Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Protection Features
Check out our PSUs 101 article to learn more about PSU protection features.
Protection Features | Row 0 - Cell 1 | Row 0 - Cell 2 |
OCP (Cold @ 25°C) | 12V: >72.8A (>140%), <11.423V, 107.31mV ripple 5VSB: 5.5A (183.33%), 5.072V | Tested with 2A at 12V 5V:19.4A (97%), 4.75V 3.3V: 34.2A (142.5%), 3.268V, 71.7mV ripple |
OCP (Hot @ 34°C) | 12V: >72.8A (>140%), <11.436V, 132.27mV ripple 5VSB: 5.5A (183.33%), 5.068V | Tested with 2A at 12V 5V: 19.2A (96%), 4.751V 3.3V: 34A (141.67%), 3.267V, 57.73mV ripple |
OPP (Cold @ 28°C) | 844.99W (130%) | |
OPP (Hot @ 33°C) | 845.89W (130.14%) | |
OTP | ✓ (169°C @ 12V Heat Sink) | |
SCP | 12V to Earth: ✓ 5V to Earth: ✓ 3.3V to Earth: ✓ 5VSB to Earth: ✓ -12V to Earth: ✓ | |
PWR_OK | Accurate but lower than 16ms | |
NLO | ✓ | |
SIP | Surge: MOV Inrush: NTC Thermistor |
We could easily kill this PSU since OCP (overcurrent protection) at 12V is not correctly set, but we aborted the test and let it live since we only have one sample to conduct all tests. The 5V rail was unable to deliver its advertised full power, while the 3.3V rail's OCP is sky-high, so ripple on this rail gets out of control. Finally, the Over Power Protection should be lower than 130%, given the platform's capabilities. The good thing is that there is OTP (over temperature protection), which is essential to any PSU.
DC Power Sequencing
According to Intel’s most recent Power Supply Design Guide (revision 1.4), the +12V and 5V outputs must be equal to or greater than the 3.3V rail at all times. Unfortunately, Intel doesn't mention why it is so important to always keep the 3.3V rail's voltage lower than the levels of the other two outputs.
The 3.3V rail's voltage level is dead close to 5V, but it doesn't seem to go above it.
Cross Load Tests
To generate the following charts, we set our loaders to auto mode through custom-made software before trying more than 25,000 possible load combinations with the +12V, 5V, and 3.3V rails. The deviations in each of the charts below are calculated by taking the nominal values of the rails (12V, 5V, and 3.3V) as point zero. The ambient temperature during testing was between 30 to 32 degrees Celsius (86 to 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
Load Regulation Graphs
Efficiency Graph
Ripple Graphs
The lower the power supply's ripple, the more stable the system will be and less stress will also be applied to its components.
Infrared Images
We apply a half-load for 10 minutes with the PSU's top cover and cooling fan removed before taking photos with a modified FLIR E4 camera able to deliver an IR resolution of 320x240 (76,800 pixels).
The APFC converter and the bridge rectifier have low operating temperatures, which also applies to the main transformer. The 12V/5V coil on the secondary side is the hottest part, at 74 degrees Celsius.
MORE: Best Power Supplies
MORE: How We Test Power Supplies
MORE: All Power Supply Content
