AOpen Silent Power AO400-12AHN Power Supply
Review
Good power supplies have a few
common attributes. They are stable (meaning that the voltages they provide
to your computer do not fluctuate much), efficient (wasting little energy in
order to supply power to your computer), quiet and easy to install and
configure. These are the principle values we look for when reviewing any
new power supply. Additional features and frills such as pretty lights, UV
reflective coating, fan controllers, etc. are nice, but beside the point.
With this
in mind, let's take a look at the latest PSU to cross our bench, the AOpen
Silent Power
AO400-12AHN. 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 mounted on the bottom of the PSU.
The fan
controller is an interesting idea, letting users find their own ideal balance
between noise and cooling for their case. we'll see how
it works in practice. According to Aopen, the PSU can override the
fan setting if it exceeds a certain temperature, which seems sensible.
Like most modern power
supplies, the Silent Power AO400-12AHN supports serial ATA power. Our review
model came with two SATA power cables attached. It uses a newer 24-pin main ATX
power connector to supply power to the motherboard, but AOpen includes an
adaptor to change this to the older 20-pin ATX standard. Its worth noting that
this adaptor is one of the 
most unfriendly and
sharp pieces of plastic I have yet
encountered!
According to the manufacturer,
the +3.3V line can deliver up to 30 amps while the 5V rail can supply up
to 28 amps. The 12V line is split into two
to power the secondary 12V connector, and the two lines can
pump out 14 amps and 15 amps
respectively.
Maximum peak power output
of the AOpen Silent Power AO400-12AHN is
400W. The power
supply features over-voltage protection, which apparently shuts itself down to avoid
damage in the case of a power
surge.
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