15A 25A / 20A 0.3A 2.5A Total Power 120W 444W 3.6W 12.5W 500W The OCZ CoreXStream 500W can deliver 444W via the dual +12V1/+12V2 rail. Connectors are: 20+4 pin ATX, 1x 4+4 pin CPU, 1 x PCIe 6-pin, 1 x 6+2-pin PCIe, 2 x 4-pin Peripheral, 4 x SATA, 1 x Floppy. Not an ideal power supply for a high powered gaming system, with only a single 6+2 pin PCIe cable and a 6 pin PCIe cable hardwired into the unit. Still, for a single HD7870 or HD7950 it should be fine. Only the main motherboard connector is sleeved, so it won't be the most attractive build either, if you are using a windowed chassis. OCZ are using a Young Lin fan (model number DFS122512L) This 120mm sleeve bearing fan is rated at 1,200 rpm and emitting a maximum of 23 dBa. The build quality is acceptable, although it is clear that this is built to a very specific price point as some of the soldering isn't quite up to the standard we would expect in a more expensive unit. OCZ are using HEC as a partner for this unit. The primary capacitor is a Taiwanese Teapo, rated at 400V/330uF @ 85c. I don't rate Teapo capacitors very highly as I have seen several fail in the past within other units. We wouldn't expect to see a 105c rated primary capacitor in a power supply like this, although most of the second stage capacitors are 105c rated. On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. Additional technical assistance: Peter McFarland and Jeremy Price. Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 watt DC load.Due to public requests we have changed our temperature settings recently – previously we rated with ambient temperatures at 25C, we have increased ambient temperatures by 10c (to 35c) in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions. We use combinations of the following hardware: • SunMoon SM-268 • CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs) • CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4) • Extech Power Analyzer • Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter • SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) • Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC) • Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA DC Output Load Regulation Combined DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V +5VSB A V A V A V A V 110W 1.02 3.34 1.02 5.03 8.04 12.07 1.00 5.03 220W 2.05 3.33 2.03 5.02 16.03 12.02 1.00 5.02 305W 3.01 3.32 3.05 5.00 22.08 11.97 1.50 5.01 410W 4.02 3.31 4.06 4.98 30.21 11.92 2.00 5.00 500W 5.03 3.30 5.08 4.96 37.35 11.85 2.50 5.00 Voltage regulation is borderline acceptable, but there is some noticeable droop on the +12V output. OCZ CoreXStream 500W Maximum Load 515W We managed to load the PSU with 515W watts before it shut down safely. Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly. Cross Load Testing +3.3V +5V +12V -12V +5VSB A V A V A V A V A V 493W 1.0 3.31 1.0 5.02 40.0 11.80 0.2 -12.01 0.50 5.03 153W 15.0 3.28 15.0 4.94 2.0 12.05 0.2 -12.00 0.50 5.01 The cross load test results are acceptable although the +12V output moves noticeably to 11.80V when hit with 40A. We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum. ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide. ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance Output Ripple (mV p-p) +3.3V 50 +5V 50 +12V1 120 +12V2 120 -12V 120 +5VSB 50 Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard. AC Ripple (mV p-p) DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V 5VSB 110W 10 15 25 15 220W 15 20 35 15 305W 15 30 50 20 410W 25 40 65 25 500W 30 45 90 25 Ripple suppression is not great, although at this very low price point we weren't expecting to see class leading results. Still, all of the parameters fall within rated specifications. Efficiency (%) 110W 79.4 220W 80.2 305W 82.1 410W 81.4 500W 80.1 Efficiency isn't rating very highly either, peaking at 82.1% at 50% load. We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635. Today to test the Power Supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself. As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels. KitGuru noise guide 10dBA - Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves 20-25dBA – Whisper 30dBA - High Quality Computer fan 40dBA - A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator 50dBA - Normal Conversation 60dBA - Laughter 70dBA - Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer 80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal 90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower 100dBA - MP3 Player at maximum output 110dBA - Orchestra 120dBA - Front row rock concert/Jet Engine 130dBA - Threshold of Pain 140dBA - Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range) 160dBA - Instant Perforation of eardrum Noise (dBA) 110W 28.4 220W 29.3 305W 31.3 410W 33.6 500W 34.2 At under 300 watt load, the power supply is quiet and basically inaudible. When tasked with 500W of power, this rises to just over 34dBa. This is a quiet power supply, even when loaded high. Temperature (c) Intake Exhaust 110W 35 39 220W 37 45 305W 42 52 410W 47 57 500W 50 64 The fan isn't the highest quality unit we have tested, and the overall temperatures rise to a 14c above ambient at full load. OCZ could have adjusted the fan profile to be a little more aggressive. Maximum load Efficiency 515W 79.8 Pushing the PSU above its rated limits generates an efficiency level of around 79.8%. This is not a viable ‘real world’ situation, but its interesting nonetheless. OCZ CoreXStream 500W The OCZ CoreXStream 500W is a budget power supply designed to target system builders and people who want to create an extremely low cost PC. There are not many 'branded' power supplies around the £30 price point, in fact the cheapest range we had tested before this was the Corsair Builder Series. The build quality of the CoreXStream 500W is reasonable, although the paint work is rather thin and quite easily scratched if you aren't careful. It didn't pass our screwdriver stress test, which involves running the head of a Philips head driver down the side of the chassis with weak to moderate force. Is it very easy to accidentally scuff the side of the power supply against a computer case or some tools during the build phase, so we feel this is worth mentioning. This power supply is not modular, so you will have to route all the cables out of sight if you want to improve the looks of the system build. The fact that the cables are not sleeved doesn't help with the appearance either, although again at this price point this is expected. The cables are quite long however, so may prove useful for those people using a larger chassis. Technically the unit is not wonderful and raises a few concerns. The ripple results are quite high, although it did fall inside industry tolerance guidelines. The +12V peak result is around 90mV which is higher than we would like to see. Placing additional strain on this power supply in an overclocked state may cause problems long term. I wouldn't be happy using it in any of my own gaming systems if I was being honest. When rating this power supply we need to factor in every single negative and plus point then, look at cost. The asking price of £32.99 inc vat is one of the lowest we have seen from a reputable company, and it is difficult to understand how OCZ are making any profit at all, factoring in dealer margins. The CoreXStream 500W power supply is certainly a no frills design. There are no modular cables, the paint and finish of the unit are clearly set at a very tight price point. The hardwired cables are not sleeved and there are only a 6 pin and a 6+2 pin PCI connector. Technically the unit is borderline to what we would class as acceptable, displaying below average load regulation, high ripple characteristics and poor overall efficiency. I really can't give the CoreXStream 500W any award, even factoring in the massively competitive pricing. For a gaming machine, there are a few technical concerns which would make me wonder about the long term reliability of the unit. OCZ are standing behind it with a 3 year warranty however, so at least you have this to fall back on. I would really only use this power supply in a non essential office machine. If I was building a gaming system even at the budget end of the scale I would spend a little extra money and opt for the Corsair Builder series. Pros: very very inexpensive. useful for a low power office machine. 3 year warranty. delivered over 500W in our tests. quiet. Cons: ripple suppression is borderline. non inspiring technical results. weak efficiency. non modular. load regulation. cables are not sleeved. Kitguru says: Very low cost, but with the technical concerns mentioned we can't award this unit. The OCZ ZT 650W ships in a black box which features 'sporty' yellow accenting. Large text focuses on the modular design. This power supply is a significant price increase from the CoreXStream 500W featured earlier in the review. We found a good deal for £69.95 inc vat at Scan. The OCZ ZT 650W is 80 Plus Bronze certified, has a 5 year warranty and ships with a large 140mm fan. This power supply is designed to cope with a variety of mid range gaming systems and could comfortably handle an overclocked system with a high end graphics card. All of the cables are supplied in a little black box which takes up around half of the space. OCZ supply a user manual, cable ties and screws to mount the power supply into the case. There is also a regional specific power cable. The 650W supply contains the following modular cables: 1 x 20+4-pin ATX 1 x 4+4-pin ESP/12V CPU 2 x 6+2-pin PCI-E 6 x 4-pin Peripheral 9 x 5-pin SATA 1 x Floppy OCZ protect the power supply inside a soft protective cover. OCZ have kept the appearance simple and dark, which is the most compatible appearance for the majority of system builds. The product name and specifications are highlighted in yellow. The large 140mm fan takes centerstage at the top of the unit, with ‘Z’ branding in the middle. The power supply measures 86x150x175mm. The front of the power supply has all the modular cabling connectors, all clearly labelled to ensure an easy build. This is a 100% modular design so even the standard ATX power cable isn’t wired. The other side is vented to aid with airflow. There is a power connector and switch offset to the side. OCZ ZT 650W Power Supply DC Output +5V +3.3V +12V -12V +5Vsb Max Output 30A 24A 54A .5A 3A Combined 170W 648W 6W 15W Total 650W The power supply has a single 12V+ rail capable of delivering 54A of power. The power supply uses a Yate Loon D14BH-12 fan which can generate up to 140cfm of airflow at around 48.5 dBa (2,800 rpm). This fan should be controlled to spin much slower than this however and we will test the noise emissions later in the review. This is a Great Wall design, the same company who produce the ZX series for OCZ. There are several rows of black heatsinks separating components. OCZ are using Teapo capacitors, rated 560μF, 420V, 105°C. Transient filtering starts at the AC receptacle with one X and two Y capacitors. We noticed that they aren’t using a Metal Oxide Varistor which could be seen as a bad point of the design. Capacitors on the secondary side are by Rubycon and Nippon Chemi Con. This design has extra ripple filtering in place with Teapo and Chemi Con capacitors on the modular PCB section. On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later. Additional technical assistance: Peter McFarland and Jeremy Price. Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 watt DC load. Due to public requests we have changed our temperature settings recently – previously we rated with ambient temperatures at 25C, we have increased ambient temperatures by 10c (to 35c) in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions. We use combinations of the following hardware: • SunMoon SM-268 • CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs) • CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4) • Extech Power Analyzer • Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter • SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) • Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC) • Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVAWe are combining 12V output into a single result. DC Output Load Regulation Combined DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V +5VSB -12V A V A V A V A V A V 152W 2.07 3.40 2.04 5.02 10.11 12.18 0.50 5.01 0.20 -12.05 270W 3.03 3.38 3.06 5.01 19.11 12.12 0.50 5.00 0.30 -12.01 400W 4.02 3.30 5.04 4.97 29.17 12.08 1.00 4.98 0.30 -12.00 523W 6.06 3.27 7.07 4.93 38.18 12.02 1.50 4.97 0.30 -11.97 652W 8.08 3.25 9.04 4.88 48.19 11.94 2.50 4.95 0.30 -11.94 Output load regulation is solid holding all primary rails within 2.5% of the nominal voltage. OCZ ZT 650W Maximum Load 724.1W The power supply would shut down at 724.1W, gracefully. We found the protection circuitry to work very well. Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly. Cross Load Testing +3.3V +5V +12V -12V +5VSB A V A V A V A V A V 590W 1.0 3.34 1.0 5.00 48.0 11.85 0.2 -12.05 0.50 5.02 145W 12.0 3.23 15.0 4.95 2.0 12.08 0.2 -12.03 0.50 5.01 The supply held well across the output tests, with the +12V rail dipping to 11.85V when loaded with 48A quickly. We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum. ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide. ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance Output Ripple (mV p-p) +3.3V 50 +5V 50 +12V1 120 +12V2 120 -12V 120 +5VSB 50 Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard. AC Ripple (mV p-p) DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V 5VSB 152W 5 5 10 5 270W 5 10 15 10 400W 10 10 15 15 523W 10 15 25 20 652W 10 20 35 25 Ripple results all fall within the tolerance guidelines above, and they are impressive all round. The 12V+ output peaks at 35mV under full load. Efficiency (%) 152W 85.45 270W 87.32 400W 88.62 523W 86.54 652W 85.69 These results are very strong for an 80 Plus Bronze rated power supply, peaking at over 88 percent efficiency at around 50 percent load. At full load the efficiency drops to 85.65 percent. We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635. Today to test the Power Supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself. As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels. KitGuru noise guide 10dBA - Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves 20-25dBA – Whisper 30dBA - High Quality Computer fan 40dBA - A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator 50dBA - Normal Conversation 60dBA - Laughter 70dBA - Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer 80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal 90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower 100dBA - MP3 Player at maximum output 110dBA - Orchestra 120dBA - Front row rock concert/Jet Engine 130dBA - Threshold of Pain 140dBA - Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range) 160dBA - Instant Perforation of eardrum Noise (dBA) 152W 29.2 270W 30.3 400W 33.5 523W 34.1 652W 35.7 The ZT 650W is relatively quiet under around 400W load when the fan spins up a little, becoming audible. When we get into the last 20% of ultimate power delivery it is spinning quite fast and is clearly audible. It wouldn’t be classed as annoying, but for better acoustics performance, we would prefer to keep the power supply around the 500W output range (or lower) under load. Temperature (c) Intake Exhaust 152W 35 37 270W 36 38 400W 39 43 523W 43 49 652W 46 53 The large 140mm has no problem maintaining good internal ambient temperatures. Going on these results we feel OCZ could have relaxed the fan profile a little to lower the noise emissions. Maximum load Efficiency 724.1W 83.4 Pushing the PSU above its rated limits generates an ultimate efficiency level of around 83.3%. This is not a viable ‘real world’ situation, but its interesting nonetheless. OCZ ZT 650W The OCZ ZT 650W is up against some very tough competition in this price sensitive sector, but it is a proficient design which is both technically capable and attractive. Being a fully modular design means that you never have to deal with the routing of surplus cables, a major selling point against other non modular designs in the same price zone. Technically we have no concerns with this design, the unit delivers some exceptional efficiency results for an 80 Plus Bronze certified power supply and load regulation is impressive. It also dealt well with our cross loading tests, remaining stable under all conditions. The ZT 650W passes our noise suppression tests with flying colours, achieving a maximum 35mV figure on the 12V+ output at full load, well within industry tolerance guidelines. The power supply managed to hold a 724W maximum load for a short time, before shutting down gracefully. The 140mm Yate Loon fan is a good performer, although we feel that OCZ have opted for a slightly aggressive fan profile at the expense of a little noise. We wouldn’t say it was emitting intrusive levels of noise, but for a media center environment there are quieter alternatives. UK pricing is said to be around the £70 inc vat point, which means this power supply offers good value for money. With the 5 year warranty there is also plenty of peace of mind, long term. Pros: Excellent efficiency. Pure modular. Technically a very solid unit. 5 year warranty. Stable load delivery. Cons: Slightly noisy under high loud. Kitguru says: An excellent mid range power supply for an enthusiast gaming system. The OCZ FATAL1TY Series 1000W power supply arrives in a black and red coloured box with an image of Jonathan Wendel at the left. This is a high end unit that has been around now for quite some time but we never had a look at it before. This is an 80 Plus Gold Certified unit with a single +12V rail and is backed by a five year warranty to give a buyer peace of mind. This power supply is designed to handle a high end overclocked system comprising two or more high end graphics cards. Inside, the box supplied is protected inside thick foam. The accessories are stored beside the main unit. A regional specific power plug, a user manual along with cable ties. The modular cables are shipped inside a little bag, which can be reused for storing the cables. Cable (modular) Connectors MB 20+4 pin x1 (590mm) 6+2 pin PCIe x6 (two hardwired and four modular) 4+4 pin EPS12V/ATX12V x2 (590mm - one modular and one native) SATA x12 (410mm + 150mm) MOLEX x8 (410mm + 150mm) FDD x2 (+100mm) All of the cables are individually sleeved. This is very attractive but not quite as the same grade as some of the best modded cables we have seen in recent months. There are plenty of connectors, including 12 SATA connectors, 6 PCI e connectors and 2x 4+4 pin EPS12V/ATX12V connectors. All of the cables are 18AWG. The OCZ Fatal1ty power supply is a nice looking design, with coloured stickers on each side. The black paint is thick and this power supply passed our little screwdriver stress test. A large fan takes centerstage at the top of the power supply, hidden behind the black grill. We will take a look at this later when we open the power supply. The fan blades are transparent and it features LED lighting which will appeal to some people, and annoy others. The lighting cannot be turned off, unless you swap out the fan for a different model. One side of the power supply is vented with a power connector and switch beside the honeycomb vent. The other side of the unit is home to the modular connector ports. This isn't a pure modular unit as you can see some of the cables are hardwired into the chassis. OCZ FATAL1TY Series 1000W PSU DC Output +3.3V +5V +12V -12V +5Vsb Max Output 25A 25A 83A 0.8A 4A Total Power 150W 996W 9.6W 20W 1000W The single +12V rail can deliver 83A which is 996W of the total output. Both +3.3V and +5V rails can deliver 25A each. The fan inside the power supply is a HONG HUA unit (Model HA1425H12B-Z). We don't know much about the company but it uses double ball bearings. As we previously mentioned it is semi transparent and features LED lighting. The power supply is built around a bright red PCB which is eye catching. It looks like a Sirfa design. The construction is clean, with several heatsinks to aid with cooling. These aren't big heatsinks, but as the unit is 80 Plus Gold certified it should be ok. The transient filtering starts with the first section on the AC receptacle and includes two Y and a single X cap. The secondary part is on the main PCB and consists of two CM chokes, one X and two Y caps and an MOV. The VRM's responsible for the minor rail generation are located on the modular PCB to shorten the distance the rails have to travel through PCB traces until they reach the modular sockets. This helps to reduce EMI noise and to improve voltage drops, especially when high loads are generated on the minor rails. At the front of the modular PCB are several polymer caps. We see two primary capacitors by Nippon Chemi Con rated 400V, 390uF @ 105c. These are excellent capacitors which prove reliable over time. Most of the secondary capacitors are 105c rated and made by Chemi Con. On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later. Additional technical assistance: Peter McFarland and Jeremy Price. Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 watt DC load. Due to public requests we have changed our temperature settings – previously we rated with ambient temperatures at 25C, we have increased ambient temperatures by 10c (to 35c) in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions. We use combinations of the following hardware: • SunMoon SM-268 • CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs) • CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4) • Extech Power Analyzer • Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter • SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) • Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC) • Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA DC Output Load Regulation Combined DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V +5VSB -12V A V A V A V A V A V 100W 1.55 3.35 1.78 5.04 6.66 12.18 0.50 5.02 0.20 -12.01 250W 3.45 3.34 4.46 5.01 17.17 12.12 1.00 5.02 0.30 -12.01 500W 7.07 3.33 9.13 4.97 34.64 12.08 2.00 5.01 0.50 -12.01 750W 11.07 3.32 13.74 4.94 52.75 12.02 2.50 5.01 0.60 -12.02 1000W 16.92 3.31 18.97 4.92 72.00 11.94 3.00 5.02 0.80 -12.02 Load regulation is quite good, holding at around 2 percent fluctuation. OCZ Fatal1ty 1000W Maximum Load 1097W We managed to get another 97W from the power supply before the protection circuitry kicked in. The protection circuitry worked well and the unit restarted with a lower demand. Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly. Cross Load Testing +3.3V +5V +12V -12V +5VSB A V A V A V A V A V 885W 2.0 3.34 2.0 5.04 72.0 11.93 0.2 -12.01 0.50 5.02 240W 20.0 3.31 24.0 4.90 2.0 12.12 0.2 -12.02 0.50 5.01 The power supply handled these tests quite well, although the +5V output dropped down to 4.90 when hit with 24A. We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum. ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide. ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance Output Ripple (mV p-p) +3.3V 50 +5V 50 +12V1 120 +12V2 120 -12V 120 +5VSB 50 Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard. AC Ripple (mV p-p) DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V 5VSB 100W 15 5 15 5 250W 15 5 20 5 500W 20 5 25 10 750W 20 10 30 10 1000W 20 10 40 15 Ripple suppression is fantastic. The +3.3V output peaks at 20mV, the +5V peaks at 10mV and the +12V peaks at 40mV. All well within rated tolerance levels. Efficiency (%) 100W 83.78 250W 88.31 500W 91.45 750W 90.89 1000W 89.02 The efficiency results are good. The 1000W power supply peaks at 91.45% efficiency at 50 percent load. At full load this drops to just above 89% efficiency. We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635. Today to test the Power Supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself. As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels. KitGuru noise guide 10dBA - Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves 20-25dBA – Whisper 30dBA - High Quality Computer fan 40dBA - A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator 50dBA - Normal Conversation 60dBA - Laughter 70dBA - Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer 80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal 90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower 100dBA - MP3 Player at maximum output 110dBA - Orchestra 120dBA - Front row rock concert/Jet Engine 130dBA - Threshold of Pain 140dBA - Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range) 160dBA - Instant Perforation of eardrum Noise (dBA) 100W <28.0 250W <28.0 500W 30.3 750W 35.2 1000W 38.1 If you load the power supply below 500W then it is almost silent. The fan spins up significantly in the last 250W of output, becoming clearly audible at around 750W and becoming loud between 950w-1000W. It isn't practical to be loading this power supply at 1000W on a regular basis, but you will certainly be able to hear it if you do. Temperature (c) Intake Exhaust 100W 35 39 250W 36 45 500W 39 48 750W 43 55 1000W 47 57 The fan becomes very active in the last 200W of total power output and the temperatures are held well inside. We think the designers should have placed bigger heatsinks in the power supply which would have helped lower fan noise levels. Maximum load Efficiency 1097W 88.9 Pushing the power supply above its rated limits generates an efficiency level of around 88.9%. This is not a viable ‘real world’ situation, but its interesting nonetheless. OCZ FATAL1TY Series 1000W The Fatal1ty power supply is an excellent, capable design and can deliver almost 1,100W before shutting down. The quality of the finish is high and the paintwork did pass our Philip head screwdriver test, it is certainly deep enough to withstand some abuse over time. The modular design will certainly be welcomed and the quality of the cables is excellent, even if the sleeving isn't quite at the same level as the best we have seen from independent modders. Experienced Pro modders will undoubtedly want to add their own sleeving and improve the overall appearance further. We like the design of the connectors on the unit itself, they are well constructed and will last the test of time. Technically, the Fatal1ty 1000W is very strong and there are no real weaknesses that we can report on. Load regulation isn't at the highest standard we have seen from competing supplies by Seasonic or Corsair, but the use of high quality 105c rated Japanese capacitors will ensure long term reliability for OCZ. Ripple suppression is excellent and will reassure demanding users who want to overclock their systems to the limit. All rails are well within industry tolerance levels and these are some of the best results we have seen in recent months. Negatively I am not a fan of the LED light on the large fan, although this will be very much down to personal taste. If you are building a high end system with a side window it may work well for you. A little 'on/off' switch would have been a nice, low cost addition to the unit in our opinion. While the cooling fan isn't intrusive, in the last 200W of power output it does ramp up significantly, and at 1000W the noise levels were certainly uncomfortable, reading over 38 dBa. A little adjustment to the thermal curve, or incorporating larger heatsinks inside the unit may have negated this problem. We can't imagine too many people will be demanding a continual load over 900W on a regular basis, but it is worth pointing out. We found the Fatal1ty 1000W on PixMania for £154 inc vat. When you factor in that many of the 1000W power supplies available today are £199.99 inc vat, it is quite competitive. Some people will like the cable sleeving, especially if they don't want to manually create their own. Pros: Excellent technical design. looks nice. fantastic ripple suppression. delivered almost 1,100W before shutting down. cabling may attract an audience of inexperienced modders. Japanese caps. Cons: loud when 900W+ is demanded from it. LED fan light might not appeal to some. Kitguru says: An excellent power supply with very few weaknesses. Price point is competitive in the UK @ just over £150 inc vat. PC Power and Cooling have earned a very well respected reputation over the years for creating some of the best power supplies that money can buy. OCZ bought the company in May 2007 adding them into the fold and they have continued to release quality units since then. The Silencer MKIII 1200 watt power supply is 80 Plus Platinum certified and is set to target the highest end audience today. The box artwork isn't that inspiring - basically everything is faded out so it is barely visible. The seven year warranty is reassuring. This power supply is designed for demanding, overclocked systems, running two or more high end video cards. The supply contains a user manual, mounting screws and regional specific power cable. The unit measures 150 mm x 86 mm x 180 mm (WxHxD). It weighs a whopping 2.7kg. All of the cables are supplied in a black felt bag. The cables in the image above right are hardwired into the unit. Cable (modular) Connectors MB 20+4 pin x1 (625mm) 6+2 pin PCIe x6 (580mm - two hardwired and four modular) 4+4 pin EPS12V/ATX12V x2 (640mm - one modular and one native) SATA x12 (400mm + 150mm) MOLEX x4 (400mm + 150mm) FDD x1 (+150mm) The motherboard ATX cable, 2 PCIe cables and two 4+4 pin EPS12V/ATX12V cables are all hardwired. The rest of the cables are modular. I am surprised they hardwired both of the EPS cables into the unit as not many motherboards require more than one. I was disappointed to see only six PCIe cables with a 1200W power supply. Recent designs have incorporated 8 PCIe cables which makes sense for Quad Crossfire or SLI systems. The Fatal1ty 1000W power supply reviewed earlier has the same number of PCI E connectors, but is rated 200W lower. The PC Power and Cooling power supply ships protected inside a little white bag. Very dramatic. This power supply is painted white, which makes it still quite unique in a market saturated with black paintwork. If you have a white chassis, this would make a perfect partner. The modular panel is unusual, the connectors on the chassis are five pin male connectors and the female ends are on the cables themselves. Very few manufacturers use this methodology. You would need to keep these covered if they weren't being used as it is possible to accidentally create a short. On the top of the unit there is a black fan, with the Silencer MK III logo in the center. We will look at the fan shortly when we open the chassis. The other side of the power supply is honeycomb vented to improve air flow. There is a power connector and plug closeby. The hardwired cabled run into the chassis, close to the modular cable bay. PC Power and Cooling 1200W PSU DC Output +3.3V +5V +12V -12V +5Vsb Max Output 20A 20A 99.5A 0.5A 2.5A Total Power 100W 1194W 6W 12.5W 1200W The single +12V rail can deliver 99.5A which is 1194W of the total output. Both +3.3V and +5V rails can deliver 20A each. The supply uses a 7 blade Hong Hua fan (model HA1425M12B-Z) which is rated 12V and 0.36A. It is controlled by the supply but is said to be a low noise unit. This power supply is designed by Super Flower. PC Power and Cooling have worked with Seasonic in the past as well. This design uses a half bridge topology with an LLC resonant converter on the primary side to increase efficiency. There is also synchronous rectification with two VRM's for the production of minor rails on the secondary. Soldering quality on the PCB is excellent and almost as good as the Seasonic units we have tested recently. The transient filtering stage starts behind the AC receptacle with two Y caps, a single X cap and a CM choke. The transient filter stage moves onto the main PCB with two Y caps, two X caps and another CM choke. There is no MOV with this design, which is unusual. The supply uses two quality Japanese Nippon Chemi Con capacitors, one of them is rated 400v 560uF @ 105c and the other 400v 680uF @ 105c. Both are from the KMQ series. There is a thermistor close by which protects the unit from large inrush currents. The minor rails are produced by two VRMs. Four mosfets are used on each VRM, protected from EMI with metal shielding. On the secondary side synchronous rectification is used, and the +12V rail is generated by ten fets. The secondary side uses all Japanese capacitors by Chemi Con. There are a mixture of electrolytic and polymer caps in the design. On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later. Additional technical assistance: Peter McFarland and Jeremy Price. Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 watt DC load. Due to public requests we have changed our temperature settings recently – previously we rated with ambient temperatures at 25C, we have increased ambient temperatures by 10c (to 35c) in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions. We use combinations of the following hardware: • SunMoon SM-268 • CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs) • CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4) • Extech Power Analyzer • Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter • SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) • Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC) • Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA DC Output Load Regulation Combined DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V +5VSB -12V A V A V A V A V A V 330W 5.60 3.36 5.56 5.12 21.24 12.19 0.85 5.05 0.20 -12.05 620W 11.08 3.35 11.09 5.08 42.55 12.13 1.74 5.03 0.40 -12.06 918W 16.59 3.33 16.47 5.07 63.74 12.09 2.65 5.02 0.60 -12.07 1204W 22.06 3.27 22.06 5.05 85.07 12.03 3.6 5.01 0.80 -12.06 PC Power and Cooler 1200W Silencer MKIII Maximum Load 1299W We managed to get 1299W from the unit before it would switch off. The over circuit protection system worked well and it shut off safely. Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly. Cross Load Testing +3.3V +5V +12V -12V +5VSB A V A V A V A V A V 1190W 4.0 3.37 3.0 5.09 88.0 12.01 0.20 -12.02 0.50 5.02 195W 19.0 3.29 22.0 5.05 2.5 12.17 0.20 -12.02 0.50 5.02 The Cross loading performance is good. We hit the supply with 88A on the +12V rail and it held at 12.01v. Other rails exhibited solid results, although there is a little dip on the +3.3V rail. We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum. ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide. ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance Output Ripple (mV p-p) +3.3V 50 +5V 50 +12V1 120 +12V2 120 -12V 120 +5VSB 50 Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard. AC Ripple (mV p-p) DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V 5VSB 330W 10 10 10 10 620W 15 15 15 10 918W 20 15 25 15 1204W 25 20 30 15 Ripple suppression is superb. The +12V rail peaked at 30 mV under full load. The +5v rail peaked at 20mV and the +3.3V rail peaked at 25 mV – not class leading results, but very noteworthy. Efficiency (%) 330W 92.34 620W 92.88 918W 91.75 1204W 90.66 Efficiency is excellent, peaking at 93% when under 50% load. Efficiency drops to 90.66% at full load. Impressive. We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635. Today to test the Power Supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself. As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels. KitGuru noise guide 10dBA - Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves 20-25dBA – Whisper 30dBA - High Quality Computer fan 40dBA - A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator 50dBA - Normal Conversation 60dBA - Laughter 70dBA - Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer 80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal 90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower 100dBA - MP3 Player at maximum output 110dBA - Orchestra 120dBA - Front row rock concert/Jet Engine 130dBA - Threshold of Pain 140dBA - Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range) 160dBA - Instant Perforation of eardrum Noise (dBA) 330W <28.0 620W <28.0 918W 33.8 1204W 35.1 This is a very quiet power supply, even when loaded with 1000W. It only becomes audible around 1100W, with the fan quickly spinning up in the last 100W of output. Temperature (c) Intake Exhaust 330W 35 37 620W 38 42 918W 42 46 1204W 46 55 At full load, the ambient temperatures are well maintained, with a 9c variable on exhaust. Maximum load Efficiency 1299W 90.2 Pushing the PSU above its rated limits generates an efficiency level of around 90.2%. This is not a viable ‘real world’ situation, but its interesting nonetheless. PC Power and Cooling Silencer III 1200W There is no doubt that the PC Power and Cooling Silencer III 1200W has been built to the highest standards. This top of the range Platinum certified power supply has excellent load regulation and can handle the most demanding of gaming system configurations without suffering from any technical shortcomings. The high quality white paint work will appeal to the enthusiast user who is looking for something a little different. It will also suit an audience who have purchased a white chassis and want to highlight the insides with LED lighting and a windowed panel. The quality of modular cabling is also excellent, although we feel there should be 8 PCI e connectors with a 1200W flagship power supply such as this. The latest Corsair and Seasonic units have eight connectors, specifically designed to target the QUAD SLi and Crossfire audience. You will need to use power adapters if you want to run four high end graphics cards with the PC Power and Cooling Silencer III 1200W. We like the fan inside this unit, it is exceptionally quiet, even when delivering up to 1000W load. The fan does quickly ramp up around 1,100W, but it wouldn't be realistic for many people to be loading the system at this level on a regular basis. As our review this month highlighted, even with an overclocked, liquid cooled Core i7 3960X and two Sapphire HD7990's in Quad Crossfire, the system 'only' demanded 825W at load. It is remarkable to think that the PC Power and Cooling Silencer III could deliver this wattage without barely making a noise. In the United Kingdom you can expect to pay around £225 for this power supply, we found it at Amazon for £221.00 including vat. It is expensive, but it is a superb unit and one that comes very highly recommended. Pros: excellent build quality. lovely appearance. cable quality is high. solid technically. almost silent. delivered almost 1,300 watts. Cons: only 6 PCI E connectors. faces stiff competition in the £200-£250 sector in 2013. Kitguru says: We love this power supply, it is basically silent and is a superb all round design.