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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Samus - Monday, August 27, 2007 - link
It appears that a log of people on newegg have this PSU fail after a few months. Now before we get into newegg consumer feedback 'reliability' :) there are a few people who've had these fail, not just one or two.I'm ganna give it a shot anyway. Should work well with my DFI Infinity 975 board, being EPS12v and all.
Slaimus - Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - link
Knowing it is an Apex-built power supply took most of the wind out of its sails. Apex, also known as L&C and Deer, has made some of the most unreliable power supplies ever.This seems to be one of their better efforts, but reliability will always be a concern with this company.
mindless1 - Thursday, August 30, 2007 - link
SMPS tech is reasonably mature beyond present tweaking a bit for higher efficiency, more 12V current, and these without cost rising out of control.Point being, Apex (actually better known as Foxconn or Hon Hai) can easily build quality PSU, it is not inability it is the choice of product placement and construction cost that results in some of the junk we've all seen.
As for reliability, there is a problem as always that you hear of someone with a failed PSU but no autopsy most of the time. No disrespect meant to reviewers, but over the years I can't could how many times a product seemed good at first glance, and second glance (a review period), but later a fault compromised the lifespan. A review of one unit can't take forever, it is going to be inherantly limited in scope, but still must be seen as a way to disqualify products more than qualify them for long term use.