Silverstone Decathlon DA650: A modular alternative
by Christoph Katzer on August 8, 2007 12:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Transformers and Secondary Side
Somewhat unusual, and just like the Olympia OP650, the Decathlon DA650 has two main transformers. Both run in tandem to provide all rails simultaneously. Other manufacturers use the first transformer to power one rail along with the secondary transformer, which then powers the remaining rails.
The PCB that houses the jacks for the modular cable sockets looks very clean from the back. Silverstone attached all the DC outputs to this PCB, so having a high quality design is important for providing clean transfers. We have seen cable management PCBs that look a lot worse from other manufacturers, for example those from Andyson.
The secondary side shows similar quality. The cables are neatly attached to the board and the PCB has enough space so that it doesn't get bent or torqued. The smaller PCB includes the OCP protection features, the PWM control, and the fan speed control.
It's a pity that Silverstone's engineers had to cut off such a big piece from the secondary heatsink, since as we will see its performance is clearly not as good as the primary heatsink. Not only is it shorter but half of the horizontal fins are also cut off, resulting in greatly reduced surface area. The cables are nicely connected to the modular PCB, but we're a bit surprised that Silverstone didn't come up with a design that omits more of the internal cables. The Enermax liberty for example only uses a few internal cables to power the cable management PCB, and if Silverstone had taken a similar approach they could have made room for a larger secondary heatsink. We have seen this from other companies like OCZ as well.
The secondary capacitors are made by Taepo.
Somewhat unusual, and just like the Olympia OP650, the Decathlon DA650 has two main transformers. Both run in tandem to provide all rails simultaneously. Other manufacturers use the first transformer to power one rail along with the secondary transformer, which then powers the remaining rails.
The PCB that houses the jacks for the modular cable sockets looks very clean from the back. Silverstone attached all the DC outputs to this PCB, so having a high quality design is important for providing clean transfers. We have seen cable management PCBs that look a lot worse from other manufacturers, for example those from Andyson.
The secondary side shows similar quality. The cables are neatly attached to the board and the PCB has enough space so that it doesn't get bent or torqued. The smaller PCB includes the OCP protection features, the PWM control, and the fan speed control.
It's a pity that Silverstone's engineers had to cut off such a big piece from the secondary heatsink, since as we will see its performance is clearly not as good as the primary heatsink. Not only is it shorter but half of the horizontal fins are also cut off, resulting in greatly reduced surface area. The cables are nicely connected to the modular PCB, but we're a bit surprised that Silverstone didn't come up with a design that omits more of the internal cables. The Enermax liberty for example only uses a few internal cables to power the cable management PCB, and if Silverstone had taken a similar approach they could have made room for a larger secondary heatsink. We have seen this from other companies like OCZ as well.
The secondary capacitors are made by Taepo.
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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.