PCPower & Cooling comes about as close to a fairy tale success story as it gets. The company came from humble beginnings intending to produce silent fans, cases and power supplies. In their second year they abandoned the first two goals and decided to focus solely on PSU design, we have all been the better for it.
Unfortunately it's only been of late End-users have begun to appreciate how integral the PSU is to the health of their system. Lets face it, the power supply isn't "sexy", it doesn't produce wonderful 3D images nor play the latest games. In fact if your PSU is working properly you shouldn’t even know it's there. It's when your PC runs into trouble such as annoying re-boots you begin to take note (if it's the problem). Over the last few years PC-Enthusiast and Overclocking forum threads on the subject of the PSU have spread like the plague. Posts on that subject have increased ten fold and especially following the decision to change 12VDC specifications. Introducing a multiple rail concept has created more problems then it's resolved.
This is largely due to the infamous ATX/EPS 12V Power Supply current limitations 18A ~ 22A on all 12VDC rails which seems to have reeked havoc on high current dual core processors prior to Conroe and higher end graphic card power requirements, which continue to increase at an alarming rate. PC Power & Cooling has remained one of the sole voices of reason through these confusing times and their adamant refusal to follow trends for the sake of marketing simply to print an "in spec label" on their box has not swayed this company. This is exactly the attitude which sets PC Power & Cooling apart from the “herd mentality" most of whom choose profits over technology.
It's been PC Power's choice to re-design single 12V rail PSU's instead of abandoning that design which has industry leaders traveling to Carlsbad, California. The model we’re testing today, the
Silencer 750 EPS12V will provide plenty of power without a need for
ad hoc fixes such as "Fusion Rail" technology. With all due respect to Mushkin whom have contracted to supply a decent PSU, not only they are not PSU "designer's"
per se, there are plethora of other PSU's sharing similar technology.
It's more profitable to implement rail load sharing then to build more powerful or proprietary rails. In fact approximately 80% of the PSU's sold under one name are built by someone else such as
Fortron FSP.
PCP designs and build all their PSU's and the Turbo-Cool series is almost entirely fabricated in-house. While the 750 EPS12V is certainly a powerful design its two 6-pin connectors seem to indicate this is not a PSU ready for QUAD SLI, however we were able to run two 7950GX2 in QUAD SLI mode with it. We’re also fortunate to have the opportunity to test PCP’s new
Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR soon. The 1KW-SR is most certainly a evlolution in PSU technology and one of very few PSU's which will be capable of driving multiple (QUAD SLI) Geforce 8800 GTX cards as well as Quad-Core CPUs.
Packaging
PCP has always used packaging which keeps their PSU's several inches from the outer box, using foam or lately cardboard braces. Most PSU’s are wrapped in thin bubble wrap in their original box. To be completely safe they need to be placed in a second box with packing, this increases cost. PCP can ship in their original box, which even if punctured should keep the PSU safe.
Once out of the box the PSU looks clean and has a unique "copper" color however, it is not made of copper. I like the break from the flat black, some do not and for the traditional folks black is available. The wiring is atypical, PCP eschewing modular gimmicks for all the right reasons, namely resistance and unnecessary potential failure points (plastic connectors).
Spreads out the connectors are well thought out with 24-pin baseboard, 8-pin & 4-pin CPU, 8-Molex (1-floppy), 6-SATA, and 2x 6-pin video. The connectors are not overdone, and lengths have been augmented avoiding the usual zip-tie fiasco or stuffing lengthy cables into empty bays, etc.
Another issue I've been introducing into my PSU reviews lately, (thanks to my friend Sunshine Dan) especially concerning high-current Power Supplies, has to do with the included power cord. Most PSU's I've tested even of late, have included an 18AWG
(American Wire Gauge (maximum load resistance)) regardless of current. Only the Silverstone Zeus ST85ZF (to be reviewed here soon) included a 16AWG power cord. PCPP has included a 14AWG power cord with their 850SSI, 1KW Turbo-Cool and the Silencer 750 EPS12V tested today. Given the current draw of these high power units this is the last (or first as it were) place you (do not) want a bottleneck to occur.
Silencer 750 EPS12V SpecificationsPCPower&Cooling Silencer 750 EPS12V |
| Operating Range: | 90-264 VAC
.99 power factor |
| Frequency: | 47-63Hz |
| Current: | 12A |
| Efficiency: | 83% |
| DC Output: | +5V @ 30A
+12V @ 60A
-12V @ 0.8A
+3.3V @ 24A
+5VSB @ 3A
continuous = 750W
peak = 825W
|
| Regulation: | 3% (+3.3V, +5V, +12V)
5% (-12V) |
| Ripple: | 1% (p-p) |
| OV Protection: | +3.3V, +5V, +12V |
| OC Protection: | 135% OPP |
| Agency Approval: | UL/ULC/CE/CB/RoHS |
| Operating Temperature: | 0° - 40°C |
| Humidity: | 20% - 80% RH |
| Fan Type: | 22 - 55 CFM ball-bearing |
| Noise: | 28 - 42dB(A)
|
| Compatibility: | EPS12V / NVIDIA SLI certified |
| M/B Connectors: | 24-pin, 8-pin, 4-pin, dual 6-pin Video
|
| Drive Connectors: | 15 (6 SATA, 1 mini) |
| MTBF: | 100,000 hours |
PCP now offers a test report with any PSU they sell for a $15 fee. Using a 75K$ Chroma tester they test all rails essentially finding the maximum current prior to shutdown. For this reason it's important to look for maximum amperes and the length of time the test was run. Thumbnails below exemplify the report sent along with our Silencer 750EPS12V, the second picture indicates maximum amperes on the 12V-Rail;
Next, under the hood ->
