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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