In-Win IW-P560A2-0

I would want to begin to describe this PSU, which belongs to the old IW series too, with its accessories. We’ve got a boxed version of this unit as we couldn’t find a system case with it. The other PSUs have an ordinary set of accessories that includes a short manual, a power cord, four screws to fasten the PSU in the system case, and a 24-20 adapter for older mainboards.

The IW-P560A2-0 offers more:

• An adapter from the PSU’s 20-pin connector to the mainboard’s 24-pin connector. The ATX12V 2.0 specification has introduced the 24-pin mainboard connector mainly because of the arrival of the PCI Express x16 slot that can provide up to 75W of power to the graphics card across the +12V rail. The older 20-pin connector had only one +12V pin for which such a high load could be dangerous. The pin could burn away, provoking failures in operation of the computer or even damaging the mainboard (the pins could get as hot as to melt the plastic of the connector). The new 24-pin connector has two +12V pins that provide a combined current up to 8-10A without any risk of burning (one pin provides a current up to 6A whereas each additional pin adds up about 50% to that value, i.e. about 3A in this case). But here, the PSU has a 20-pin connector with one +12V pin and offers an adapter to parallel it for the two pins of the mainboard connector. What will happen if you connect a mainboard with high consumption from the +12V rail to this PSU via the adapter? Much the same thing! The pins will overheat and burn away, making the system unstable. The only difference is that it is the adapter, not the mainboard connector, that will burn. Moreover, the adapter brings about one more connection into the circuit whose additional resistance will reduce the stability of the output voltages. I can’t explain why In-Win couldn’t have equipped its top model – it has the highest wattage among the reviewed ones – with a regular 24-pin connector.
• An adapter from a 4-pin CPU power connector to an 8-pin one. It’s the same story as with the 20-24 adapter. The 8-pin connector is used where the load is above the capacity of the 4-pin one, i.e. in servers, in systems with top-end processors (especially with the Pentium Extreme Edition with its immodest power draw). Here, the PSU already offers a 4-pin connector with an allowable current of 10A, i.e. 120W. Adapters like the one enclosed with the PSU may only be required on mainboards that demand an 8-pin connector irrespective of the CPU installed. For such cases, however, 8-pin PSU connectors that can be split into two 4-pin halves have long been introduced – they help you do without any adapters.
• An adapter from a Molex connector to two SATA power connectors. It seems a thing of the past, too. Nearly every modern power supply, even much cheaper models than the IW-P560A2-0, has at least one or two native SATA connectors. Expensive models offer you as many as five or six such connectors.

• And finally, there is an adapter from one Molex to a graphics card power connector. I guess you don’t need a comment to the photograph. Do not try to attach it to your Radeon X1950 XTX unless you are fond of the smell of burning insulation.

With all these accessories, the text on the box, “New Generation of Power Supplies,” can provoke nothing but a good laugh.

The PSU itself is an ordinary gray box cooled with two fans.

It resembles the above-tested IW-P430J2-0 internally, although is more densely packed. The regulator is based on an SG6105D chip, too.

The heatsinks are larger in comparison with the previous PSU model and this creates the impression of higher component density. There have also appeared an upright-standing card with various small components (particularly, with a fan speed controller) and a card with a line filter that is soldered right on the input 220VAC connector. The main components of the PSU are identical to those of the previous model, though.