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Introduction:::...
I've
noticed a lot more power supply reviews on the 'Net
in the past six months and in all honesty I think
this is a really good thing. Enthusiast sites the
world over have taken the bit between their teeth
and aided the education of less experienced users
on all manner of things that would otherwise be almost
completely disregarded. I mean let's be honest, when
was the last time you ordered an off-the-peg PC and
had them advise you about the importance of adequate
case ventilation or tried to upgrade you to a better
power supply.
Don't
worry, I'm not going to start preaching again about
how important a good, solid, high quality power supply
is to your whole computing experience, I think that
point is one that's already well made. No, this time
we're going at it from a slightly different angle.
This time it's as much about cooling efficiency and
noise levels as it is about overall quality, though
ultimately a low noise and cool running PSU is still
junk if the output stinks.
On
the bench today is an interesting product from seasoned
power veterans Sea Sonic, a company that has been
turning out PC related power supplies since 1980,
five years after they set up making electronics test
equipment. Thirty years in business is impressive
for any company but in PC terms it's virtually for
ever. To quantify this timescale, 1975 was the year
Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Micosoft, the first
retail computer store was opened in America by Dick
Heiser, the 1.9MHz IBM 5100 was introduced selling
at a very reasonable $15,000 and Dinosaurs were wreaking
havoc by raiding cities at night in search of food.
The
IBM 5100
Okay,
I made the Dinosaur thing up just for dramatic effect,
but the rest of it was true.
So
with a 25 year history of PC power experience behind
them, what is it that Sea Sonic have bestowed upon
us today? Well, the latest line of power supplies
from Sea Sonic bare the "Super Tornado"
branding and claim to offer outstanding noise levels,
thermal management and efficiency.
Let's
do the specs:
 
To
clarify some of the important bits, here's a quick
explanation partly lifted straight from my Tagan review:
Active
PFC: Let's keep this one simple. When a power
supply consumes power, not all of it is being used
productively, some of it is simply wasted. The more
efficiently your power supply makes use of the power
it draws the higher its efficiency and the lower the
waste, and thus the lower your electricity bills.
PFC,
or Power Factor Correction, is used to fine tune the
timings of the circuit so that working power and total
power consumed are as closely matches as possible.
In a perfect circuit the PF would be 1.0 (100%). An
average power supply with the less efficient passive
PFC would have a PF value of about 0.75 (75%) while
equipment with no PFC would score about 0.5 (50%).
The
Super Tornado's PFC rating is an excellent 99%!
Ripple/Noise:
A characteristic of switching power supplies is
that the output current tends to "ripple",
often at varying frequencies. These are actually periodic
(ripple) or aperiodic (noise) deviations of the ouput
from its nominal values. Clever use of capacitors
and/or filters can reduce both current ripple and
noise and this also tends to lower EMI as a nice side
effect.
The
Super Tornado's ripple/noise rating is also impressive
at just 1%.
Hold
up Time: This refers to the time that a steady
current can be maintained after an interruption to
the AC input.
The
Sea Sonic's hold up time of 16ms is good but not spectacular.
Forward
Conversion: The Super Tornado uses forward converter
circuitry which transfers energy from the transformer
and stores it instead in an output inductor. This
is more reliable than the traditional half-bridge
design, particularly at higher temperatures.
+++
As
you can see all the other specifications hold up well.
19Amps on the +12v rail may be a touch low for some
tastes but it is above average I'd suggest. Certainly
the 200watt/46Amp rating on the combined +3.3 and
+12v lines is welcome and more than makes up for it.
One
of the big numbers not quoted above is the efficiency
rating. This is the ratio of total output power to
input power, expressed as a percentage. Higher percentages
mean more efficient circuitry means lower electricity
bills. Good power supplies usually have an efficiency
rating between 70 and 76%, the Super Tornado boasts
an impressive 80%!
Okay,
so now we know this is no toy, let's take a look at
its physical attributes:
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