Page 2 - Physical Look - Outside
The Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 went for the conservative black box approach. With a matte black finish and the model name printed on the side in grey font, it creates a modest look, despite its capability. Like many power supply in the market today, a 135mm fan is bottom mounted. With a high diameter fan running at lower rotations, the Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 will run quiet and cool, while providing tons of juice. The cooling is further increased with the standard honeycomb mesh in the rear to ease the airflow while offering some protection from curious users' fingers.
The Cooler Master Silent Pro M2’s sheer size makes the 135mm intake fan looks small in comparison. Measuring at 220mm, it took Thermaltake Toughpower XT Platinum 1275W’s title away as the longest power supply that we have written about at APH Networks. Extra precaution for case selection is needed for the length of the Cooler Master Silent Pro M2. This gentle giant deserves a home not smaller than a standard ATX case to provide enough legroom, and avoid potential headache. Looking at the bottom, the first thing I noticed was the six ring fan grille sitting in the center. Mounted with four Philips head screws, our intelligent readers can easily remove the fan grille for some fan cleaning if required. Four more Philips head screws secure the power supply case together. One of the screws has a warranty seal over it. Removing it will void the five year warranty -– so don’t do it unless you have a good reason to!
Looking at the rear of the power supply, we can see a honeycomb mesh design that is pretty much a standard with modern day power supplies. What is below the standard on/off switch, however, is something that is not very standard. Also, covering the socket is a sticker that warns the user about making sure the wall socket you are plugging this into is up to the standard as well, or something terrible may happen. The Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 1500W also uses a C20 plug, which is not interchangeable with most of the power cable out in the market today. Thankfully, when I examined the included power cable from the packaging, with no surprise, the two matches up. The overall thickness of the power cable is a buff 14 AWG unit, which is quite a bit beefier than your average power cable that comes with most power supplies. Props to Cooler Master for ensuring the safety of their products so that I don’t have to worry about burning down my house again, for now.
The Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 1500W is not a fully modular power supply, just like many power supplies currently available right now. In other words, while some cables are detachable, the more crucial ones are simply fixed to the power supply. Permanently attached cables include the ATX 24-pin, two ATX 8-pin, four PCIe 8-pin, and four PCIe 6+2 pin connectors. Personally, I think Cooler Master's decision leaves a bit to be desired. Sure, many power hungry system that requires 1500 watts will most likely house several power hungry video cards, and even another CPU. But this is not the case for everyone, and this partially defeats the purpose of having a modular PSU in the first place. When I tried this power supply on my system, my NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 required two PCIe 6-pin connectors. Since one cable carries one PCIe 8-pin and one PCIe 6+2 pin connector, I had to power my video card with two cables. The other two remained unused. On a totally unrelated topic, I think I need an upgrade.
The rear connections have a clean and organized look. The connectors sit flush to the surface. Although the connections are not labeled, they are color coded to match the cables. It is also physically impossible to accidentally plug a cable into the wrong socket, unless one manages to do some 'unintentional' hardware hacking.
The Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 1500W feels very heavy and solid. Up to this point, I have to say I am getting more and more impressed by it. The case is well built and fits snugly with minimal gaps. Aside from the messy “Warranty void if removed” sticker residue, the appearance is up to my expectation for a power supply of this caliber.
As the name suggests, the Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 1500W can provide up to 1500 watt of power. This is the combined wattage of all the rails. On the top of the power supply lays the label of the voltage regulation. While the +3.3V rail and the +5V rail can both deliver up to 20A, their total power must not exceed 150W. Similar to the +3.3V and the +5V rail, the totally wattage supplied by the two +12V rail must fall under 1440W. +12V1 and +12V2 rail can provide up to 55A and 70A, respectively. This is critical for any three way SLI or CrossFireX system. With three PCIe 8 pin and three PCIe 6+2 pin connectors permanently fixed to the PSU, I got a hunch this power supply is built with multiple video cards system in consideration.
On first glance, the amount of cables that comes with the Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 1500W looks excessive. Realizing this is a 1500W power supply after all, it actually makes sense. If you are building a massive file server with a stack of drives or hardcore gaming rig with bunch of video cards, the Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 should still provide enough power and connections for all your needs.
The following non-modular cables are permanently attached to the power supply:
- 1x ATX 24-pin, 550mm
- 2x ATX 8-pin, 600mm
- 3x PCIe 8-pin and 6+2 pin, 650mm to the 8-pin, and 100mm extended from the 8-pin to 6+2 pin
The following modular cables are included out of the box:
- 3x PCIe 8-pin and 6+2 pin, 650mm to the 8-pin, and 100mm extended from the 8-pin to 6+2 pin
- 1x SATA, 4 connectors each, 750mm to first connector, 100mm spacing thereafter
- 2x SATA, 4 connectors each, 500mm to first connector, 100mm spacing thereafter
- 1x Molex, 3 connectors each, 500mm to first connector, 100mm spacing thereafter
- 1x Molex and 1 peripheral, 500mm to first connector, 100mm spacing thereafter
These measurements are provided by the manufacturer. Most ATX case should work fine with the Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 1500W, even if the PSU is bottom mounted. A 550mm long ATX 24-pin cable is adequate for most cases on the market.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
