Conclusion
Testing — Differential Temperature and Noise Levels
The differential temperature across the BFG Tech 600W power supply was calculated by subtracting the ambient room air temperature (T in) from the temperature of the warm exhaust air flowing out of the power supply (T out) when the fan was running.
Thermocouples were placed at the air inlet and exhaust outlet, The ambient room air temperature was 24ºC (75ºF) +/- 1ºC during testing.
T in = temperature of air entering power supply
T out = temperature of air exhausting from power supply
ΔT = T out – T in
Sound pressure level readings were taken 3′ in front of the PSU in an otherwise quiet room. The power supply was placed on a foam rubber mouse pad during testing. The ambient noise level was ~30 dBA.
The single 80mm fan appeared to run at full speed throughout most of the testing and only started to slow down when the output power level dropped below 200 watts. Even from a cold start, the fan quickly ramped up to near maximum speed at low-medium output power levels. In my opinion, anything above 40 dBA is very noticeable and when sound pressure levels reach 50 dBA (measured 3′ away) it is unacceptably noisy.
However, all that airflow provided excellent cooling, which kept the temperatures relatively low.
Price – $/Watt
And finally we have pricing for the BFG Tech 600W power supply, along with the average cost per watt. This is the MSRP price as of February 2006.
Conclusions
Overall, the BFG Tech 600W power supply is a solid unit that is capable of delivering a lot of power but at the expense of lower than average efficiency and much higher than average noise. The main output voltages stayed well within the ±5% tolerance under moderate to heavy loads and the unit comes fitted with connectors to support NVIDIA SLI dual video cards and SATA drives. And lets not forget the Lifetime warranty and 24/7 Tech Support for added security.
I would like to thank BFG Technologies for sending us the BFG Tech 600W PSU to review.
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