HuntKey Jumper/R90 300W 80Plus Gold
by Martin Kaffei on March 5, 2011 12:00 AM ESTInternals and Components
The first thing to note when looking at the internals are the three very thin and small heatsinks. That might be cause for concern in larger power supplies, but with the high efficiency there shouldn't be a lot of heat lost inside the PSU. The Gold certification requires at least 87% efficiency at 100% load, which would work out to at most 45W of internal heat loss. With the 120mm fan blowing on the components, things should be fine.
Looking at the power circuitry, starting at the input. Four Y- and two X-capacitors, one relay to handle current in-rush, current-compensated and linear chokes, and an MOV are all part of the EMI filtering. After that, HuntKey uses a common 10A bridge rectifier in a KBU housing. The PFC choke has its own plastic case, which is nice to see. Like Seasonic, HuntKey has different ICs for PWM and PFC. There's a CM6901X for switch control, which is physically in the secondary circuit. That's why they need the separate CM6502SX for PFC; most manufacturers combine both functions in one IC.There are two IRFB3206PBF in the secondary for active rectifying. Another interesting detail is the diode in the power factor preregulator. It's a component from QSpeed with one of the lowest reverse recovery charges in the inexpensive price range--usually a problem with CCM.
The main capacitor is a Rubycon USG rated at 85C/2000h and 220 μF. Two MOSFETS from ST Mircoelectronics follow (fully isolated TO-220FP casing), with a resonant topology and very efficient transformers. After rectification HuntKey has two DC-to-DC VRMs for +5V and +3.3V; both use all solid capacitors for filtering. The +12V rails also have plenty of solid capacitors, with a few liquid electrolyte caps as well.
This PSU has OVP on both sides, along with UVP, SCP, OCP, and OPP. It doesn't have OTP, but there's a diode for temperature measurements as part of the fan control. OCP worked fine in testing, tripping at 28A (336W).
There's not a lot of empty space on the PCB, the the PSU uses active cooling and an efficient design so that shouldn't be a problem; the 14cm casing could actually be shorter if HuntKey wanted. On the left is a large plastic piece to protect the PSU from short circuits caused by contact with external objects. Finally, the PCB uses first class material with good soldering. We've never seen this sort of quality in a retail 300W PSU before, so overall the internals are awesome!
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Beenthere - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
...then I would not touch their products for many reliability and ethical reasons.Taft12 - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
A near 0% failure rate among hundreds of PCs in my organization. These are Optiplexes with 80Plus certified PSUs stipulated in our contract. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these Huntkeys are in these machines.It's a different universe on the Inspiron side which you sound familiar with. Like most things in life, you get what you pay for.
JarredWalton - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
Yeah, Dell isn't without their problem computers in the business world (I supported some old GX150 systems back in 2003-2006 that had a bit of problem in the memory subsystem that would make Photoshop crash the PC all the time), but by and large the Optiplex and Latitude line is very reliable compared to consumer systems.clarkn0va - Monday, March 7, 2011 - link
I don't know. We have a handful of Latitudes here and every single one of them have serious IO issues. The Windows logon sound is choppy, the mouse pointer freezes constantly then plays instant catch-up; typing is the same. We've turned off the page file (4GB RAM, W7x64), tuned the hdd settings, tried readyboost--nothing fixes this.But we could compare anecdotes all day. The OP also mention ethical reason, and the public record for Dell's underhanded dealings is long and detailed. I too will be steering clear of everything Dell for a long time to come.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled discussion of Huntkey.
ckryan - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
I suppose the main reason capacity is an issue is due to the efficiency curve of a PSU. With loads optimized for 20, 50, and 100 percent, a 35w idle system is more inefficient with a higher capacity PSU. But not all PSUs have problems at less than 10%; the Seasonic X-650 is 88% efficient at a 60w load. The flip side is 35w idle system won't waste much even at an abysmal 70%. So while I welcome more reasonable options in the >500w watt space, especially excellent units like the Huntkey, I'm not sure dramatically over powered units are as huge of an issue as it used to be. Still, I think it's ridiculous that there aren't more 350 to 500 watt units that are of a high level in terms of efficiency and quality. I would certainly pay a premium for a higher end unit, regardless of capacity.We need more units like the HuntKey.
Scour - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
Peripheral 3x SATA + 1x PATA 45-90cm3x PATA + 1x SATA 45-90cm
In addition there are two peripheral cables with four SATA and four Molex connectors.
So what, did it have 6 SATA and 2 4-Pin or 4/4?
Overall, nice review of a nice PSU :)
Concillian - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
Even though I would have bought something like this instead of what I bought recently, traditionally low wattage high quality units have a really difficult time gaining traction. Sales are usually really slow on these kinds of units.Like it or not most people don't read reviews or know (or care) that PSUs are low efficiency at low load, and see that they can get a 550-650W 80+ gold unit for only a few bucks more and go for double the power for the headroom.
Also doesn't help that video card MFRs put PSU requirements that are totally absurd (HD5770 "requires" a 450W PSU... yeah, don't tell that to mine hooked up to a 380W PSU and running fine.)
Ultimately, making an 80+ gold PSU costs money and the unit will be expensive.
This seems to have efficiency at low load that rivals the PicoPSUs and is a lot less hassle and more headroom if someone's using a case that can accommodate a full size PSU. Probably not too much different in price from a Pico either. From that standpoint it's an interesting PSU. Lets hope it sells enough to keep a couple units like this on the market for a while.
Operandi - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
I think you are 100% right, Seasonic used to make a 330 watt S12, the lowest version available now is 380 watts.Even if they know their system will only draw 200 - 250 watts max the average buyer would rather have a 500 watt PSU of mediocre quality than a high quality 300 - 350 watt PSU. And most users don't have any real idea of how much power they need or are just going my what is recommended on the box which is always some crazy inflated number when you are talking about graphics cards.
As to the unit itself I prefer the played down looks of the American version. And it dose look like an awesome PSU but $90 is a lot when I can get an 300 watt 80+ OEM Seasonic for $40.
Zoomer - Sunday, March 6, 2011 - link
It will not be $90. Look out what other parts cost in Japan and you'll see. I guesstimate $50 or so.7Enigma - Monday, March 7, 2011 - link
Hope this was a joke post, because there is no way this will be below $80.