SilverStone NightJar NJ520 Power Supply Review
by E. Fylladitakis on July 8, 2014 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Seasonic
- PSUs
- Fanless
- SilverStone
Hot Test Results
From the tables below, it can be seen that the output power quality of the Silverstone Nightjar NJ520 is exceptional. The maximum voltage ripple that our instrumentation recorded was 34 mV under maximum load. Even with the unit heavily cross-loaded, the ripple on the 12V line only went up to 46 mV, which is much lower than the 120 mV design limit. Voltage regulation is less than 1% for the 12V line and just over 1.2% for the minor lines, performance figures that are excellent and comparable only to those of top-tier products.
| Main Output | ||||||||
| 104,72 W | 261,07 W | 389,82 W | 518,27 W | |||||
| 20,14% | 50,21% | 74,97% | 99,67% | |||||
| Line | Amperes | Volts | Amperes | Volts | Amperes | Volts | Amperes | Volts |
| 3.3 V | 3.05 | 3.34 | 7.62 | 3.33 | 11.44 | 3.32 | 15.25 | 3.30 |
| 5 V | 3.05 | 5.05 | 7.62 | 5.04 | 11.44 | 4.99 | 15.25 | 4.98 |
| 12 V | 6.56 | 12.07 | 16.39 | 12.03 | 24.59 | 11.99 | 32.79 | 11.96 |
| Line | Regulation (20% to 100% load) | Voltage Ripple (mV) | |||||
| 20% Load | 50% Load | 75% Load | 100% Load | CL1 12 V | CL2 3.3 V + 5 V | ||
| 3.3 V | 1.20% | 6 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 16 |
| 5 V | 1.45% | 10 | 12 | 16 | 16 | 10 | 18 |
| 12 V | 0.92% | 14 | 18 | 26 | 34 | 46 | 16 |
Although this unit is rated for operation with an ambient temperature of up to 40 °C, it performed just fine even with an ambient temperature of 50 °C. The energy conversion efficiency is reduced by about 0.4%, a fantastic result for increasing ambient temperature by 25 °C.
As the Nightjar NJ520 has no fan, the increase in ambient temperature essentially increases the operating temperature of the unit almost proportionally. The temperature of the primary and secondary side heatsinks is now reaching up to 81.9 °C and 84.1 °C respectively, figures that would make us feel uncomfortable but are not high enough to trigger a thermal shutdown by the protective circuit of the unit. The Nightjar NJ520 will simply shut down if overheated, as it has no active cooling and thus it cannot take any action to change its thermal performance. Obviously it's not really intended to be run in such extreme conditions, so plan accordingly.
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A5 - Tuesday, July 8, 2014 - link
An easier solution for a network-appliance kind of box is to just physically store it somewhere you can't hear it...mapesdhs - Tuesday, July 8, 2014 - link
For various reasons I didn't want to or couldn't do that.
Ian.
basroil - Tuesday, July 8, 2014 - link
A good case will do wonders for noise control, and often the PSU makes less noise than HDDs under normal use. And if you use a normal CPU/GPU cooler, either one makes far more noise than the PSU will ever get to.mapesdhs - Wednesday, July 9, 2014 - link
I used a very good case, fanless excellent PSU, on-chip gfx, and an Akasa cooler
marketed as being quiet and (oddly enough) it indeed was. Silence. 8)
Ian.
viharm - Wednesday, September 4, 2019 - link
Excellent comment with very good information. Thanks @mapesdhsHardwareDufus - Tuesday, July 8, 2014 - link
NightJar.Two thoughts: 1. something I might use on a long road trip, when it's the middle of the night and there are no discreet highway turnoffs. 2. single-function chamber pot
Then I remembered the bird.
Anyway... that's some difficult branding to get your mind around.
romrunning - Tuesday, July 8, 2014 - link
What? It's a bird?! :)romrunning - Tuesday, July 8, 2014 - link
"Are you tired of reading reviews of high output power supply units? "Yes! A thousand times yes! 90%, maybe even 95%, are NOT running dual GTX Titans or some other power-hungry setup that would require a 1000W+ P/S.
I want to hear about decent SFX power supplies or even small modular P/S that will support a single video card & a couple of drives. That's all most people are running. As video cards get more power efficient (look at Nvidia's Maxwell), lower rated P/S can become more efficient as well. So point out the good ones that are less than 500W. The more reviews you get, the better quality the vendors will have to make as their faults and cost-cutting measures will be on display to everyone.
HardwareDufus - Tuesday, July 8, 2014 - link
"I want to hear about decent SFX power supplies or even small modular P/S that will support a single video card & a couple of drives. That's all most people are running."I agree whole heartedly with your sentiments!! I did purchase a Silverstone SFX 450 for my miniITX machine. Still more watts and connections than I need. (could probably do with 100 really).
DanNeely - Tuesday, July 8, 2014 - link
Same here. Power supply company review liaisons, are you reading this?