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. Certain criteria consist 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, this 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 11.4W as measured by our wall meter unit, indicating that the basic load-free power consumption of the power supply is good. This specific model has been tested in independent reviews from websites with professional load testing equipment, showing average efficiency for its class and good regulation and ripple suppression across the 12V and 5V rails. On the other hand, it also exhibited a lower hold-up time and more ripple on the minor 3.3V rails. This is a Cybenetics ETA Gold 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 2%. This power supply is ATX 3.1 compliant and officially supports Alternative Sleep Mode with 100 to 150ms PG specifications. The ATX design specifications state a PSU's PG is required to be between 100ms and 500ms, with 250ms maximum for Non-Alternative Sleep Mode and 150ms for Alternative Sleep Mode.
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 divided by S. The ideal value is 1.00, and this is where active PFC comes in. The SilverStone Triton 1000Rz 1000W has active PFC, and the power factor will approach 0.99 with a nominal load.
In terms of noise, the SilverStone Triton 1000Rz 1000W is acceptable at low loads but ramps up as you increase the wattage usage. On a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 is silent and 10 is the loudest, I would rate the PSU at 2.5/10 under moderate loads and 4.0/10 at heavy loads. This is due to the smaller footprint of the Triton 1000Rz 1000W, as the smaller 120mm fan needs to spin faster to keep a more compact area cool. I think I would have sacrificed the small size for a slightly longer unit if it meant I could have a quieter operation with a larger fan.
be quiet! provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
The SilverStone Triton 1000Rz 1000W comes to us as a solid power supply on paper. Its compact size is notable from an engineering standpoint due to its power density. Furthermore, we have the latest standards supported here with the latest 600W 12V-2x6 PCIe 5.1 connector and ATX 3.1 compliance. SilverStone touts the Triton 1000Rz as only containing Japanese electrolytic capacitors, and these claims are true. Cables are individually rubber-sleeved and embossed for flexibility while maintaining sufficient lengths. However, with this smaller size comes some compromises internally. For one, the layout inside is a bit more cramped resulting in a more aggressive fan curve to keep everything cool. The parts selection inside are as expected for the mainstream market. According to others with professional load testing equipment, the SilverStone Triton 1000Rz 1000W was satisfactory, but it had a few flaws. At the time of the review, the SilverStone Triton 1000Rz 1000W has an MSRP of $190, which is competitive. Overall, the SilverStone Triton 1000Rz 1000W is suitable for any PC build, offering acceptable value with a solid feature set and passable performance.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
