The Single 12V Rail SilverStone Olympia OP650
by Christoph Katzer on July 13, 2007 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Primary Side
The primary side includes the PFC stage. It is mostly constructed with its own printed circuit board containing the PFC silicon (active PFC). Some power supplies have microchips with a combined PFC and PWM control which is important for the secondary stage. This power supply, however, is built with a single active PFC chip on the extra PCB.
Like we mentioned earlier, there are three small main caps on the primary side instead of only one big one. They are separately rated with 150µF and built by Hitachi. This company is used by many other manufacturers as well. The last shot shows the rectifier bridge on the far right side directly connected to the heatsink.
The Transformers
As mentioned before, Silverstone is using two main transformers in this power supply. We have seen this in several other power supplies from Tagan and Cooler Master. But just because a two transformer design is used by more than one manufacturer doesn't mean they're all created equal. There are several ways in which transformers can output different rails. You can, for example, let the one transformer generate several 12v rails and the second one does the 5v and another 12v rail. Or let one transformer generate only one 12v rails and everything else on the second one. The 3.3v rail is, in every case we've seen, generated with a voltage divider from the 5v rail. This is also done with the negative 12v rail from one of the positive 12v rails. Silverstone is running the two transformers in tandem to provide all rails simultaneously.
The primary side includes the PFC stage. It is mostly constructed with its own printed circuit board containing the PFC silicon (active PFC). Some power supplies have microchips with a combined PFC and PWM control which is important for the secondary stage. This power supply, however, is built with a single active PFC chip on the extra PCB.
Like we mentioned earlier, there are three small main caps on the primary side instead of only one big one. They are separately rated with 150µF and built by Hitachi. This company is used by many other manufacturers as well. The last shot shows the rectifier bridge on the far right side directly connected to the heatsink.
The Transformers
As mentioned before, Silverstone is using two main transformers in this power supply. We have seen this in several other power supplies from Tagan and Cooler Master. But just because a two transformer design is used by more than one manufacturer doesn't mean they're all created equal. There are several ways in which transformers can output different rails. You can, for example, let the one transformer generate several 12v rails and the second one does the 5v and another 12v rail. Or let one transformer generate only one 12v rails and everything else on the second one. The 3.3v rail is, in every case we've seen, generated with a voltage divider from the 5v rail. This is also done with the negative 12v rail from one of the positive 12v rails. Silverstone is running the two transformers in tandem to provide all rails simultaneously.
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meeshu - Thursday, July 19, 2007 - link
I would have liked to have seen results of ripple tests, regardless of whether they are within spec or not.Piyono - Sunday, July 15, 2007 - link
As your power supply testing methodology continues to evolve do you see yourself retesting previously reviewed units, if necessary? My concern is that all test results should be directly comparable between all reviewed units.Thanks,
Piyono
Christoph Katzer - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
If it's possible (a matter of time) we will do it.Piyono - Sunday, July 15, 2007 - link
Very good first PS review.As an audio guy I feel it's necessary to point out that the *frequency* of the sound generated by a fan has a lot to do with how loud / annoying we might perceive it to be. The human ear, as we know, is not linear and is more sensitive at some frequencies than at others (for those unfamiliar with the concept, Google "Fletcher Munson equal loudness curve" or try the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher-Munson_curve...">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher-Munson_curve...]Wikipedia entry[/url]).
For example, given two fans outputting 40dBSPL, one generating a tone centered at 1KHz will be far more annoying than one with a fundamental of 600Hz, simply because the ear is particularly sensitive around 1KHz, and less so at 600Hz.
Given the quality of your audio test equipment (great choice on the MG mic & pre, BTW) you can easily create an accurate frequency plot of the PS's audio output. Perhaps you could include these frequency plots in future reviews, along with sample recordings of the actual fan noise.
Just a thought.
I've been waiting a long time for a review site to pick up some chroma gear and put out consistent PS reviews. Kudos!
Piyono
mindless1 - Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - link
It can be problematic picking a high wattage PSU based on fan noise frequency. It is actually better to have a higher fan frequency for PSU lifespan, because that higher frequency is typically caused by use of ball bearings instead of sleeve bearing, which is much more reliable in a horizontally mounted PSU fan.If the noise is important I suggest you use a system that doesn't consume much power and has the older rearward facing fan (being a quality sleeve bearing, brand like Papst or Panaflo).
Christoph Katzer - Sunday, July 15, 2007 - link
Thanks, actually we are still working on the audio-equipment. When it's ready we will have quite some data to show.Piyono - Sunday, July 15, 2007 - link
Hey, that's good to know.I'm eager to see how this develops!
Piyono
xsilver - Saturday, July 14, 2007 - link
do silverstone manufacture this psu themselves or do they subcontract it to an OEM company like etasis?im most intrigued because they make the ZF series of psu's which have a dual PCB design
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/atx...">http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/atx...
this review tells of how this is one of the very few psu's to actually have true independent voltage regulation; not sure how that has any real world effect but it at least looks like one of the most jam packed psu's i've ever seen.
Operandi - Saturday, July 14, 2007 - link
A good PSU review the proper way isn't an easy thing but it looks like you guys have an excellent handle on it, great work.maluckey - Saturday, July 14, 2007 - link
I noticed that the secondary heatsink temperature reached 90 degrees during testing. I've never been a fan of Teapo capacitors, and I suspect (though not stated in the article) that the caps on this PSU are NOT 105 C. caps. This means that given time, the degradation can be significant and the MTBF will rise accordingly. Can anyone justify 170 doolars a new PSU every couple of years? Especially when 35 dollars in better caps would change all that. It would basically future-proof your purchase, though the manufacturer would have to raise the price accordingly as they are not in the business of charity.I forsee this happening as soon as the majority of home users expect more from a PSU than a shiny case or blinky lights and a wildly opptimistic output rating.