Page 4 - Minor Tests and Conclusion
Using our power supply tester which exerts minimal load on the power supply, the initial consumption was 10W as measured by our wall meter unit -- indicating that the basic load-free power consumption of the power supply is better than average. The PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W is a certified 80 Plus power supply, and many reviewers with professional testing equipment showed results of its efficiency generally higher than 83%.
Voltages with minimal load is generally very accurate, which is a basic requirement of power supplies out of the box. In this situation all are within 0.1V. However, the PG (Power Good) delay seems to be higher than its rating specification -- and worse than average, too -- at 350ms.
The active power line correction worked pretty well on PC Power & Cooling's Silencer 610W power supply; our Seasonic PowerAngel reported a power factor of 0.98 (98%) -- as expected. It fluctuated between 0.98 and 0.99; which is what we are looking for (Higher the better).
Around a month ago, I decided to have some fun and dump my computer in the garage to see how low temperatures would get. The specified operating temperature range for the PSU is 0-40 degrees Celsius; but it was -18c outside on that day. Trust me, the power supply worked perfectly, and it still works perfectly.
Anyways, in regards to noise -- under regular load, the power supply is decently quiet; it's audible to a minor amount. While this is very subjective, I am quite a picky person on noise and the loudest component in my entire system is my hard disk -- I've even gone to passively cool my GeForce 8800GT. On a scale from 0-10 where 0 is the silent and 10 is the loudest, I would rate the PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W at 3.5/10 -- which is still very decent. There's definitely no turbulence noise as we've described in the Tagan ITZ 700W, but a silent hum of the fan is still audible if you are picky enough. After all, it's still a fan that needs to spin. The ADDA 80mm fan is not as quiet as the 120mm ADDA fan that I am used to in our near-silent Seasonic M12 power supply (In which I would rate around 1.5/10 in terms of noise on the scale). As the load increases, however, the PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W's thermal sensor will detect it and increase voltage to the fan -- in which the higher the load, the more audible the fan is. Under our nominal load of around 200W this power supply retains well within our acceptable noise range.
Special thanks to Andy over at OCZ for making this report possible.
Continuing the excellent reputation of PC Power & Cooling, with a combination of OCZ's excellent warranty and support makes the Silencer 610W a winner. Many reviewers with professional testing equipment obtained mostly equally as excellent test results. From its excellent build quality from the inside to the outside, absolutely hardcore in performance (Well, it did work in -18c weather), large 49A single +12V rail, and best of all, the first decently quiet PC Power & Cooling power supply I used makes the Silencer 610W a well round power supply that offers surprisingly great value for what you get.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
