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 have to be taken into consideration -- of which certain criteria consists 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're not going to try to BS you 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 8W as measured by our wall meter unit -- indicating that the basic load-free power consumption of the power supply is among the lowest we have seen. This goes hand in hand with the Seasonic M12II 500W at 8W, but that is a lower wattage power supply. For reference, however, the Cooler Master Silent Pro M 1000W that passed by APH Networks last year also has a minimum power draw of 8W. Independent reviews from websites with professional load testing equipment showed the FSP AURUM Gold series power supplies delivered excellent efficiency, voltage regulation, and ripple across the board -- right up to its rated wattage. This includes its 80 Plus Gold certification.
Voltages with minimal load are generally accurate, which is a basic requirement of power supplies out of the box. In this situation all are within 3%. The PG (Power Good) delay seems to be well within its rated range and general power supply standard of 340ms.
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/S. The ideal value is 1.00, and this is where active PFC comes in. A nominal load of 100W (~17%) on the FSP AURUM Gold 600W had the power factor between 0.96 and 0.97. As the load increases, the PF should approach 0.99.
The FSP AURUM Gold 600W is a very quiet power supply; more than what I would expect from a power supply with a bottom mounted 120mm fan. Under regular load, the AURUM Gold is very quiet. The Protechnic MGA12012HF-A25 is a smooth running fan with minimal motor noise. While this is very subjective, I am quite a picky person on noise and the loudest component in my entire system is my Western Digital Caviar Blue hard disk. On a scale from 0-10 where 0 is silent and 10 is the loudest, I would rate the FSP AURUM Gold 600W to be at 2.0/10 acoustically under nominal loads. When you punch it to over 50-60% of its maximum capacity, the fan will begin to speed up like all products in this category, resulting in some increased noise. Because of its simple internal design in conjunction with the smooth running fan motor, this is not too much of an issue, since if your system is under load, other fans in your system will need to spin up to take care of the heat anyway. Overall, in terms of noise, the FSP AURUM Gold 600W should not disappoint most quiet PC enthusiasts.
FSP provided this product to APH Networks to facilitate this report.
The FSP AURUM Gold 600W is a fundamentally advanced power supply that looks creatively different on the outside, and intrinsically simple on the inside. But what makes this amazing is not just the stuff we see -- from our affiliates with professional load testing equipment, the AURUM Gold lives up to its name -- and for approximately $115 at press time, the price is right, too.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
