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 -- 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 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 6.4W as measured by our wall meter unit -- indicating that the basic load-free power consumption of the power supply is good. This was rated even lower than the Seasonic PRIME 600 Titanium Fanless. As of press time, this unit has not hit many independent reviews from websites with professional load testing equipment. However, we have already seen excellent efficiency and voltage regulation and ripple across all rails from the reference Seasonic PRIME 600 Titanium Fanless, so I would expect a similar performance here. This is an 80 Plus Titanium certified power supply unit.
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 4%. The PG (Power Good) delay seems to be well within its rated range and general power supply standard at 330ms. The power good delay was also measured to be slightly faster than the OEM Seasonic unit we tested, though this difference is minimal.
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 these components all measure power, they are not the same as each other. 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. Under nominal loads, the power factor value of the SilverStone Nightjar NJ600 600W was at 0.93, indicating that the active PFC function is working well. The PF should approach 0.99 as the load increases.
If you have not noticed by now, this power supply unit comes with no fan installed. According to our APH Networks scale, where 0 is silent and 10 is the loudest, I would rate the SilverStone Nightjar NJ600 600W at 0.0/10 acoustically under nominal load. SilverStone mentioned they had further tuned this unit to reduce audible noise from the electrical components, but I could not really tell the difference in practice. Frankly, fans are the loudest part of a power supply, so it makes sense that a fanless unit would not emit much noise, if at all.
SilverStone provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
When you take a platform as excellent and as quiet as the fanless Seasonic PRIME Titanium and further tune it, I think it only makes sense the SilverStone Nightjar NJ600 600W we have today is going to perform well. While not many of our affiliates with professional load testing equipment have tested this power supply out, the excellent results we can see from the reference platform shows it delivers in both efficiency and performance. If there is anything to complain about, I have to at least question why SilverStone did not keep the same length of warranty as the Seasonic unit. While five years is still a long time period, I still would have liked to see coverage for at least a few more years like its OEM. As this is a relatively new model, I could only find a few online retailers with this power supply, pegging it around the $210 USD mark. This represents a $30 premium over the original PRIME 600 Titanium Fanless. Pricing in this region is not for everyone and the Seasonic version seems like the better option, especially considering its longer coverage and practically identical silent experience. The SilverStone Nightjar NJ600 600W is an excellent unit on its own, but its price tag may detract the faint of heart or wallet.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
