SilenX 600 Watt "IXTREMA PROSeries" PSU Review, We Review our first PSU by SilenX... Options

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Reviewed by: Rodney "SkOrPn" Gray
Reviewed on: September 30th, 2004
Provided by: SilenX Corporation
Price paid: $199.99 USD

SilenX 600 Watt "IXTREMA PROSeries" PSU Review

Introduction

Today we have with us an exciting product. Its not too flashy, it doesn't have glowing fans or look like a UFO and it does not make a lot of noise, but this SilenX 600W PSU has more than enough to offer. Rated at 11.8-14.4dBa, this PSU is the quietest Active-Cooled ATX Power Supply on the market, and I'm not just saying that. At 14 decibels, I had to pick it up and put it to my ear to see if it was actually running! But can a PSU so incredibly quiet be useful? That's what I plan to find out over the next few hours! One thing I would like to point out is at the price of $199.99 plus shipping and handling I find it quite high for the average enthusiast, this alone will keep most peeps from owning such a beast.

Price: 4/5

SilenX was established in 1995 and is located in Santa Fe Springs CA, and have been manufacturing products for a wide range of PC users, including corporations, high security government environments, home users and the extreme enthusiast, like myself... After visiting with the SilenX website I decided to add a few things about the company first. The companies mission statement says what I cant...

"SilenX power supplies are simply the quietest active cooled power supplies on the planet! With a true <14 dBA noise level from 1m, it will blow away any other so-called "silent" power supply on the market today. Zalman? Nexus? Seasonic? There's no comparison. Under load, the difference gets even wider! Thanks to some innovative technologies, SilenX power supplies can not only run quieter than other power supplies out there, but do so with higher efficiency, greater reliability and better stability. All SilenX power supplies feature heat-hardened components designed to run in intense thermal environments and come standard with one of the most efficient fans on the market today. The unique fan blade design along with its high-tech hybrid immersion bearings and silicone composite fan vibration dampening system makes this the only power supply on the market truly aimed for the silencing professional. Used by major recording studios, acoustic laboratories and corporate computing environments, these power supplies are not for those looking for a cheap power supply... this is the real deal."

Power supplies are generally the most overlooked and under appreciated component in your computer, although they are the most important for ensuring stable, long-term operation. Quite simply the "heart" of your system...

Features:
2 x S-ATA Connectors
Active PFC Circuit
High Quality Construction
Extremely Low Noise <14 dBA Fan
Advanced power load based fan control circuitry
600 Watt Output
Meets ATX 2.10 Specs
UL, CE, FCC Compliant
AMD Supported
P4 Supported
Xeon Supported
Opteron Supported
100K Hours @ 25C MTBF
80mm Hypro Bearing Exhaust Fan
Silicone Vibration Dampening Fan Mounts
Short-Circuit Protection on Outputs
Includes 24-pin EPS and 20-pin ATX Connectors
Includes 8-pin 12v and 4-pin P4 Connectors

Specifications:
Dimensions: 150mm x 86mm x 140mm
Device Connections: 8 molex (4-pin), 2 floppy, 2 Serial ATA
Input: 115/230V @ 50/60 Hz
Output: 600W
3.3V - 32.0A
5.0V - 42.0A
12.0V - 36.0A
<5% Load Regulation
<1% Line Regulation
Efficiency: 75% under load
Over Voltage Protection: 3.3V/4V 5V/6V 12V/14V
Over Power Protection: 105%~150% of max load


In-Depth Look

The PSU came packaged in a quite ugly white/orange/blue box and wraped in plastic, although I cant see any reason for having a flashy retail box in the first place. As a consumer I want the money spent on the product, not its packaging. The box apparently a retail box was also in its own shipping box that was filled with that peanut style packing material. My first thought apon lifting it out of its box was "Dang this thing is heavy". They say it weighs six pounds but it sure feels a tad heavier to me... What I should have done was weigh the darn thing before installing it. This is "by far" the heaviest power supply I have ever owned and easily weighs more than both my last PSU's combined...

Warning: Do not mount this thing in a case that simply has mounting screws, your case "MUST" have a shelf for supporting the weight of heavy PSU's... Especially the iXtrema series of PSU's!

Looks ok so far? This thing comes with 8 molex (4-pin), 2 floppy and 2 Serial ATA enough to satisfy the largest of ATX server cases and them some. The main ATX wires are covered with a black sleeving. I particularly like the extra detail to noise reduction with the rubber fan mounts to reduce noise and vibrations as you will see in the following images.

Ok, first thing you should have noticed is that there is no ON/OFF rocker switch? Yes, that's right SilenX has removed the ON/OFF rocker switch for high protection against accidental shut-off in high security environments. Most of us hard core users remove the power cord anyway when working on our systems, I know I do.

The fan a 80mm SilenX Thermistor fan does a "very" nice job of keeping itself unknown by being one of the quietest fans I ever heard, or should I have said NOT heard? And, they feature "Silicone Vibration Dampening Fan Mounts" as you can see by the yellow looking rubber mounts you see in the power supply images.

Features of the SilenX 80mm thermistor fan include:
Fan Swept Forward Fan Blade Design
Smoother, Thinner Fan Blades
Highly Efficient Hypro Bearings
Temperature Controlled Fan Speed
3rd Pin RPM Sensor
Silicone Vibration Isolation Mounts

Specifications of the 80mm thermistor fan:
Fan Dimensions: 80 x 80 x 25mm
Fan Input: 12V/1.2W
Fan Speed: 1400-2200 RPM
Air Flow: 18-28 CFM
Noise Level: 11.8/14.4 dBA

The SilenX iXtrema Power Supplies utilize Power Factor Correction (PFC) for environmentally friendly operation. Power Factor Correction (PFC) allows power distribution to operate at its maximum efficiency. There are two types of PFC, Active PFC and Passive PFC. SilenX 300-450W models utilize Passive PFC and their 520-600W models feature Active PFC. In addition the 520-600W models are specifically designed for dual processor workstation/server use and come with an included EPS/E-ATX connector. Each unit is individually tested and calibrated for optimal stability and performance before being shipped.

The preferable type of PFC is Active Power Factor Correction (Active PFC) since it provides more efficient power frequency. Because Active PFC uses a circuit to correct power factor, Active PFC is able to generate a theoretical power factor of over 95%. Active PFC also markedly diminishes total harmonics, automatically corrects for AC input voltage, and is capable of a full range of input voltage. Since Active PFC is the more complex method of Power Factor Correction, it is more expensive to produce an Active PFC power supply.

The most common type of PFC is Passive Power Factor Correction (Passive PFC). Passive PFC uses a capacitive filter at the AC input to correct poor power factor. Passive PFC may be affected when environmental vibration occurs. Passive PFC requires that the AC input voltage be set manually. Passive PFC also does not use the full energy potential of the AC line. Non-PFC power supplies are no longer recommended and in some countries power supplies are required to have either active or passive PFC.

Now lets take a look at the inside, well as close as I was willing to go anyway. Since this unit was purchased I was not yet willing to open it up (thus voiding the warrantee) to get a closer look, but with the following images you should get a descent enough idea what must be making this thing tick.

Now I cant say I have owned a million power supplies, well maybe, but I have never had one before that had multiple "Circuit Boards" inside. Looking at it as close as I could it appears there is atleast three boards within. Definately getting a lot for your money.

Construction: 5/5


The Installation

Test Rig:
MSI K8N Neo Platinum, nForce3 250Gb
AMD64 3200+ @ 2000Mhz
1Gig Corsair TwinX PC3200 RAM
2 x Maxtors RAID0, 2 x Raptors RAID0
BFG 6800Ultra OC 425/1100
SB Audigy 2 ZS Gamer
Plextor PX-708A Combo
LiteOn 16x DVD Rom

Ok, I had some dificulty installing this thing, at first it didnt want to fit properly, I thought for sure I wasnt doing anything wrong, but it turned out this supply would only fit if the unit was upside down leaving the SilenX "Full Range" sticker looking weird. Once I figured that out installation was a breeze. Again, I would like to remind individuals out there that if you decide to try any of these supplies from SilenX make sure you have a strong case frame to support its weight. This thing gave me a great upper body workout installing it.

Installation: 4/5


The Performance

Test Equipment:
Fluke 11 Multimeter
MSI Bios 1.4 results

Software ran during tests:
SETI 3.08
Colin McRae Rally 04
WMP 10
PowerDVD 5

For comparison I used my current Zalman ZM400B-APS 400 watt PSU. Well, I get ok 3.3v and 5v readings but under load or idle I get low readings on the 12v rail... Below you can see my screen shot of my system taxed to its maximum. I ran SETI, Colin McRae 04, Windows Media PLayer 10 and PowerDVD 5 while taking my voltage readings. WMP was running my favorite country music MP3's (yeah I'm a country boy, what can I say) while PowerDVD was playing the Eddie Murphy movie "The Haunted Mansion". I must say I have never tried that many programs at once before but my system surprisingly handled it ok, no slow downs detected any time during testing. I had hoped to rip and burn the DVD movie but my DVD Software had an error so I gave up on it. EDIT: It turned out to be Data Execution Prevention (DEP) that was causing DVDXCopy to freak out on test night...

Zalman ZM400B-APS PSU results:

Idle using Fluke
3.3v = 3.3
5.0v = 5.08
12v = 11.88

Load using Fluke
3.3v = 3.3
5.0v = 5.03
12v = 11.53

Clearly the Zalman has given up on the 12v rail and could explain some of my previous power issue, such as the NVIDIA drivers popping up an error window stating the video card has been underclocked to protect it from damage from under voltage. I have contacted Zalman about the problem and they have offered to give me a RMA to have it repaired free of charge. Still a very good and very quiet power supply but not as quiet as the SilenX, I assure you.

SilenX 600w iXtrema PSU results:

Idle using Fluke
3.3v = 3.34
5.0v = 5.06
12v = 12.36

Load using Fluke
3.3v = 3.34
5.0v = 5.04
12v = 12.25

Reading in BIOS
3.28v
4.96v
12.03v

Ok after looking closely at these readings I can say with some certainty that the MSI BIOS readings must be inacurate. My Fluke multimeter is high quality and recently calibrated so I would say the multimeter is more acurate than the bios readings. The SilenX looks like it will do its job and do it with power to spare. What was nice to see was the unit barely even flinched when applying a load, but even more impressive was the 3.3v rail didnt budge a bit, no matter what load I put on it it keeps still at 3.34 volts. Its obvious that the rails are either dead on or above what they need to be for both idle and extreme load conditions. Hopefully in the future if I ever decide to do a little overclocking and add some extra hardware I wont have to worry about being under powered anymore.

Performance: 5/5


Conclusion

After putting the iXtrema power supply through what I thought would bring it to it's knees, it has passed with flying colors. What else is there to say? SilenX has a high quality unit put together here, and should be "more" than sufficient to power almost any rig out there. On top of that, it's dead quiet. I thought my Zalman was a quiet PSU, and by any means it is, until I put this thing in my rig. You can't hear it, even with no other fans. In fact, your hard drives will be more noticeable and "much" louder.

Pros:
The SilenX High quality design
Superb across all voltage lines, even under heavy load
Good over-voltage/over-current protection
Active PFC from 95v - 265v
Sleeved main ATX wires
It's quieter than the local library

Cons:
Expensive $199.99 at the time of this writing
Heavy, too heavy for screws alone
Difficulty installing it
Full Range sticker appears upside down

This is the highest quality power supply I have ever had the pleasure own owning. I have no issues recommending it to anyone that has a high performance rig to power up. The performance of the unit was exactly what I had expected and hoped for. It is definitely a few levels up in class from the average power supply found in most systems. And of course, if you feel you need a quiet system, this is an even better buy. I give the SilenX 600w iXtrema Pro power supply our "Best on the Planet" award.

Total Score: 18/20

Please beware of an infringement of trademarks SilenX is involved in. Do not confuse this product with the Ahanix "SilenX" power supply. They are not the same, even though they have a similar 14db sound rating. The SilenX PSUs like the one I reviewed today can only be purchased through their website. I would also like to thank Matt Marco over at www.SilenX.com for answering all my questions and concerns about their product and must say he promptly answered my emails. Thanks Matt...

SilenX Corporation
10606 Shoemaker Ave
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670