|
PC Power and Cooling Turbo-Cool 475W ATX w/PFC
Company: PC
Power and Cooling
Product: Turbo-Cool 475 ATX
Street Price: $200 USD
Date Reviewed: October 15, 2002
Reviewed By: Joey
C. aka Chong345
Specifications:
| TURBO-COOL
MODEL: |
475
ATX/ATX12V |
AC Input: |
| Operating
Range: |
90-264
VAC
0.99 power factor
auto-select |
| Frequency: |
47-63Hz |
| Current: |
8.0A
@ 115V |
| Efficiency: |
70% |
| EMI: |
FCC-B,
CE |
DC Output: |
| Output: |
+5V
@ 40A
+12Vio @ 16A
+12Vdig @ 18A
-5V @ 0.3A
-12V @ 2A
+3.3V @ 45A
+5VSB @ 3.5A
+5 & +3.3V<300W
+12Vio/dig<30A |
| Regulation: |
1%
(+5, +12)
5% (-5, -12)
1% (+3.3) |
| Ripple: |
1%
(p-p) |
| Hold
Time: |
20ms |
| PG
Delay: |
300ms |
Safety: |
| OV
Protection: |
+3.3,
+5, +12 |
| OC
Protection: |
+3.3,
±5, ±12 OCP |
| Agency
Approval: |
UL,
ULC, TUV, CE |
Environmental: |
| Temperature: |
0°-50°
C |
| Humidity: |
10%-90%
RH |
| Fan
Type: |
44
CFM ball |
| Noise: |
48dB(A) |
Miscellaneous: |
| Compatibility: |
ATX
(Rev. 2.03) |
| MB
Connectors: |
20-pin,
6-pin, P4 |
| Drive
Connectors: |
8
(2 mini) |
| MTBF: |
100,000
hrs. |
Testing The Power Supply:
|
Test System
|
| Motherboard: |
ABIT KX7-333R |
| CPU: |
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ |
| Memory: |
Corsair XMS 3000 |
| CPU Cooling: |
Thermalright AX-7 |
| Video Card: |
ATI Radeon 9700 |
| Hard Drives: |
2 x Maxtor D740X 40 GB |
| Other: |
CD-RW & DVD-ROM |
My testing method will be to use a FLUKE Multimeter to take actual voltages from
the back of the power supply's 20-pin motherboard connector. This will show what the rails truly
are as opposed to software since software is not always accurate and there are
too many variables that influence software readings. I ran 2 tests. One at idle
which I let my computer idle in windows for 15 minutes and measured the highest
and lowest readouts from both the digital multimeter and Motherboard Monitor 5.
Then I ran Folding@Home for 15 minutes to simulate full load and measured the
highest and lowest voltages for 15 minutes.
Results:
At idle the digital multimeter showed a reading of 5.13V for the +5V line and
12.13V for the +12V line. These voltages never moved for the 15 minutes that I
monitored. Looking at MBM5 the software showed the lines being lower, especially
the +12V. This means that the motherboard is in some way not distributing the
power correctly and is no indication of how well the PSU is actually functioning
since the "true" voltage directly off of the motherboard connector is
showing 5.12V and 12.13V. Well with all this said there was still no fluctuation
AT ALL on the 5V line or the 12V line. They stayed constantly the same on MBM5
and the reading that I was taking with the digital multimeter. This is a good
thing as it shows that the power supply is supplying "clean power".
This means that there is little variation in the flow of the power as opposed to
fluctuating or "dirty power". Dirty power can lead to instabilities when
running your system, as well as damaging parts since the voltages are always
fluctuating. So we can conclude that after this first test the power supply is
performing flawlessly.
 
For the full load test the voltages still remained the same. There was a
little bit of fluctuation showing in motherboard monitor. The voltages would go
down by .03V and back up to 4.92V over and over. The +12V stayed exactly the
same the whole time. Then looking at the multimeter, the voltages didn't move at
all from what they were at idle. They stayed at exactly 5.13V an 12.13V. I trust
the multimeter more than the software for reasons that I stated earlier.
Idle:
Load:
What does this mean for the overclocker? Well, you will be able to take out
the power supply bottleneck that you might currently have since the rails don't
fluctuate. Secondly you have the option of tweaking the rails if needed, if you run
into a situation like mine where the motherboard isn't quite doing a great job
of distributing power.
After all this testing I thought back to the one fan that was exhausting the
air and cooling the unit. I thought for sure that the unit had to be very warm.
I was surprised to touch the unit and it was not warm anywhere, it stayed fairly
cool considering my case temperatures at the time. So that one fan did do a good
job, it isn't exactly the most quiet fan in the world, but it's definitely not loud.
Conclusions:
Well, what can I say except that the PC Power and Cooling 475W unit is the best
power supply that I have ever used. To put it simply the unit is rock solid and
the 5V and 12V lines are dead on. The power was clean and the lines never fluctuate
from
idle to full load AT ALL. So in conclusion I would have to say that I would
highly recommend this product to anyone who wants good, clean power and an
overall great power supply. The price is a little steep at $200 dollars, which
is almost double the price of power supplies at the same rating, but the
unit gets the job done and is constructed very well. I have never seen any power
supply that did not weaken a little bit under full load. This is pretty amazing
so yes I think the $200 is worth the investment.
Pros:
Very Stable Voltages and Power
Adjustable Potentiometers
Cons:
$200
I would like to thank PC Power and Cooling for sending a unit for us to
review. You can check out there site at www.PCPowerAndCooling.com.
They
also sell heat sinks, fans, cases and other accessories.
Back To The Main Page
|
eWeek is the essential technology information source for builders of e-business. Focuses on e-commerce, communications and Internet-based architecture.
Oracle Magazine contains technology-strategy articles, sample code, tips, Oracle and partner news, how-to articles for developers and DBAs, and more.
Dr. Dobb's Journal enables programmers to write the most efficient and sophisticated programs and help in daily programming quandaries.
InformationWeek is the only newsweekly you'll need to stay on top of the latest developments in information technology.