Page 4 - Minor Tests and Conclusion
Power supplies are interesting products, because often, reviews of products in this category are conducted and tested in methods that make it difficult to distinguish one power supply from another. Many aspects must be taken into consideration. Certain criteria consist of efficiency, noise, power ripples, and of course the ability to pull out the rated specifications. Because many cannot afford such equipment to obtain results regarding those aspects, articles covering power supplies often come out with less than adequate and acceptable information. As this is a product report -- not a review -- what we are doing is a close examination of the power supply and the internal hardware and build. But what we can do for you is do some minor testing with the results we can present to you with and let other review sites with professional equipment show you the actual test results. We are not going to try to create useless test results by installing the power supply into the latest gaming rig and try to take readings from that, as this is not even remotely the correct way to test power supply units. We understand that many websites do that as a means of load testing, but the results, even if you use an oscilloscope and multimeter at each output location, are not sufficient, nor does it accurately reflect the performance of the power supply.
Using our power supply tester which exerts minimal load on the power supply, the initial consumption was 13W as measured by our wall meter unit, indicating that the basic load-free power consumption of the power supply is higher than normal. Independent sources with professional load testing equipment showed the Cooler Master X Silent Edge Platinum 850W delivered excellent efficiency for its class, voltage regulation, and ripple across all rails. This power supply unit has 80 Plus Platinum and Cybenetics ETA Platinum ratings.
Voltages with minimal load are accurate, which is a basic requirement of power supplies out of the box. The Power Good or PG delay is tested at 170ms. This power supply is ATX 3.1 compliant and officially supports Alternative Sleep Mode with 100 to 150ms PG specifications, so it looks like the PSU tester I used was not fast enough to pick up the true PG signal. The ATX design specifications state a PSU's PG is required to be between 100ms and 500ms, with 250ms maximum for Non-Alternative Sleep Mode and 150ms for Alternative Sleep Mode.
Active power correction is important to correct AC load line loss. In AC power, there are three components to it, as there is a phase difference between current and voltage. This makes up the power triangle, which consists of the following: Average usable power (P, measured in watts), reactive power (Q, denoted as VA-R), and total power (S, written as VA). While they all have the same physical units, it is not the same thing as aforementioned. What we want is the average usable power with as little wasted reactive power as possible. The total power provided over the AC line is the magnitude of the two combined (sqrt(P^2+Q^2)). Power factor can then be easily calculated by P divided by S. The ideal value is 1.00, and this is where active PFC comes in. The Cooler Master X Silent Edge Platinum 850Whas active PFC, and the power factor will approach 0.99 with a nominal load.
The Cooler Master X Silent Edge Platinum 850W is a completely silent power supply, because it is passively cooled. Therefore, on a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 is silent and 10 is the loudest, I would rate the Cooler Master X Silent Edge Platinum 850W to be at 0.0/10 because, well, there is no fan. This PSU is rated at Cybenetics LAMBDA A++ for noise. If you are a silent PC enthusiast, the Cooler Master X Silent Edge Platinum 850W is the power supply to buy.
The Cooler Master X Silent Edge Platinum 850W works along with a version of MasterCTRL, which is a major upgrade compared to MasterPlus+ used with the V850 Gold i multi 850W. This program unifies compatible Cooler Master products into one application, but check the website first for compatibility. The X Silent Edge Platinum 850W connects to your motherboard's internal USB 2.0 header. Once the program opens, it will immediately detect the products you own.
The home screen is a desktop of live widgets that shows cooling, power, and system statistics, which is a convenient place to view all your system's vitals through a single pane of glass. A hamburger menu on the left expands when clicked, which allows you to navigate to the Home, Devices, Cooling, and Power Management screens. The above screenshot is the X Silent Edge Platinum 850W's Devices page, which shows input, output, temperature, efficiency, voltage statistics, current, and power across all rails. Hitting the Power Management button at the top right corner is the same as going to the Power Management screen via the hamburger menu, which features two graphs, one for power input and output and another one for efficiency. Overall, I found Cooler Master MasterCTRL to be visually appealing, straightforward, and easy to use.
Cooler Master provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
The Cooler Master X Silent Edge Platinum 850W is the company's first PSU designed in-house from the ground up, and for a good reason: This is one of the most advanced and innovative power supplies on the market today. You will get detailed performance monitoring statistics few other products offer, and MasterCTRL is a pleasure to use. From a quality and performance standpoint, it certainly has what it takes to be a flagship power supply, providing class-leading wattage output for a fanless unit and solid performance according to third-party certifications. The X Silent Edge Platinum is an awesome silent PSU, and its exceptionally long 15-year warranty is the icing on the cake. But what is the cost? For about $520 at press time, I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the price, because it costs $60 more than the Seasonic PRIME TX-1300 ATX 3.0 1300W, and I thought the Seasonic was already priced as a high-end product. That said, if you are looking for the best true fanless PSU with advanced performance monitoring capabilities, the Cooler Master X Silent Edge Platinum 850W is an excellent -- and only -- choice.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests, Software, Conclusion
