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Golden Field ATX-S500
The name suggests that this unit may well be worth its weight in gold, and I’m sure that’s what the manufacturer would like us to think. Let’s see if it really is.
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Now, something just doesn’t seem right here. Like most of the power supplies in this roundup, it’s a dated 5V heavy design, but it has 4 SATA connectors and only 1 molex/peripheral connector. If your computer is new enough to be using all SATA drives, it’s going to be drawing more current from the 12V rail. Additionally, only having 1 molex connector isn’t much for any power supply, even if it was more 12V heavy. Keen eyed observers may note that in the bottom left corner of the label, it says 500W Peak Power, so maybe this isn’t a 500W unit at all. Unfortunately, though, they didn’t specify what it can do continuously. In that case, I usually assume 50W less, so I’ll treat it as a 450 Watter.
Load Testing
Test 1 (118.41W Load – Cold)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V | 4.82A | 12.04V | 29.4mV |
| 5V | 5.08A | 5.08V | 14.2mV |
| 3.3V | 4.08A | 3.38V | 29.0mV |
| −12V | 0A | −11.96V | 16.0mV |
| 5Vsb | 0A | 5.08V | 5.0mV |
| AC Power | 149.97W | ||
| Efficiency | 78.96% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.61 | ||
Test 2 (199.43W Load – Cold)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V | 9.58A | 11.98V | 37.4mV |
| 5V | 10.06A | 5.03V | 16.6mV |
| 3.3V | 10.15A | 3.35V | 26.4mV |
| −12V | 0.1A | −12.04V | 35.4mV |
| 5Vsb | 1A | 5.02V | 14.2mV |
| AC Power | 257.29W | ||
| Efficiency | 77.51% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.59 | ||
Test 3 (253.72W Load – Cold)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V | 14.22A | 11.85V | 42.0mV |
| 5V | 10.12A | 5.06V | 19.6mV |
| 3.3V | 10.15A | 3.35V | 25.8mV |
| −12V | 0.1A | −12.23V | 44.0mV |
| 5Vsb | 1.01A | 5.03V | 13.2mV |
| AC Power | 321.36W | ||
| Efficiency | 78.95% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.6 | ||
Test 4 (307.53W Load – Cold)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V | 16.65A | 11.89V | 59.2mV |
| 5V | 15.06A | 5.02V | 22.6mV |
| 3.3V | 10.15A | 3.35V | 25.2mV |
| −12V | 0.1A | −12.54V | 53.4mV |
| 5Vsb | 1.01A | 5.03V | 13.0mV |
| AC Power | 388.31W | ||
| Efficiency | 79.20% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.6 | ||
Test 5 (357.76W Load – Cold)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V | 21.1A | 11.72V | 71.0mV |
| 5V | 15.15A | 5.05V | 27.0mV |
| 3.3V | 10.15A | 3.35V | 25.6mV |
| −12V | 0.11A | −12.81V | 64.4mV |
| 5Vsb | 1.00A | 5.02V | 13.8mV |
| AC Power | 470.71W | ||
| Efficiency | 76.00% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.6 | ||
The performance was OK. Not fantastic, but OK. The voltages and ripple did stay within spec, but it doesn’t seem to like being loaded too much on the 12V rail. We can see that even in tests 2 and 4, when that 5V and 12V rails were loaded almost equally, that the 5V was slightly over and the 12V slightly under. The ripple and noise was OK as well, but still not overly impressive. The efficiency was interesting. Usually, it will peak at about 50% load, but here, it started at 78.96%, dropped a bit for test 2, climbed a bit for test 3, climbed a bit more for test 4 and then nose-dived to 76% for test 5. I attempted to increase the load to about 400W for a 6th test, but less than a minute later we got fireworks.
| Rail | Test 3 (258.22W) | Test 4 (314.25W) |
| 12V |  |
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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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A Look Inside
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Now there’s a familiar sight. It looks almost identical to the Sun Pro ATX-550W, so this one is clearly made by Sun Pro. The input filtering consists of two X capacitors, two common-mode chokes and three ceramic capacitors, although unlike its Sun Pro branded cousin, it doesn’t have any MOVs. The four diodes are 3A, as opposed to 2A in it’s cousin. The switching transistors here are two Sino Microelectronics D13009K transistors. They are rated for the same 12A as the D340Xs used in the ATX-550W. The primary capacitors are 470μF parts from Canicon, although deciding whether I’d prefer Canicon or Jee is like deciding whether I’d like to be stabbed or shot.
Moving on to the secondary side, we can see that the rectifiers used are of the same capacity as those on the Sun Pro ATX-550W, although some are from different manufacturers. The 12V has an STPR1620CT Fast recovery rectifier rated at 16A. The 5V rail uses a MOSPEC S30D40C Schottky rectifier rated at 30A. I’d love to see that delivering 50A. On the 3.3V rail, an S20C45C schottky rectifier rated at 20A is used. The capacitors used are mostly Sapcon, except for the one in charge of filtering the 12V rail, which is from the dreaded Fuhjyyu.
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This unit also uses a Te Bao Metallic Plastics fan. This fan sounds much louder than the one used in the Sun Pro, which is odd since they both have the same part number, but also alarming since the ATX-550W was loud enough, although this is probably why it was able to deliver a bit more power and why the capacitors are still alive.
Actual specifications
| Real Wattage | 350W |
| OEM | Sun Pro |
| PFC | None |
| Price | $30 (AUD) |
| ATX Connector type | 20+4 pin |
| Worst-case voltage regulation (12v, 5v, 3.3v) | 2.3%, 1.6%, 2.4% |
| Worst-case ripple (12v, 5v, 3.3v) | 71.0mV, 27.0mV, 29.0mV |
| Worst-case efficiency | 76.00% |
| Input filtering | Inadequate |
| CPU Connector | ATX12v (4 pin) |
| PCI-E Connectors | None |
| Molex (Peripheral) Connectors | 1 |
| FDD Power connectors | 1 |
| SATA Power connectors | 4 |
Conclusions
Pros: Good voltage regulation, good ripple suppression
Cons: Can’t even deliver 400W, low quality capacitors and fan, only 1 peripheral connector, very noisy
Bottom Line: The performance isn’t too bad at lower loads, but it only has 1 peripheral connector and it’s very noisy.
Score: 4/10
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