Silverstone Decathlon DA650: A modular alternative
by Christoph Katzer on August 8, 2007 12:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Internals - Primary Side
The inside looks almost exactly the same as the Olympia series, with the only significant difference being the length of the housing. The reason for the extra length is pretty clear: Silverstone needed to attach all the cables to the PCB that has the cable management sockets, and in order to accommodate this PCB they needed a bit more space. The above shot also shows how much smaller the secondary heatsink is than the primary. We mentioned this in our Olympia OP650 review and it clearly shows in the temperature results.
We can also see the high quality construction that comes from Silverstone's robot operated production line in Taiwan. Starting at the back of the unit where air is exhausted, we find the usual transient filtering stage with all the expected components. On the far left side attached to the secondary heatsink we can see the rectifying bridge that converts AC to DC current.
The primary side shows nothing unusual. Here we have the three main 150µF capacitors manufactured by Hitachi, as we saw with the Olympia. They are small enough to fit under the primary heatsink. This is a good idea since it allows the heatsink to be larger, and the larger the heatsink the better the resulting temperatures. The extra length creates more surface area which also helps to dissipate heat better.
The inside looks almost exactly the same as the Olympia series, with the only significant difference being the length of the housing. The reason for the extra length is pretty clear: Silverstone needed to attach all the cables to the PCB that has the cable management sockets, and in order to accommodate this PCB they needed a bit more space. The above shot also shows how much smaller the secondary heatsink is than the primary. We mentioned this in our Olympia OP650 review and it clearly shows in the temperature results.
We can also see the high quality construction that comes from Silverstone's robot operated production line in Taiwan. Starting at the back of the unit where air is exhausted, we find the usual transient filtering stage with all the expected components. On the far left side attached to the secondary heatsink we can see the rectifying bridge that converts AC to DC current.
The primary side shows nothing unusual. Here we have the three main 150µF capacitors manufactured by Hitachi, as we saw with the Olympia. They are small enough to fit under the primary heatsink. This is a good idea since it allows the heatsink to be larger, and the larger the heatsink the better the resulting temperatures. The extra length creates more surface area which also helps to dissipate heat better.
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eetnoyer - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
...reviews of power supplies for people who aren't building a quad SLI system and don't want to spend $100 and up?Christoph Katzer - Wednesday, August 22, 2007 - link
...patience.crimson117 - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
Should change to:
mostlyprudent - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
Perhaps my expectations are messed up, but I have yet to be impressed by any of the units reviewed thus far. Then again, when spending $150 to $200 for a PSU, I am going to set my sights very high.Super Nade - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
They used 3 x Primary caps, which is more expensive than 1 450uF, but since they are in parallel, the ESR reduces significantly. Although this may have a minimum bearing on the proceedings (secondary side is more important), there is less stress on the PWM/switching transistors.I think you may have issues calibrating your setup, given that every single PSU you have reviewed seems to have larger than usual voltage drops.
yyrkoon - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
Given this, and that the rails do not seem to be solid/heatsink is too small, I think the PC power and cooling PSU is still the better buy.Besides that PC Power and Cooling is a well respected PSU OEM, why even bother with something else in the same price range.
Who makes this PSU anyhow ? I know it is silverstone branded, but I am fairly certain they did not make it.
Super Nade - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
Impervio Electronics Corp, Taiwan.