First Look
So, this new brand called Aereon has started showing up on a number of Australian online retailer websites. After looking at the Aereon website (no longer available), I can’t say my first impressions are all that favourable. One thing that really rings alarm bells in my head that the only links on their website that work are the “Products” and “Where to buy” links. The “About us”, “Contact us” and “Support” links don’t work. Could it be that Aereon doesn’t want us to send faulty products back to them? Do they need to be worried about their units failing under warranty? Let’s find out.
The Box
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On the top of the box, we have our usual picture of the power supply, the manufacturer logo and some marketing bullet points, which I will re-type (and possibly joke about) below:
- 13.5 cm temperature-controlled fan provids efficient heat dissipation (I think they mean it provides efficient heat dissipation)
- Intel ATX 12V 2.2 specification supports dual core CPU (Yes, ATX12V 2.2 does support dual core CPUs, but does the power supply support ATX12V 2.2? And have they ever heard of quad-core processors?)
- Upgradeable: Built-in 4 sets of SATA connectors (Does this mean we can now upgrade our power supplies, or can we just upgrade the PC with more HDDs? I’m assuming they mean the latter)
- PCI Express ready – for PCI-E VGA cards (What if my video card has a DVI port? Or an HDMI port? Then what?)
- RoHS compliant (Looks like I will have to crank my soldering iron right up)
- Safety: (OPP) (OVP) (SCP) Protection (That would be Over Power Protection, Over Voltage Protection and Short Circuit Protection)
On the bottom, we have a small blurb (re-typed below), a list of connectors, and a load table.
With the increase of the power consumption of the computer system, the demands of high wattage power supply are also raised. Due to this tendency, AEREON technology releases the Asroc C-series power supply. The 135mm temperature-controlled silent fan provides a solid working environment to the system, cools down the power supply and reduce PC’s overall noise. With this special design, consumers won’t be bothered by the noises anymore. Asroc C series Power supply is equipped with the latest version of ATX 12V V2.2 that supports dual- core processor. The black painted and mesh design not only makes the assembly more convenient but also let the convection inside the case circulates smoothly. With a 2-year free replacement warranty, superb quality and high reliability, Asroc C-series power supply is the best choice to make the biggest difference in efficiency of your computer.
Now, if only Aereon would stop using electronic translators and get a native English speaker to proofread their marketing.
The list of connectors doesn’t quite make sense. On the top, we’re told that it has four sets of SATA connectors, which presumably means four chains of them, now we’re told that it has four SATA connectors. Maybe they mean it has four chains, with one connector on each.
OK, enough commenting on the marketing. It’s time to open it up.
The Power Supply
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The box contains the power supply (which comes wrapped in bubble wrap), a manual, a power cable and four screws. Considering how many cheap units don’t come with any accessories, this isn’t bad.
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The power supply is a semi-gloss black colour. It looks great when you first get it out of the box, but it does attract fingerprints. It looks like we are dealing with a dual rail unit here. As I usually say, I prefer multi-rail power supplies over single-rail units, due to the inherent safety issues with having powerful rails. Unfortunately, though, there is no colour coding on the wires to indicate which connectors are powered by which rails; but more often than not, the CPU will be powered by one rail, while the other will power everything else.
The bottom of the box is right about the SATA connectors. There are three chains with drive connectors. The first has two molex connectors and a floppy power connector, and the other two have two SATA and one molex connector each. In total, there are four SATA connectors, four molex/peripheral connectors, one FDD power connector, two 6+2 pin PCIe connectors, a 4+4 pin ATX/EPS12V CPU power connector and a 20+4 pin ATX connector. All of the cables are sleeved.
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There’s nothing out of the ordinary here in the way of ventilation. The red 200-240V sticker suggests that the unit lacks APFC. Peeling the sticker off reveals a hole in the case where a voltage selector switch would normally go, so either the manufacturer was trying to cut costs by not including a switch, or was trying to prevent people who don’t know what they’re doing from blowing the power supply up by selecting the wrong voltage.
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