Antec Signature 650W Power Supply
by Christoph Katzer on October 1, 2008 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Internals
The casing design is identical to the 850W. When we open the casing, we are greeted with a view of the backside of the PCB that holds the filtering stage and the primary side of the power supply. We need to disconnect a few cables and can then remove the first section. The whole power supply can now slide open, which removes both the sides and the rear. The upper part that contains the primary side is fixed to the rear section, which holds the jack for the power cord. The transformer and secondary side are located on the second PCB, which can be easily disconnected as all of the fixed wires go through the little opening in the side.
The filtering stage is packed, leaving no room for additional parts. In the picture of the left bottom side, we can also see the additional circuit to create the 5Vsb voltage. The primary side features two different main capacitors made by Rubycon and Nippon Chemi-Con. That is actually the first time we've seen two different brands used in the primary stage, but it seems to work out just fine. The Rubycon cap is rated at 450V and 270µF at 105°C; the Nippon Chemi-Con cap is rated at 105°C, 450V, and 220µF. Right after the caps you can see the connection that leads to the second PCB.
On the second PCB, we find the transformer in the top corner. Right on top of the large heatsink in the middle is a temperature diode that the fan control unit monitors, adjusting the fan speed as it deems appropriate. There are Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors all over the secondary side. Under the small copper plate, we find the two VRM that are responsible for the 3.3V and 5V rails.
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swaaye - Tuesday, October 28, 2008 - link
With regards to 80mm vs 120mm, I think that the best PSUs often have 80mm fans seems to say something.In the PSUs I've opened that have 120s, they are obviously restricted on component height inside. PSUs with 80mm fans are also designed around the air flowing from front to back, with heatsink cooling appropriately in-lined with the flow. A bottom 120mm isn't going to make airflow remotely as orderly.
I have used a mix of 80mm and 120mm units. Some 80mm units are as quiet as the quietest 120mm units, and some 120mm units are much louder than the 80mm units. Neither has an innate advantage with noise.
ducnow - Friday, October 3, 2008 - link
I would sooner have a small fan with a direct airflow with no restrictions front to back than a bottom 120mm fan under a poorly designed "quite" PSU that has poor airflow.The only thing I wish they would have done is made a single rail edition with more modular cables.
Another thing that sucks is that we just had a PSU make over in the last 4 years with the Nvidia cards using 8 pin on the GPU and higher end boards using a 6pin. I wonder if these will still be the standard when the new core i7 boards & the new Nvidia cards come out?
DTL - Thursday, October 2, 2008 - link
Why the Ambient Temperature only 25°C ? If you are not A big white bear lives near the North Pole.Your case always 40+°C and even 50°C for my case !!! Will there any testing condition down to the earth ?strikeback03 - Friday, October 3, 2008 - link
Then I'd say the airflow in your case could use improvement. No reason for internal temps to be over 40*C. My Centurion 5 internals are around 32-35*C (P965, E6600, Tuniq, 4GB, 2 320GB HDD, 7600GT)TravisChen - Saturday, October 4, 2008 - link
We have to set the standard near the worst case, not the optimal case. Quiet a few users have their CPU fan pumping hot air directly into the PSU so even your GFX and HDD are cool your PSU is not.strikeback03 - Monday, October 6, 2008 - link
My measurements were with a thermocouple inserted through a hole in the case, not on-board sensors.HOOfan 1 - Thursday, October 2, 2008 - link
Did you miss this?"we will keep the ambient temperature at 50°C in the stress test. "
HOOfan 1 - Thursday, October 2, 2008 - link
you consider 14.5mV a bit high? When the spec is all the way up at 50mV for 3.3V and 5V. 12V rails is "a bit lower" again, are you kidding? below 9mV when the spec is all the way up to 120mV.Really, are you trying your best to seem impartial since the Antec Signature ad is the top banner ad on this site?
bob4432 - Thursday, October 2, 2008 - link
would you guys compare this to the ea-650 to see what the extra ~$150 gets us?7Enigma - Thursday, October 2, 2008 - link
That's what I'd like to see as well. There is a DRASTIC difference in price between these 2 models, and my guess is the price does not fit the increase in quality/performance. But I need to know for sure. :)