Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
As with our previous power supply reports, we cracked open our OCZ ZS Series 550W power supply to dive deeper into the inner workings of the unit itself. Although there are no warranty stickers to invalidate your 3-year coverage, it is still not recommended for casual users to open your power supply, since there are no user serviceable components inside. And if you ever decide to mod your PSU, well, that is going to be obvious if you ever need to RMA!
The OCZ ZS Series 550W is built by High Power Electronics Co., Ltd, otherwise known as Sirfa Electronics Co. They are not very well known by the average consumer, but have built power supplies for companies such as Thermaltake, Enermax, and PC Power & Cooling. The photo found above shows all the internal components of the OCZ ZS Series 550W itself, and not surprisingly, it is fairly simple in its design. The usual ferrite coils and various capacitors can be seen as well. It may not be as simple looking as the FSP AURUM CM Gold 650W's advanced proprietary platform, but it should still perform commendably. Let's take a look at the individual power conversion stages in more detail.
In the process of providing power to your computer, the whole process has to begin somewhere -- and that 'somewhere' is from the electrical outlet to the male connector at the back of the PSU. From that point on, we have the initial transient filtering stage inside the power supply. In the OCZ ZS Series 550W, we can see an X capacitor and two Y capacitors attached to the input. Along the way, we have an additional X capacitor, two more Y capacitors, and a MOV. The MOV, otherwise known as the metal oxide varistor, is used to stabilize spikes from the AC power line. In total, there are two X capacitors and four Y capacitors, which is double the recommended standard. This is quite impressive for a PSU geared more towards enthusiasts on a budget.
On the main side, the OCZ ZS Series 550W uses one Japanese brand Matsushita/Panasonic capacitor rated at 330µF x 400V. They are rated at 85c, which matches up with the pricing of this more budget oriented power supply. Although it is highly unlikely that your PSU will go above 85c, some other units in this price range do use 105c capacitors for better durability and performance in the long run. Various other parts can also be found in this area, such as the copper ferrite coils and a series of large heatsinks. Unlike some PSUs, although the heatsinks are big, they do not cover many components. Being a 550W power supply, I don't think our OCZ ZS Series is going to generate much heat anyway.
A PFC Device Corporation PFR30L45CT high voltage rectifier was used for the rectification process. As with all modern high efficiency power supplies, all rectifiers produces the +12V out -- while the +5V and +3.3V outputs are generated from the +12V output using a DC to DC converter within the power supply unit. The PFR30L45CT rated continuous drain current is 30A. The peak repetitive reverse voltage is 45V, with a peak forward surge current of 250A. Meanwhile, the DC-to-DC converter and active PFC circuit has an array of Infineon 6R190C6 MOSFETs for each of the +3.3V and +5V outputs. The 6R190C6 MOSFET's maximum drain current is rated at 20.2A at 25c and 12.8A at 100c, with an RDS(on) of less than 0.19 ohm (Vgs @ 10V, Ids @ 9.5A).
On the topic of secondary capacitors, all of them are made by Nippon Chemi-Con, and has a maximum temperature of 105c rated at 6.3V at 3300uF. All of the capacitors we have covered in depth are high grade Japanese ones. This is something I was quite surprised about for something of this caliber. In addition, this means that most of the internal parts should have a long lifetime. I just found it kind of funny how the secondary capacitors has a higher temperature rating than the primary capacitor, haha. All of these components were neatly soldered and caulked. Also, all wires were ended with a heat shrink and kept together using zip ties, which speaks to the quality of this power supply. A Sitronix ST9S423 monitoring integrated circuit is used to keep everything inside the OCZ ZS Series 550W in check.
Finally, the 135mm fan found on the OCZ ZS 550W is used to cool the internal components. It can be swapped out for other fans, as it is connected to the PSU mainboard using a standard 2-pin fan connector. Although it may be hard to find 135mm fans for this purpose, it is a nice addition to be able to do so. Taking a closer look into the fan, we can find it is produced by Globe Fan. The exact model is RL4Z B1352512M; unfortunately there is not much information on it online. However, we do know that it runs at 0.28A, and it is a DC12V fan. The closest fan we found to compared this one is from Zaward, a brand under Globe Fan, with model number RLXX Y1352512M. The RLXX Y1352512M runs at 0.28A with a maximum rated airflow of 90.68 CFM at 1200RPM. In terms of noise, it is rated at 23.3 dBA. This should be the most accurate information that can be found on the B1352512M, as the Y1352512M is very similar, and both are produced by the same company.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
