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AOpen Silent Power AO400-12AHN 400W Power Supply Review
AOpen Silent Power AO400-12AHN 400W Power Supply Review - PCSTATS
This 400Watt unit comes armed with a bristling array of cables as well as a rear mounted knob which controls the speed of the LED-lighted 120mm fan.
Filed under: Power Supply Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: AOpen Feb 03 2005   M. Dowler  
Home > Reviews > Power Supply > AOpen AO400-12AHN

Appearance and physical specifications

The AOpen Silent Power AO400-12AHN is an ordinary looking gray power supply unit with a reassuring weight to it. The back (facing out of the PC) sports a fanless waffle grill for improved airflow and holds the fan control dial as well as the power switch, plug and international voltage switch.

The rear of the unit is not vented very much, making it necessary that all airflow exhausted out of the powersupply is that which is drawn up by the large 120mm cooling fan.

The bottom of the unit contains the opening for the large 120mm cooling fan that is controlled by the dial. This fan is rather spectacularly lit up by three recessed LEDs mounted on the fan wall. These red, blue and magenta lights create a 'tunnel' effect with their light as the fan spins. We were entranced. Pity this fan will be out of sight even in most modded cases...

The AOpen Silent Power AO400-12AHN possesses quite a medusa's nest of cables. In addition to the two 12V motherboard connectors, the PSU includes two serial ATA power cables as well as seven Molex connectors and a pair of floppy drive power cables.

The Molex connectors are designed slightly differently. They are a navy blue colour with a finger grip on each side of the head which makes them easy to grasp when inserting or removing the plug. Good design by AOpen here.

Inside, the Silent Power AO400-12AHN is unremarkable except for the control boards supporting the fan speed knob.

Our review model came straight from Japan, but included a brief, multilanguage manual which covered all the necessary details fairly clearly.

In use, the 120mm fan used by the AOpen Silent Power AO400-12AHN for cooling is virtually silent. It was only really audible with an ear right next to the power supply.

Interestingly, the fan noise remained the same no matter how we set the fan speed knob. Increasing the fan to maximum speed made a discernible difference in the airflow coming out of the PSU but no audible difference.

While this means that you can effectively keep the fan at full speed the whole time without penalty, it does make us question the point of the fan control in the first place. Somehow a raging tempest at full fan speed would have been more comforting.

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Contents of Article: AOpen AO400-12AHN
 Pg 1.  AOpen Silent Power AO400-12AHN 400W Power Supply Review
 Pg 2.  — Appearance and physical specifications
 Pg 3.  Voltage Values and Figures

 
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