The
Seasonic M12 700W is jet black in colour and has a large 120mm intake fan which
helps expel the air through the honey comb grill at the back of the power
supply. The fan blows air slowly and consistently over the internal components
of the powersupply, and this combination with the honeycomb metal grill aims to reduce noise generation
markedly.
The back
of the M12 700W power supply is plain, decorated only with a large honeycomb exhaust grid
which allows air to exit the power supply with the least amount of turbulence.
At right is the main power connector and hard power switch. Noticeably absent is a
115/230V switch, an unnecessary device on active power factor correction models.
At the front of the power supply we find a second 60mm temperature activated fan (an oddity
for Seasonic power supplies) and as its name implies, it only spins
up when the power supply reaches a certain temperature. To the left of the fan
we see various connectors for the power supply modular cables. The five 5-pin connectors are
for the 10 molex cables and 8 Serial ATA power connectors that run through three cables.
There are also two six pin power connectors for a total of
four 6 pin PCI-E power connectors. The Seasonic M12 700W is quad SLI ready.
The main 24 pin ATX power connector, the ESP12V and ATX12V connectors are not detachable
since the motherboard always needs these connections.
Interestingly,
the M12 700W does not natively include a floppy drive power
connector. Seasonic bundles a molex to two power port floppy drive connector cable along with
the unit which can be attached where necessary. The main ATX power connector
is 55cm long to the connector, and the other cables are ~60 cm to the first
plug on the daisy-chain.
There are a total of nine modular
cables, three for Serial ATA power and four for molex's (both
of which connect through a five pin connector to the power supply) and two
for quad six pin PCI Express videocard power connectors. It's important to note
that the Seasonic M12 700 power supply only supports five bundles of modular power cables so plan your upgrades
before throwing everything together.
The Molex to FDD power connector
Y-splitter is shown above. Since floppies are going the way of AOL, it's
not surprising that manufacturers are starting to include them as extras, much
like SATA power cables used to be. Next, PCSTATS will crack the Seasonic M12 700W power supply open and
take a look around inside.