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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Sabresiberian - Tuesday, March 8, 2011 - link
Why can't Anandtech ever run PSUs that normal people use? No one cares about these low-power pieces of junk!/end sarcasm
(To those who don't get it, this is a jab at all those posters who whine and cry when Anandtech runs articles on high-powered PSUs and make the same kind of comment. Anyone who has read more than one PSU article on Anandtech knows they do high quality reviews of PSUs that are across the board in power rating and usefulness to people who buy them, or just want to know more about them. Hats off and /bow to Martin for once again giving us something interesting and informative.)
;)
MrSpadge - Tuesday, March 8, 2011 - link
Would be nice to see efficiency measured for us European / Australian / whatever people as well. I know at ~220 V efficiency should be 1 - 2% higher, but it's still nice to see the actual measurement.MrS
Tinhead - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
Last 9months i have heard more and more friends with PSU problems.Most of their PSU's are about 2-5years old and they either die on some "rails" or completely.
Most of them has been used for servers, on 24/7 etc..
One thing im wondering about is how long should we expect to get a PSU to run?
Can we expect 24/7 for 5years or 2years?
The parameter is not that popular since it is hard to test, the users that are driving the enhancements are considered mostly to be gamers, and they like power and efficiency more then MBTF.
Another factor is how does the PSU preform with under or over voltage?
And ofc how it handles spikes, and other "dirt" in the wires. Which is more common then most users know.
(one reason why i use a UPS to my equipment.)
Also it would be interesting if you can test with 220V AC since that is a common standard and it does affect the performance and operation of the PSU.
Martin Kaffei - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - link
I know what you mean. AC stress is a problem as well as a good way to test power supplies. In fact it is usually easier for a PSU to handle DC loads than transients. Nevertheless it is indispensable to have an AC source with a clean output for better comparability in all tests. Later that year, I hope the AC side gets more attention after adding some components.24/7 ist basically no problem for a PSU but the lifetime depends on many factors. capacitor aging is a problem, EMI immission is, temperatures are. In my opinion servers should get other PSUs than usual PCs. The letter will usually be changed after 2 or 3 years, so voltage/ripple/EMI during a relative short time is more important than endurance (which includes "long life" capacitors). Some older PSUs died in my PCs after a year or two, but I'm sure the quality is better today if you buy known brands. Specially brands who have to make sure, that the PSU works 5 years because of their warranty program. But that's no guarantee for all products. We aren't able to make long time tests over a year, even manufacturers can't do that. Their "long time" tests take a week and the rest is just math.
HangFire - Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - link
>One thing im wondering about is how long should we expect to get a PSU to run?The capacitors define the lifetime of a quality power supply. They are rated for a certain number of years at a given temp. Typical numbers are 3 and 5 years as you go up the price ladder. Unless there is a bad batch (it happens), quality Japanese capacitors can be counted on to last their rated lifetime.
For very low end PSU's (and there are a lot of them out there), besides the capacitors it is components being run over-spec that will define the lifetime (burn out first). For example a 400W rated power supply made up of 250W level components will have one life expectancy at 150W and another at 250W. You can read some recent reviews of such power supplies over on Hardware Secrets.
The warranty is supposed to give you some idea of what to expect, but not really. Seasonic's lowest end series have a 1 year warranty but you can expect them to be useful much longer. Diablotek offers 3 years on some of theirs, but recent published reviews cast doubt on their lifetime if used at their rated capacity.
Onus - Friday, March 11, 2011 - link
After seeing Gabriel blow up many overrated Huntkey pieces of dung, I'm leery of the brand, but this is the sort of PSU I'd like to see more often. I've built a couple of project PCs to test various ideas, and a PSU like this would be perfect for a mini-ITX gamer, running a HD5770 or GTX460. I'd be worried about ventilation with a fanless PSU in that application, but this would be good. Hopefully they'll do a modular version.The reason GPU manufacturers list outrageously high minimum wattages is they are trying to account for all the Chokemax PSUs out there that can barely manage 60% of what's on their labels.
With the 80+ Bronze EA-380D at $45, this can't cost any more than $60 if Huntkey expects it to sell. In this wattage range, an efficiency difference of even 10% doesn't amount to all that much.