Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
As always, having power supplies inspected here at our APH Networks labs means voiding the warranty is a must. If for any reason you decide to give it a shot, just be sure to open it up only when the warranty is over, as the manufacturer will decline to help you if the seal is broken within the warranty period. We void the warranty to take a look inside, so you don't have to worry about yours. As you can see from our photo above, it shows an overhead view of the PSU itself. The components are spaced out with some quite a bit of room to spare for the best possible cooling with the least amount of heat congestion. The PCB inside the Silencer Mk III is nicely colored black, while generally speaking, PCBs are not. It is just an aesthetics thing, haha. There are only two black painted finned anodized aluminum heatsinks under the hood as well. This simple heatsink arrangement along with such a configuration of interior components allows for lower airflow impedance benefit.
Taking a look at the transient filter stage, we can see the PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III has three ferrite coils, six Y-capacitors and two X-capacitor, which is, frankly, way more than the minimum required. The Silencer Mk III also has a metal oxide varistor, otherwise known as an MOV, which is used to stabilize spikes from the AC line. Being a power supply built from renowned manufacturer Seasonic, this product is on the higher end of mid-range products, and we would expect nothing less from the company. As for the soldering job, in my opinion, it looks like PC Power & Cooling (Or its OEM, Seasonic) has put quite a bit of time in this area, so I really have nothing to complain about. After all, who can make complaints about Seasonic PSUs?
On the primary side, we can see a Japanese brand Nippon Chemi-Con capacitor. Japanese brand capacitors are usually the best choice in terms of build quality, and for such a price tag in its class, one would expect Japanese capacitors to be used. Taiwanese capacitors are also fairly popular and reputable in this regard in doing the job, but they are usually found on lower end units. Our Nippon Chemi-Con capacitor is rated at 560μF x 400V @ 105c. It is definitely nice to see a 105c capacitor here, since some manufacturers cheap out and install 85c units instead. It is no good for the long run, but we are happy to say that the PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 600W is.
The active PFC circuit uses only one Diodes Inc. GBU1006 rectifying bridge, supporting up to 10A of current at 100c, and is attached to the heatsink. This is controlled by the Infineon ICE1CS02 PFC/PWM controller. At 115V, the maximum rectified forward current capacity is 10A. From doing the math, you can theoretically pull up to 1150W from the bridge rectifier at 100% efficiency, but of course, nothing is ever perfectly efficient. On top of that, not every component in the power supply can keep up the workload. Two Infineon SPP20N60C3 power MOFSET transistors are used on the active PFC circuit, each can deliver up to 13.1A at 100c or 20.7A at 25c in continuous mode, or 62.5A at 25c in pulse mode. These transistors have a maximum resistance of 0.19 ohm when turned on, according to the manufacturer's data sheet. This feature is characterized as Static Drain-Source On-Resistance, or commonly abbreviated as RDS(on). The lower the value, the more efficient the component is, as it wastes less power with less resistance. A STMicroelectronics STTH8S06 rectifier is configured with the Infineon MOSFETs.
On the secondary side, there is the usual handful of Rubycon and Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors. These capacitors are also rated at 105c. Having Japanese brand capacitors -- especially ones rated at 105c -- is always a nice touch to have on this end of the PSU. The +12V output uses three Diodes Inc. SBR30A50CT MOSFETs located on the small solid black heatsink for the rectification process. These are rated 30A at 25c. One SBR10U45D1 rectifier rated 10A at 110c is used for the +5V output. Last but not least, the +3.3V output uses one MBR30H30CTG rectifier, which is rated 30A at 138c. Nippon Chemi-Con electrolytic capacitors rated at 105c are used to filter the outputs, as aforementioned. A Hawyang HY-510N monitoring integrated circuit chip is used for protection. It is not an overly complicated setup, as it only supports over voltage (OVP) and under voltage (UVP) protection.
Finally, we can see a large 120mm fan that provides cooling to the PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 600W's internal components connected to the mainboard via a 3-pin connector. A large fan such as this one in most cases would provide more airflow at lower speeds in comparison to small fans, which in turn will provide quieter operation. Obviously, this is no 140mm fan, but Seasonic tends to stick to 120mm units for all their PSUs. The fan OEM is ADDA with the model number "AD1212HB-A71GL" printed near the center. Additional research shows that this is a ball bearing fan specified at 0.37A for a maximum of speed of 2200 RPM with 85.2 CFM airflow at 39.1 dB of noise.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
