X-bit labs

ATX Power Supply Units Roundup: 9 Powerful Models Tested (page 14)

Category: Other

by Oleg Artamonov

[ 02/28/2006 | 10:46 PM ]

SilverStone Zeus ST65ZF (ENS-0565) (650W)

The PSU from SilverStone – this manufacturer makes a debut in our tests, by the way – is impressive with its very appearance. It is simply big. The standard ATX unit has a length of 140 millimeters, but this one, 180 millimeters.

This is also the single power supply in this review to be cooled with an 80mm fan:

The huge and massive heatsinks dominate the inside of the case, but the circuit design is rather standard: active PFC, group voltage regulation, and a +12V rail “virtually” split in four lines with varying allowable currents.

The components are placed densely, some on separate cards (you can see the voltages and currents supervisor card in the snapshot above). I have no complaints about the assembly quality – everything is very neat here.

The declared parameters of this model are typical of a high-wattage ATX12V 2.0 model. However, if you compare it with the FSP Epsilon, you will note the lack of an output power reserve on particular lines. In order to get all the 650 watts from this PSU you have to put the maximum load on all the available power rails, while the Epsilon gives enough freedom in re-distributing the load between the 5V and 12V lines even at the maximum output power.