Silver Power Blue Lightning 600W
by Christoph Katzer on August 27, 2007 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
The Internals
Credit where credit is due: Silver Power has managed to create the most difficult power supply casing to crack that we have encountered so far. We have no idea who came up with the design or why they would want it, as logically it must be just as difficult to seal up as it was for us to open. We can only feel sorry for the poor soul sitting at the end of the assembly line tasked with the job of closing up the power supplies. The two sides are designed in a "U" shape and slide into each other. The fan and various cables do an excellent job of getting in the way, particularly the cable harness that leads to all of the connectors. Very few people actually try to open up their power supplies anyway, so unless there's some trick to assembly that we can't figure out, the net result is that none of this can be good for productivity and appears to serve no real purpose.
The construction of the casing makes it very difficult to get a clear view of the various components, as something else always seems to be getting in the way. We did manage to get the PCB out of the case in order to take better pictures after testing but the above image gives you an idea of how everything is arranged.
Most of the filtering is done directly behind the AC jack. A couple of capacitors are placed on the right side just before the rectifying bridge. The bridge itself is attached to its own small heatsink, as it can become quite warm during use.
Next to the bridge we find the standard PFC stage and the main capacitor. The main capacitor is made by Teapo and labeled as 450V and 330µF at just 85°C.
Credit where credit is due: Silver Power has managed to create the most difficult power supply casing to crack that we have encountered so far. We have no idea who came up with the design or why they would want it, as logically it must be just as difficult to seal up as it was for us to open. We can only feel sorry for the poor soul sitting at the end of the assembly line tasked with the job of closing up the power supplies. The two sides are designed in a "U" shape and slide into each other. The fan and various cables do an excellent job of getting in the way, particularly the cable harness that leads to all of the connectors. Very few people actually try to open up their power supplies anyway, so unless there's some trick to assembly that we can't figure out, the net result is that none of this can be good for productivity and appears to serve no real purpose.
The construction of the casing makes it very difficult to get a clear view of the various components, as something else always seems to be getting in the way. We did manage to get the PCB out of the case in order to take better pictures after testing but the above image gives you an idea of how everything is arranged.
Most of the filtering is done directly behind the AC jack. A couple of capacitors are placed on the right side just before the rectifying bridge. The bridge itself is attached to its own small heatsink, as it can become quite warm during use.
Next to the bridge we find the standard PFC stage and the main capacitor. The main capacitor is made by Teapo and labeled as 450V and 330µF at just 85°C.
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33 Comments
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MrOblivious - Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - link
Yes and no. The additional interface and the extreme load a load tester puts accross a single connector magnifies the problem beyond what a system would see happen which is what people were asking about.I am sure Chris is looking into it ;)
yyrkoon - Monday, August 27, 2007 - link
to see some Seasonic PSU tests. Not sure *why* but I cannot remember seeing any Seasonic PSU test from you, or any other sites I frequent, and they are supposedly the manufactuers of several of the PSUs for other companies that have good PSUs.Also, it would be very nice to have an article once in a while that explained where the different PSUs were manuafactuered, who actually makes them, and what parts each company typically uses for various models. Anyone can write a review, but no one seems todo this. Be the first ! I *could* probably scour the web to find this information, but if it comes from your guys, I could probably trust the information ;)
Axbattler - Thursday, August 30, 2007 - link
Silent PC Review has made some reviews of Seasonic (and the Corsair too if I remember right).LoneWolf15 - Monday, August 27, 2007 - link
A Seasonic 500w PSU review was done very recently by another ]H[ard-core review site. You might want to check it out. They and JonnyGURU as well are very clear about who makes PSU's, capacitor brands in them, etc.Seasonic makes PSU's for a number of companies --the Antec Neo HE line is one example, but they do some others as well.
As for the Silver Power, if Anandtech's weblink is correct to MWave (it is partially broken) and that PSU is available for $69, it's a great price.
JarredWalton - Monday, August 27, 2007 - link
The web links are just pulled from the engine automatically (automagically even) based on some search text. I put in "Tagan" and that's what came up. Still, the 530W Tagan is probably pretty decent for $69. This PSU is apparently $88 shipped from http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">Newegg (see above comments).yyrkoon - Monday, August 27, 2007 - link
heh Jarred, read the first user review on newegg ... not exactly a good example of a PSU 'review'. I probably would take it with a grain of salt *if* the overall user review % was not what it is.JarredWalton - Monday, August 27, 2007 - link
Yeah, Newegg reviews are basically random people spouting off. I've had numerous good quality PSUs fail over the years, and I've had "crappy" PSUs that are still kicking after four years. Without some clear details about the load the PSU was under and the operating environment - let's be honest, overclocking can kill a lot of PSUs if you push it too far - there's any number of reasons a PSU can fail. $90 for a >80% 600W PSU is really pretty good.Christoph Katzer - Monday, August 27, 2007 - link
Seasonic comes up this week.Don't worry about the rest, that'll come as well...
Samus - Monday, August 27, 2007 - link
Looks identical. Newegg has it for $80.Chris, can you confirm whether this is the same power supply as the silverpower?
Christoph Katzer - Monday, August 27, 2007 - link
Thanks for the info. It is indeed the same PSU.