Load Testing
As some of you may know, a few weeks back, the PC I used to power my Hantek oscilloscope failed and took out a few USB devices, including the oscilloscope, so I’ve just replaced it with an EasySync/USB Instruments DS1M12 Stingray, so it will be measuring the ripple on all of my power supply reviews from now on. Unfortunately, though, my load tester is only capable of two 12V loads, so I will be using an auxiliary load for the two PCIe connectors. This will allow me to load it more evenly, but I won’t be able to monitor the ripple on those two rails, so the 12V3 and 12V4 rails will have “N/A” in their ripple columns.
Test 1 (179.7W Load – Cold)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V1 | 2.43A | 12.17V | 9.8mV |
| 12V2 | 2.43A | 12.16V | 8.0mV |
| 12V3 | 2.43A | 12.14V | N/A |
| 12V4 | 2.43A | 12.14V | N/A |
| 5V | 5.13A | 5.13V | 8.4mV |
| 3.3V | 10.33A | 3.41V | 5.8mV |
| −12V | 0A | −12.33V | 6.0mV |
| 5Vsb | 0A | 5.11V | 7.2mV |
| AC Power | 200.1W | ||
| Efficiency | 89.79% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.89 | ||
Test 2 (238.45W Load – Cold)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V1 | 4.86A | 12.15V | 10.0mV |
| 12V2 | 4.86A | 12.15V | 17.2mV |
| 12V3 | 2.43A | 12.16V | N/A |
| 12V4 | 2.43A | 12.13V | N/A |
| 5V | 5.11A | 5.11V | 11.4mV |
| 3.3V | 10.33A | 3.41V | 12.4mV |
| −12V | 0.09A | −11.26V | 19mV |
| 5Vsb | 1.02A | 5.08V | 9.4mV |
| AC Power | 271.6W | ||
| Efficiency | 87.79% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.9 | ||
Test 3 (296.47W Load – Cold)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V1 | 4.86A | 12.14V | 9.0mV |
| 12V2 | 4.86A | 14.14V | 15.0mV |
| 12V3 | 4.85A | 12.12V | N/A |
| 12V4 | 4.84A | 12.1V | N/A |
| 5V | 5.12A | 5.12V | 7.2mV |
| 3.3V | 10.3A | 3.4V | 12.2mV |
| −12V | 0.09A | −11.33V | 12.8mV |
| 5Vsb | 1.02A | 5.11V | 7.8mV |
| AC Power | 335.1W | ||
| Efficiency | 92.01% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.9 | ||
Test 4 (381.77W Load – Cold)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V1 | 4.86A | 12.16V | 10.0mV |
| 12V2 | 4.86A | 12.14V | 18.0mV |
| 12V3 | 7.28A | 12.13V | N/A |
| 12V4 | 7.27A | 12.12V | N/A |
| 5V | 10.2A | 5.1V | 9.4mV |
| 3.3V | 10.33A | 3.41V | 10.8mV |
| −12V | 0.1A | −11.43V | 11.8mV |
| 5Vsb | 1.02A | 5.1V | 8.0mV |
| AC Power | 428.79W | ||
| Efficiency | 89.04% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.9 | ||
Test 5 (439.31W Load – Hot)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V1 | 7.28A | 12.13V | 11.2mV |
| 12V2 | 7.26A | 12.10V | 18.2mV |
| 12V3 | 7.27A | 12.12V | N/A |
| 12V4 | 7.27A | 12.11V | N/A |
| 5V | 10.2A | 5.1V | 9.4mV |
| 3.3V | 10.3A | 3.4V | 10.4mV |
| −12V | 0.1A | −11.48V | 19.8mV |
| 5Vsb | 1.02A | 5.09V | 8.2mV |
| AC Power | 494.72W | ||
| Efficiency | 88.80% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.92 | ||
Test 6 (526.57W Load – Hot)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V1 | 7.27A | 12.12V | 13.2mV |
| 12V2 | 9.67A | 12.09V | 19.2mV |
| 12V3 | 9.69A | 12.11V | N/A |
| 12V4 | 9.68A | 12.10V | N/A |
| 5V | 10.22A | 5.11V | 10.8mV |
| 3.3V | 10.27A | 3.39V | 11.0mV |
| −12V | 0.1A | −11.56V | 19.2mV |
| 5Vsb | 1.02A | 5.1V | 7.8mV |
| AC Power | 594.4W | ||
| Efficiency | 88.59% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.92 | ||
Test 7 (647.84W Load – Hot)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V1 | 9.74A | 12.17V | 13.6mV |
| 12V2 | 12.12A | 12.12V | 18.4mV |
| 12V3 | 12.15A | 12.15V | N/A |
| 12V4 | 12.14A | 12.14V | N/A |
| 5V | 10.24A | 5.12V | 8.8mV |
| 3.3V | 10.3A | 3.4V | 9.0mV |
| −12V | 0.1A | −11.68V | 10.2mV |
| 5Vsb | 1.02A | 5.09V | 7.0mV |
| AC Power | 735.9W | ||
| Efficiency | 88.00% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.92 | ||
Test 8 (756.68W Load – Hot)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V1 | 12.07A | 12.07V | 19.0mV |
| 12V2 | 12.04A | 12.04V | 25.2mV |
| 12V3 | 12.09A | 12.09V | N/A |
| 12V4 | 12.09A | 12.09V | N/A |
| 5V | 20.36A | 5.09V | 10.4mV |
| 3.3V | 20.61A | 3.40V | 11.8mV |
| −12V | 0.1A | −11.80V | 13.2mV |
| 5Vsb | 1.02A | 5.08V | 11.8mV |
| AC Power | 873.8W | ||
| Efficiency | 86.60% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.92 | ||
Overload Test (925.64W Load – Hot)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V1 | 14.47A | 12.06V | 28mV |
| 12V2 | 16.8A | 12.00V | 34.2mV |
| 12V3 | 11.97A | 11.97V | N/A |
| 12V4 | 12.07A | 12.07V | N/A |
| 5V | 30.36A | 5.06V | 15mV |
| 3.3V | 31A | 3.41V | 13.2mV |
| −12V | 0.1A | −12.00V | 40.0mV |
| 5Vsb | 1.01A | 5.05V | 20mV |
| AC Power | 1091.8W | ||
| Efficiency | 84.78% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.93 | ||
The way this unit performed was interesting. The efficiency was very high, starting at 89.79% in Test 1, peaking at about 92% during Test 2 dropping to 86.6% at full load. Even during the overload Test, it was at almost 85%. That’s pretty good, even for an 80+ Bronze certified unit. The ripple suppression was very good, but interestingly, the 12V2 rail was always a bit higher than the 12V1, although even it only got to about 34mV during the overload test, which is still very low. The voltage regulation was also very good, with none of the rails, other than the −12V where ATX specification doesn’t call for the regulation to be as tight, changing by more than 0.1V. The 3.3v rail was always a bit high, though, staying at around 3.4v throughout the testing, although it’s still in spec. The other interesting thing about it is the power factor, which was a little low for a unit with APFC. The other APFC units I’ve tested all had power factors of around 0.98 throughout the testing, while it was around 0.90 for this unit at lower loads and only got to 0.92 for the higher loads, but it’s a very minor issue. Overall, it’s still the best performance I’ve seen form any power supply I’ve tested to date. Not only was the efficiency high, the voltage regulation tight and the ripple very low, but I was able to pull a staggering 925W from it! Antec could have labelled this as a 900W product.
| Rail | Test 8 (756.68W) | Overload Test (925.64W) |
| 12V1 |  |
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| 12V2 |  |
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| 5V |  |
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| 3.3V |  |
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| −12V |  |
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| 5Vsb |  |
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