X-bit labs

ATX Power Supply Units Roundup. Part VIII (page 6)

Category: Other

by Oleg Artamonov

[ 12/11/2007 | 10:04 AM ]

The new high-wattage power supplies from FSP Group’s Epsilon series didn’t perform quite well in my earlier tests, but the FSP400-60GLN is good in this respect. Its voltages deflect more than 5% only at greatly misbalanced loads. The +12V voltage is good, sagging no more than 2% below the nominal value even at max load.

The PSU is cooled by a Yate Loon D12SH-12 fan that has a rated speed of 2200rpm. This firm’s fans have earned a reputation of inexpensive midrange models. You can get a very quiet or a somewhat noisy sample depending on your luck.

Like in other HLN/GLN series units, this model has a strictly linear fan speed regulation without a minimum threshold (i.e. the PSU doesn’t have a range of loads at which the fan speed remains constant). Although the fan starts out from a low 930rpm, it then accelerates quite greatly, making the PSU average in terms of noisiness. Many users are going to be perfectly satisfied with it in this respect, though.

The PSU efficiency is good, being over 80% throughout most of the load range. The power factor is 0.95 on average.

So, the OEM version of the FSP400-60GLN is a good-quality power supply with stable parameters. However, its limited selection of connectors doesn’t make it suitable for PCs with top-end graphics cards or HDD arrays – you’d have to use a lot of adapters or your soldering iron to power such a configuration up. If neither is acceptable to you, you should look at the boxed versions of FSP power supplies (e.g. at the BlueStorm II which is based on the FSP400-60GLN) or at other manufacturers’ products.

I guess there is a user category that may be interested in this particular model, though. The FSP400-60GLN is one of the cheapest PSUs with active PFC selling in retail. If you live in a rural area with an unstable electricity supply, the PSU will come in handy because, unlike other models, it can easily work in such a power grid without UPSes or voltage stabilizers.