Silverstone Decathlon DA650: A modular alternative
by Christoph Katzer on August 8, 2007 12:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Cables, Connectors, and Fan
As we know from previous experience, Silverstone likes to attach all the cables to the PSU before shipping. The Decathlon DA650 is no different. The cable harnesses are sleeved up to the first connector. After the first connector, the cables are left blank without even cable ties. The jacks are located on the upper half of the front side of the PSU. Below the jacks is a little graphic that shows each jack with the appropriate connector name. With all the cables disconnected you can see how Silverstone installed the PCB for the cable management system into the power supply. All the jacks are just sticking out of a big punched hole.
The Decathlon provides enough cables and connectors for just about any situation. The length of up to 105cm will reach any component even in larger cases. The distance between each plug can be a little bit too long, however. If you have two hard drives above one another and you use only one cable then you will have to fit the extra 25cm of cable somewhere in between. Several shorter distances between connectors would be appreciated, allowing the end user to select the cable that's best for their particular setup and thus avoid making a cable salad - after all, that's the purpose of using modular cables in the first place.
The fan guard of the 12cm fan is embedded in the housing of the power supply which is good for cases that do not have enough space for the added bulge. The fan itself is different from the one in the Olympia OP650. This one is manufactured by Adda and rated at 0.50A. The differences between the two fans can clearly be seen in the fan speed and acoustic testing.
As we know from previous experience, Silverstone likes to attach all the cables to the PSU before shipping. The Decathlon DA650 is no different. The cable harnesses are sleeved up to the first connector. After the first connector, the cables are left blank without even cable ties. The jacks are located on the upper half of the front side of the PSU. Below the jacks is a little graphic that shows each jack with the appropriate connector name. With all the cables disconnected you can see how Silverstone installed the PCB for the cable management system into the power supply. All the jacks are just sticking out of a big punched hole.
The Decathlon provides enough cables and connectors for just about any situation. The length of up to 105cm will reach any component even in larger cases. The distance between each plug can be a little bit too long, however. If you have two hard drives above one another and you use only one cable then you will have to fit the extra 25cm of cable somewhere in between. Several shorter distances between connectors would be appreciated, allowing the end user to select the cable that's best for their particular setup and thus avoid making a cable salad - after all, that's the purpose of using modular cables in the first place.
The fan guard of the 12cm fan is embedded in the housing of the power supply which is good for cases that do not have enough space for the added bulge. The fan itself is different from the one in the Olympia OP650. This one is manufactured by Adda and rated at 0.50A. The differences between the two fans can clearly be seen in the fan speed and acoustic testing.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
7 Comments
View All Comments
eetnoyer - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
...reviews of power supplies for people who aren't building a quad SLI system and don't want to spend $100 and up?Christoph Katzer - Wednesday, August 22, 2007 - link
...patience.crimson117 - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
Should change to:
mostlyprudent - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
Perhaps my expectations are messed up, but I have yet to be impressed by any of the units reviewed thus far. Then again, when spending $150 to $200 for a PSU, I am going to set my sights very high.Super Nade - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
They used 3 x Primary caps, which is more expensive than 1 450uF, but since they are in parallel, the ESR reduces significantly. Although this may have a minimum bearing on the proceedings (secondary side is more important), there is less stress on the PWM/switching transistors.I think you may have issues calibrating your setup, given that every single PSU you have reviewed seems to have larger than usual voltage drops.
yyrkoon - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
Given this, and that the rails do not seem to be solid/heatsink is too small, I think the PC power and cooling PSU is still the better buy.Besides that PC Power and Cooling is a well respected PSU OEM, why even bother with something else in the same price range.
Who makes this PSU anyhow ? I know it is silverstone branded, but I am fairly certain they did not make it.
Super Nade - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
Impervio Electronics Corp, Taiwan.