Efficiency, Differential Temperature and Noise
Efficiency
Efficiency is defined by the power output divided by the power input and is usually expressed as a percentage. If a PSU were a 100% efficient (which none are) 600 watts of AC power going in would result in 600 watts of DC power coming out (with no waste heat to dissipate). In the real world there are always inefficiencies and power is lost in the form of heat during the conversion process. Newer revisions to the ATX12V Power Supply Design Guide V 2.2 have continued to increase the efficiency recommendations for PC switching mode power supplies and now lists both required and recommended minimum efficiencies.
We measured the AC power input to the SF600 PSU with an Extech power analyzer while the total DC load was found by adding all the individual +3.3V, +5V, +12V, -12V and +5VSB loads together.
The overall efficiency of the power supply was excellent and easily meets the criteria for 80 Plus Platinum certification, even while operating on 120 VAC and at elevated temperatures.
80 Plus Program
Note: Tests conducted at room temperature (25°C)
Differential Temperature and Noise Levels
To simulate a demanding environment, some of the warm exhaust air from the PSU under test is recirculated back to the intake through a passive air duct, which allows the PSU air inlet temperature to increase with load, up to 40°C.
The differential temperature across the power supply was calculated by subtracting the internal case air temperature (T in) from the temperature of the warm exhaust air flowing out the back of the power supply (T out).
Thermocouples were placed at the air inlet and exhaust outlet. The ambient room air temperature was 23ºC (74ºF) +/- 0.5ºC during testing.
T out = temperature of air above the top of the power supply
T in = temperature of room air
Delta T = T out – T in
*Fan not spinning
The Corsair SF600 started out silent thanks to its Zero RPM operating mode at lower power levels and stayed that way up through mid-power. The cooling fan started spinning during the 50% load test but remained relatively quiet. The fan speed continued to increase and the noise became noticeable but subjectively quiet even at 100% load. High efficiency certainly helps keep the waste heat and noise to a minimum.
(Courtesy of Corsair)
In the cable/connector chart,
In the cable/connector chart, what does the final column mean? Is it number of cables times number of connectors, or number of cables times number of connectors? Either way, it makes no sense. The SATA cell says 4×4, but there couldn’t possibly be four SATA cables with four connectors, Corsair says the SF600 only for four connectors in total.
Yes, a little confusing – not
Yes, a little confusing – not sure why they wrote it that way. You are correct (as noted several other places in the review) there is one SATA cable with four connectors. There are 4 cable "sections" X 4 connectors but it seems like it should read 1 X 4.
Sorry, meant to say “Is it
Sorry, meant to say “Is it number of cables times number of connectors, or number of connectors times number of cables?”, not just say the same thing twice in a row.
Yeah, this is great, but
Yeah, this is great, but where is the SF750!?!
Let’s get some sweet overkill, pre-production PSUs in for testing. I want to see a dual-EPS, SFX test system benchmarked.