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, it is 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 13.2W as measured by our wall meter unit -- indicating that the basic load-free power consumption of the power supply is decent, but a bit high. Independent reviews from websites with professional load testing equipment showed the FSP Hydro PTM Pro 1200W delivered good efficiency, but voltage regulation and ripple on the +12V rail could be improved. This is an 80 Plus Platinum certified power supply.
Voltages with minimal load are generally accurate, which is a basic requirement of power supplies out of the box. In this situation all are all within 2%. The PG (Power Good) delay at 320ms is within the ATX standard specification of 100ms to 500ms.
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 FSP Hydro PTM Pro 1200W has active PFC, and thus the power factor will approach 0.99 with a nominal load.
The FSP Hydro PTM Pro 1200W is a quiet power supply. With regular loads under 30%, the fan does not turn on when silent mode is activated. However, even when the fan turns on, the conservative fan curves on this power supply means the unit stays quiet even when the fans start turning. On a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 is silent and 10 is the loudest, I would subjectively rate the FSP Hydro PTM Pro 1200W to be at 2.0/10 acoustically under nominal loads, because the fan spins slowly and is kept pretty quiet. If you are operating at low loads of 360W or below, which is what your computer should be when not doing anything intensive, the Hydro PTM Pro 1200W is not audible.
FSP provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
The FSP Hydro PTM Pro 1200W is an enthusiast-grade power supply with big power capabilities. From the outside, there are many aspects of this power supply that are great. It comes with many cables and connectors, excellent component choices internally, and a lengthy ten-year warranty. Our affiliates and third-party review websites have proven the FSP Hydro PTM Pro 1200W is a decent performing power supply with good voltage regulation, ripple control, and standby efficiency. However, it does not necessarily top the charts in all of the performance metrics. When we look at the retail market, the FSP Hydro PTM Pro 1200W retails around $270. This is a pretty high price, even when we compare with similar wattage PSUs from other manufacturers. However, the FSP Hydro PTM Pro 1200W delivers on paper, as the high price is at least matched by the smart component choices, build quality, and warranty coverage.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
