|
Introduction:::...
Many
people, ourselves included, predicted the massive increase
in power supply sales and marketing through 2004 as soon
as it became apparent that graphics cards were likely to
start requiring significantly more juice than in the past.
Kickstarted
by NVIDIA's initial statement that a minimum 480Watt power
supply would be required to run their latest high-end GPUs,
a specification it later scaled back somewhat to around
350Watts, companies across the globe saw their chance to
cash in on a forced upgrade and tempt buyers their way.
With
a history in designing and building PC switching power supplies
that stretches back to 1975, Sea Sonic Electronics Co. Ltd
is actually one of the veterans of this suddenly very visible
sector. However, their reluctance to follow the crowds and
opt for high gloss titanium coated cases, braided cables,
LED fans, modular cable management or any of the other real
attention-grabbers means they're not a name that often gets
mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Tagan, Enermax,
OCZ, Ultra and the like.
Despite
its "plain Jane" looks, one of the most stable
power supplies we tested last year where voltage fluctuations
were concerned, was SeaSonic's SuperTornado, a rather basic
120mm fan-cooled unit that showed no outward signs of the
impressive outputs it hid under its casing.
Today
we have another, rather mundane looking 120mm fan-cooled
unit that, with a relatively lowly 430 Watt rating, isn't
likely to activate the drool glands of legions of power
users. Badged the "S12", let's see what this new
power supply can (or can't) do.
As
always, the specs:
Being
the 430Watt model, the outputs are listed below under the
model S12-430.
Despite
a fairly tame 430 Watt total output, the ratings of 30 Amps
on both the 3.3V and the 5V lines, and 29A shared between
the dual 12V lines are quite generous.
Naturally
SeaSonic sing the praises of 120mm cooling, and why wouldn't
they? Greater airflow in exchange for slower rotational
speeds and reduced noise levels sounds like good reason
to sell the idea. The diagram SeaSonic use to demonstrate
the advantages (below) is probably a generic one used for
the entire range, and as such it's actually a touch pessimistic
for the S12 as it shows the fan hitting 70CFM at 2500RPM
when in fact the fan fitted in the S12 manages 70CFM at
just 1650RPM.
One
thing SeaSonic seem most proud of is their best-case 80%
efficiency rating. As you can see in this diagram ripped
shamelessly from their site, this means as little as 107Watts
of power is wasted as heat/unavailable power compared to
the other example in the diagram which, in a sneaky little
move, shows the kind of efficiency you'd expect only from
a non-power factor corrected PSU.
I'm
sure I don't need to point out how beneficial this could
be to your power bills as well as your PC.
|
