Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
As always, we opened up our XPG Core Reactor 750W power supply to take a detailed look at what is going on inside. Please note that doing this at home will void your 10-year warranty, but I do not see any warranty seal applied anywhere. Regardless of which, for the benefit of you, we cracked ours open so you do not need to, haha. There are no user serviceable parts inside.
Disassembling the XPG Core Reactor 750W is quite straightforward with the removal of four to ten screws, depending on how far you want to get. Our photo above shows an overhead view of its internal components. Its OEM is Channel Well Technology (CWT), a reputable OEM since 1993. At first glance, the build quality appears to be excellent. There are three main heatsinks inside.
Pulling the enclosure apart, and we got straight to the internal inspection. The transient filter stage is the first input stage of a computer power supply, so we will take a look at that first. CWT has always done a great job in the past to make sure their power supplies met or exceeded the recommended requirements, and the XPG Core Reactor 750W is no exception. The XPG Core Reactor 750W has one metal oxide varistor, two metalized polyester X-capacitors, four ceramic Y-capacitors, and two ferrite coils. This is two times the amount of X and Y capacitors than recommended.
On the primary side, we can see one Japanese brand Nippon Chemi-Con capacitor. 100% Japanese brand capacitors are specified on the marketing material, so this is to be expected. Our 750W version of XPG's Core Reactor power supply incorporates one 560µF x 420V capacitor. It is rated at 105c; whereas more value-oriented power supplies usually use 85c rated capacitors.
The active PFC circuit featured on the XPG Core Reactor 750W uses two Lite-On Semiconductor GBU1506 bridge rectifiers attached to opposite sides of the first heatsink. At 115V, the maximum rectified forward current capacity with heatsink is 15A each, so you can theoretically pull up to 3450W (15A * 2 diodes * 115V) from the bridge rectifier at 100% efficiency -- of course, this is limited by the fact that it is not 100% efficient, and also neglects the fact that not every component in the system are able to keep up. Further down the line, on the outside of the largest heatsink, we can see two ON Semiconductor FCP165N65S3 power transistors. Each one is certified for up to 12.3A at 100c. These transistors present a maximum resistance of 0.165 ohm when turned on according to the manufacturer's data sheet. This on characteristic is called Static Drain-Source On-Resistance, or commonly abbreviated as RDS(on). The more efficient the component is, the lower the RDS(on) value, since it wastes less power with lower resistance. A Power Integrations QH08TZ600 boost diode is placed right next them. Two Lonten LSD55R140GF power MOFSET transistors, located on the third heatsink, are used as the main switchers on the Core Reactor 750W power supply. Each one is certified for up to 15A at 100c with a maximum resistance of 0.140 ohm when turned on. Other components that can be spotted in the primary side include a Champion CM6901V PFC controller and a Champion CM6500UNX active PFC controller on various add-in boards.
On the secondary side, we can see more Japanese brand capacitors rated at 105c. As with modern high efficiency power supplies, all rectifiers produce 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. Six ON Semiconductor NTMFS5C430N MOSFETs are responsible for generating the +12V output, located on yet another add-in board. The NTMFS5C430N's rated continuous drain current is 131A at 100c. It has an RDS(on) value of 0.0017 ohm maximum and 0.0014 ohm typical. Two UBIQ Semiconductor QM3054M6 MOSFETs and two UBIQ Semiconductor QN3107M6N MOSFETs on an add-in board generate the +5V and +3.3V output from the +12V rail. The QM3054M6's rated continuous drain current is 61A at 100c. It has an RDS(on) value of 0.0048 ohm maximum and 0.0038 ohm typical. The QN3107M6N's rated continuous drain current is 74A at 100c. It has an RDS(on) value of 0.0026 ohm maximum and 0.0021 ohm typical. ANPEC's APW7159C is the PWM switching controller. The datasheets for all components mentioned in this review can be found on their respective manufacturer's websites.
At the back, we have a large daughterboard covering the entire rear panel for the modular cable sockets. All modular sockets at the bottom are soldered directly to the main PCB after the secondary stage to reduce power transmission loss. The output connector configuration can be seen on the previous page. Overall, the internal build quality of XPG Core Reactor 750W power supply is excellent. Components are arranged very well for optimal cooling with minimal wires running around inside, and solder points on its black PCB is quite clean in general. I would say the XPG Core Reactor 750W is generally good with regards to the selection of components used under the hood; appropriate for its performance class.
Lastly, we see a 120mm fan that provides cooling to the XPG Core Reactor 750W's internal components. It is connected to an add-in board using a 2-pin connector. A 120mm fan is rather small nowadays for a power supply with a bottom mounted fan, but if not a lot of heat is being generated, it should not be much of an issue. Ong Hua is the fan OEM with HA1225H12F-Z as the model number, as shown in our photo above. Further research indicates the HA1225H12F-Z is a fluid dynamic bearing fan specified at 0.58A for a maximum of speed of 2200 RPM. Fans with fluid dynamic bearings generally have much longer lifespans compared to sleeve bearing fans, and is quite suitable for this application.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
