AnandTech Power Supply Test Methodology
by Christoph Katzer on July 12, 2007 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Temperature
The ambient temperature around the power supply will constantly grow with the time of the test. It will be placed in the same set of conditions it will experience in a real system, where the temperature rises over time. We will start at a room temperature of 77°F (25°C) and constantly measure the exhaust temperature of the power supply and the installed heatsinks inside the PSU. This will tell us how well the power supply can dissipate the produced heat.
Sample Heatsink Temperature
Sample Heatsink Temperature
It is especially true that as the ambient temperature increases it becomes more difficult for the components of the power supply to deliver the rated specifications. A dropping DC voltage is one potential side effect of this. With increasing heat the lifespan of the PSU and its components will drop tremendously as well. When the power supply is working on our test stand for several hours the heat around it will increase up to 122°F (50°C). At that point it will be running at full load under the most strenuous circumstances possible.
We expect many candidates to fail our full load testing since normal power supplies are all rated just at room temperature of 77°F (25°C). We know we will put power supplies in a very difficult position, but those which pass will be truly worth buying. After all, what's the point of spending a lot of money on a high quality power supply if it can't handle rigorous test scenarios?
The ambient temperature around the power supply will constantly grow with the time of the test. It will be placed in the same set of conditions it will experience in a real system, where the temperature rises over time. We will start at a room temperature of 77°F (25°C) and constantly measure the exhaust temperature of the power supply and the installed heatsinks inside the PSU. This will tell us how well the power supply can dissipate the produced heat.
Sample Heatsink Temperature
Sample Heatsink Temperature
It is especially true that as the ambient temperature increases it becomes more difficult for the components of the power supply to deliver the rated specifications. A dropping DC voltage is one potential side effect of this. With increasing heat the lifespan of the PSU and its components will drop tremendously as well. When the power supply is working on our test stand for several hours the heat around it will increase up to 122°F (50°C). At that point it will be running at full load under the most strenuous circumstances possible.
We expect many candidates to fail our full load testing since normal power supplies are all rated just at room temperature of 77°F (25°C). We know we will put power supplies in a very difficult position, but those which pass will be truly worth buying. After all, what's the point of spending a lot of money on a high quality power supply if it can't handle rigorous test scenarios?
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Adul - Thursday, July 12, 2007 - link
I'd love to see a power supply catch fire :). Maybe one of the cheaper ones will break enough for this.CrystalBay - Thursday, July 12, 2007 - link
I would also like to see a short video of substandard PSU's lighting up...I'm sure many enthusiasts have had Dram's start flaming or smoke. But I have never had a PSU actually catch flame out....
Martimus - Thursday, July 12, 2007 - link
I had a Antec NeoPower PSU spew black smoke. It was not fun. Also fried my motherboard. It was less than 6 months old too, and I wasn't using it at anywhere near it's supposed capacity.BladeVenom - Thursday, July 12, 2007 - link
Then test power supplies that are in the range that most people actually need. Also test some budget ones. Let's see which ones are good for the money, and which ones are fire hazards.
xsilver - Thursday, July 12, 2007 - link
what is meant is that the idea of having a psu is NOT to load it to 100% capacity.and the problem being that it is very difficult to get a stable and repeatable psu testing setup.
I highly recommend that industrial manufacturers be pointed out just like in xbit labs reviews. That way we will know that antec has 3 or more suppliers providing psu's and be able to tell the seasonics from the other crud ;)
Wesleyrpg - Thursday, July 12, 2007 - link
hmm i wonder if thats why some people rave about Antec and some people like me curse them! I'd have to say Antec have the worst failure rate by far, probably at about 75% in the first year, where i can buy a $22 550W Generic (Honli) and only have about a 25% failure rate, maybe thats related to the power supplys released into australia by antec.imaheadcase - Thursday, July 12, 2007 - link
I kid! :Pgersson - Thursday, July 12, 2007 - link
just a red 'X'gersson - Thursday, July 12, 2007 - link
nevermind -- working already :-)