When
looking at the Seasonic Power Supply test results we see two values, wattage
and volt-amps. Since it might not be clear what they measure, here's a brief
overview.
The
volt-amp (VA) value is how much real power is being consumed by the power supply
being tested to provide the wattage (W) value. The higher the VA value is, the
more electricity is being used by the power supply. Because no electrical device
is 100% efficient, there will always be some loss when converting AC to DC. The
closer the volt-amps and wattage figures are to each other, the more efficient a
power supply is. This is called the Power Factor: wattage / volt-amps =
PF.
Since
we're testing with a 120W dummy load, the load on the power supply (wattage)
should be as close to this figure as possible. Anything above this load in
apparent power describes the overhead and wasted energy (given off as heat) for
the particular power supply being tested. For the unloaded tests, the wattage
and volt-amp figures should be as close as possible to one another. The lower
the figures are, the less power is being
wasted.
Measurements were taken with an Extech 380803 Power
Analyzer.
Seasonic Power Load Tests |
Power Supply
Model |
Wattage |
Test
Type |
Loaded |
Unloaded |
Seasonic SuperTornado |
400 W (A-PFC) |
Active Power |
177 W |
6 W |
Apparent Power |
182 VA |
7 VA |
Vantec iON2 |
350 W |
Active Power |
192 W |
10 W |
Apparent Power |
277 VA |
21 VA |
Antec TruePower 330 |
330 W |
Active Power |
195 W |
22 W |
Apparent Power |
289 VA |
38 VA |
Ultra X-Connect Green UV 500W |
500 W |
Active Power |
193W |
22 W |
Apparent Power |
307 VA |
40 VA |
AOpen Silent Power AO400-12AHN |
400 W |
Active Power |
179W |
9 W |
Apparent Power |
275 VA |
18 VA |
Seasonic S12-430 |
430 W (A-PFC) |
Active Power |
179W |
6W |
Apparent Power |
180VA |
9VA |
PC Power and Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 Express/SLI |
510 W (A-PFC) |
Active Power |
200 W |
29 W |
Apparent Power |
202 VA |
32 VA |
HEC Ace Power 580UB |
580 W |
Active Power |
183 W |
12 W |
Apparent Power |
272 VA |
26 VA |
HEC Win 550UB |
550 W |
Active Power |
184W |
10W |
Apparent Power |
263VA |
22VA |
Akasa PowerPlus AK-P550FF |
550 W (A-PFC) |
Active Power |
194W |
38W |
Apparent Power |
197VA |
40VA |
AOpen Prima Power AO700-12ALN |
700 W (A-PFC) |
Active Power |
172W |
3W |
Apparent Power |
181VA |
9VA |
PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW |
1000 W (A-PFC) |
Active Power |
205W |
25W |
Apparent Power |
207VA |
32VA |
Seasonic S12 600 |
600 W (A-PFC) |
Active Power |
164W |
7W |
Apparent Power |
173VA |
9VA |
Mushkin Enhanced XP-650 |
650 W |
Active Power |
192W |
22W |
Apparent Power |
279VA |
43VA |
Seasonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT |
650 W (A-PFC) |
Active Power |
150W |
7W |
Apparent Power |
150VA |
10VA |
Seasonic M12 700W |
700 W (A-PFC) |
Active Power |
161W |
8W |
Apparent Power |
165VA |
11VA |
Corsair HX620W |
620 W (A-PFC) |
Active Power |
171W |
8W |
Apparent Power |
173VA |
12VA |
Zalman
ZM600-HP |
600 W (A-PFC) |
Active Power |
173W |
5W |
Apparent Power |
175VA |
9VA |
HEC Zephyr 650 |
650 W (A-PFC) |
Active Power |
185W |
12W |
Apparent
Power |
190VA |
17VA |
GlacialPower GP-PS550BP |
550
W |
Active Power |
178W |
6W |
Apparent Power |
269VA |
17VA | |
GlacialPower quotes a
78% efficiency on the box, however according to our tests the GP-PS550BP is only able to
reach an efficiency of 67%. It's still not bad all things considered, few PSU's have efficiency in that
range.
A Good 550W Power Unit?
The Glacialpower GP-PS550BP is a good no-fuss power supply. GlacialPower opted to build a quality power supply instead of something that's flashy with a lot of lights or fans. Quoting real life power ratings will also make enthusiast users happy.
The 550W GlacialPower GP-PS550BP has strong rails all around and should have no problems powering moderate enthusiast class computers, even if you run a SLI or CrossFire setup with a dual core processor.
The power cables are a bit on the short side... but unless you have a full tower case it shouldn't be too big a deal. GlacialPower could have provided more molex and Serial ATA connectors with the power supply, there's no arguing that modern computers have a lot of HDDs and peripherals.
The GlacialPower GP-PS550BP didn't quite live up to the 78% efficiency rating on the box, but perhaps that's achieved when the power supply is under a heavier load. In our testing the GP-PS550BP was fairly efficient, and voltages were nice and stable. Performance was good on the whole.
Mid-level power supply manufacturers like Enermax, OCZ and HEC better take notice. GlacialPower isn't quite nipping at the heals of Seasonic or PC Power & Cooling just yet.. but that may change as the company advances.
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