SilverStone 750 Watt ATX Power Supply - Page 2

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 06/26/2006 07:00 AM [ ] 0 comment(s)

For the love of God woman !
Why install a nuclear power plant in your PC ?

The importance of power consumption these days is slowly but certainly becoming a problem. Manufacturers really need to take a good look at this dilemma as it is a distressing concern. We need to start thinking not only about our electricity bills .. but also mother nature. Let's do a little math with an average mid-range PC okay?

Do the math with me: take a Pentium 4 3.6 GHz Prescott based PC armed with the mid-range Radeon X1800 GTO, three HDs, a DVD-writer and CD Writer. When Windows boots it'll use up no more than like 145 Watts.

The minute you overclock your processor and graphics card, and use the HDs and optical drives, your wattage will rise to about 350-380 Watts and can, at very stressful points, peak even higher. That still leaves plenty of room to play around. However, for every additional HD or optical drive you need to add 10 Watts and that's where the problem nowadays is. We have dual-core CPU's, current sucking dual-channel memory, SLI and Crossfire graphics cards and so on.

Did you choose the never ending Guru path of upgrades in the form of SLI or Crossfire graphics cards? Add another 75-125 Watts to the margin we just set. Do you have a dual CPU based rig or Dual Core processor? That'll cost you about an extra 80 Watts and then there is additional cooling to ventilate all these "hot" gadgets. Therefore always choose a PSU with plenty of 'breathing' space for future upgrades and devices.

At this time I suggest you get at least a 400 Watt PSU for any mediocre PC, where that number was 300 Watts two years ago. With a lot of HD's and extras like active fans and case-mods such as lights, or if simply powering a high-end gaming rig, go for something even higher than 400 Watts. Starting with a 520 Watt PSU today is not really that bad of a specification for today's high-end computers.

And then there was Quad SLI gaming ... we definitely need something better than 520 Watt. And there it is ... a 750 Watts PSU. By now I think I have been able to make you aware of the point I'm trying to make. We need a good PSU these days and in the near future probably diesel powered generators in our gardens!

Right, let's talk about the Zeus St75F specification wise.

Features:

Quad +12V rail for superior performance
Dual PCI-E 6pin connectors (SLI & CrossFire ready)
Industrial class components
Support for ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS12V
Active PFC
Efficiency greater than 80% (max. 86%)

What immediately strikes the eye is the fact that there are four (quad) 12 volts rails, I mean it's fantastic that there are four of them if you decide to do some SLI/Crossfire gaming they are all delivering a really stunning 18 AMPs per voltage rail, that's 720 Watts available on the 12 Volts rail. Today's most high-end graphics core will use 10 AMPs maximum. Why do graphics card manufacturers make requirements of 25-30 AMPs for a PSU these days then you ask ? Simple, for the reasons described as above, the other components in your system (CPU/HDs/ect) will draw ampage from the PSU also.

As stated this unit include 72A and 720W combined on the +12V quad rails, greater than 80% power efficiency, has 2.9 kg weight, and 24dBA minimum noise level. 2.9 kg .. hey the heavier the better I always say. It's a sign of quality.

Powerrrr Factor Correction - PFC

The Silverstone PSU we has a very nice feature called active PFC. To put it in simple terms, Active PFC PSUs are more expensive and from a power consumption point of view more efficient. Power Factor Correction (PFC) allows power distribution to operate at its highest efficiency.

There are two types of PFC, Active PFC and Passive PFC. This PSU has active PFC. Active PFC uses a circuit to correct power factor, Active PFC is able to generate a theoretical power factor of over 95%. Active Power Factor Correction also markedly diminishes total harmonics, automatically corrects for AC input voltage, and is capable of a full range of input voltage. Since Active PFC is the more complex method of Power Factor Correction, it is definitely more expensive to produce an active PFC power supply.

Right, allow me to commence with both the beginning and the end results straight away. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to start the sexy photo shoot, but not before we show you the specifics of this PSU, courtesy of SilverStone.

Max. DC Output

750W continuous at 50 degrees C & 90V
( 950W continuous at 25 degrees C & 90V with OCP removed* )

Load Range

	+3.3V	+5V	+12V1	+12V2	+12V3	+12V4	+5VSB	-12V	-5V
Max.(Amps)	24A	30A	18A	18A	18A	18A	3.0A	0.5A	/
Peak (Amps)	/	/	22A	22A	22A	22A	/	/	/
Min.(Amps)	1.5A	1.0A	0.8A	0.8A	0.5A	0.5A	0.1	0	/
Range(%)	+/-5%	+/-5%	+/-5%	+/-5%	+/-5%	+/-5%	+/-5%	+/-10%	/
Ripple (mVp-p)	50mV	50mV	120mV	120mV	120mV	120mV	50mV	120mV	/

combined+3.3 , +5V

180W

combined +12V

60A/720W

Input Voltage	90V ~ 264V (Auto Range)
Input Frequency Range	47Hz ~ 63Hz
PFC	Active PFC (d 0.95 at nominal input voltage.)
Efficiency	>80%
MTBF	100,000 hours at 25 degrees C, full load
Operating temperature	0 ~ 50 degrees C
Protection	Over Current Protection, Over Voltage Protection, Short Circuit Protection, No Load Operation Under voltage protection

Connectors	24pin motherboard connector
	8-pin ATX12V connector
	8pin to 4pin ATX12V adapter connector
	6-pin AUX connector
	Dual 6-pin PCI-E
	SATA power connector
	4-pin IDE power connector
	4-pin floppy power connector

Color	black (lead-free paint)
Cooling System	1x 80mm ball bearing fan
Noise Level	24 dBA minimum
Weight	2.9 kg
Dimension	150 mm (W) x 86 mm (H) x 180 mm (D)

*OCP (over current production) limits production ST75ZF to 815W ~ 880W depending on rail loading

6 pages 1 2 3 4 5 6

Silverstone Permafrost PF240 liquid cooler review
Today, we are reviewing an AIO cooler from Silverstone: the Permafrost PF240. Silverstone is not entirely a newcomer in the AIO segment of the market. In the past, they introduced the Tundra series ...

Silverstone GD07 HTPC chassis review
we review the Silverstone GD07 HTPC chassis. The Grandia GD07, an updated version which offers everything you ever wanted in for a HTPC, it's so spacious that you could even use it as a very cool desktop PC. I mean Extended ATX (EATX) sized motherboards fit (!), heck you can even throw in very long graphics cards in there as we'll show you.

Silverstone GD06 HTPC chassis review
We review the SilverStone GD06 HTPC chassis, aimed at the home theater DIY audience that has a need for stylish looks, good functionality versus a competitive price.

SilverStone 750 Watt ATX Power Supply
Today we will have a look at the Zeus 750 Watt continuous power supply from Silverstone. A really awe-inspiring power supply with four (yes four) +12 Volts rails and which is also an SLI ready power supply. We'll put it to the test buy using our quad SLI setup. The new Zeus is cool, literally, as up to 750W it'll maintain a temperature of 50°C. You get 60 AMPs combined (over 700W) for these four +12V rails alone, making the ST75ZF capable of powering any top of the line system available today and the near future.