It's also reassuring to see that all of the connector pins are
fully gold-plated. I've had experience with at least one system where there was a
bad connection. It is one of the most annoying things in the world. The system
would just hang every once in a while. The fix meant ripping off the case and
jiggling the Molex connector before the system would turn back on. Pain in the
arse.
Leaving the wires behind, lets take a look at the
dual cooling fans Enermax installs. The "visible fans" are pretty distinctive
because they are transparent. It used to be that both the internal fan and the
exhaust fan were like this, but the last few PSU's we've seen use a standard black fan
for the back. I guess the mfg'r is trying to save a few bucks
there.
Both 80mm fan and 92mm fan are made by "Global Fan" and are listed
as "ball bearing" type. Not sure if they are double ball bearing or
just single. Whatever the case, the ones we've had are still going strong
after a year so far. The PSU incorporates "Super Noise Killer" which
basically does the following. When ambient temperature increases, the fans speed up, when
thing are running cool, the fans rotate at a slower, less noisy RPM.
With this power supply plugged in and the computer
on, it's almost impossible to hear. Quietness also comes from the wire
fan grilles protecting the fan blades as they have almost no air resistance. Punched
out sheet metal grills are not so forgiving and introduce resistance and noise.
As with
the 350watt version, the 431watt PSU is the quietest powersupply I've come across.