The Single 12V Rail SilverStone Olympia OP650
by Christoph Katzer on July 13, 2007 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Final Words
Compared to former power supplies from Silverstone we can say that the company made an aggressive but logical step forward. With 650 watt it is one of the higher performing power supplies and therefore not suiting every users needs. With an efficiency of over 80% at lower loads (with 230VAC) it could run a decent medium class PC without wasting too much energy.
Due to the increasing temperature of our tests, we saw the voltages drop, especially on the lower voltage rails. The chosen high-end components have been a good fit for the most part but heat is still an issue. The new crew of engineers has come up with a good PCB design as well. From the high overall quality, one can literally see the robots installing these components.
The heatsinks have a very clever shape to let much air through to the PCB to cool down most of the components where they stand. They have a decent thickness as well which allows for a lot of heat conduction. The temperature of the heatsinks was average but we have seen colder ones. As for fan speed, the produced noise level was not the best result we could have hoped for, but it seems to be necessary to cool down the power supply to keep it working properly. We would love to see Silverstone take a second look at the fan speed and adjustments. The sound issue shouldn't be a real problem for most users who chose this PSU, as they will not be able to load the PSU anywhere near 80%. Not many people will ever hear this power supply with full load.
Protection features work fine in this model. The power supply correctly shuts down with any potential threat to its life such as over current or over power. Our short circuit test on each line during different loading stages had a positive outcome too with no damage to our unit.
In case of efficiency the OP650 has surprised us in a good way. At 230VAC it reached 80% efficiency with the impressively low load of 20%. At a medium load we saw an impressive 83% efficiency which held on until our highest load tests. At the lowest input of 115VAC we could only reach an efficiency of 81% which is still a very good result. In case of standby efficiency we measured just about 1.19W at 115VAC and 1.7W at 230VAC which is not a very high energy loss: exactly what we would like to see.
The price of the OP650 is just about $160 in the United States and around 139€ in Europe which is a reasonable price for a 650W power supply. It is a good price for the quality and performance this power supply brings to the table.
The build quality of the Olympia series is unmatched from other series of Silverstone PSUs which makes it the highest performer the company offers. We are looking forward where this leads in the future and what power supplies Silverstone will put out next.
Compared to former power supplies from Silverstone we can say that the company made an aggressive but logical step forward. With 650 watt it is one of the higher performing power supplies and therefore not suiting every users needs. With an efficiency of over 80% at lower loads (with 230VAC) it could run a decent medium class PC without wasting too much energy.
Due to the increasing temperature of our tests, we saw the voltages drop, especially on the lower voltage rails. The chosen high-end components have been a good fit for the most part but heat is still an issue. The new crew of engineers has come up with a good PCB design as well. From the high overall quality, one can literally see the robots installing these components.
The heatsinks have a very clever shape to let much air through to the PCB to cool down most of the components where they stand. They have a decent thickness as well which allows for a lot of heat conduction. The temperature of the heatsinks was average but we have seen colder ones. As for fan speed, the produced noise level was not the best result we could have hoped for, but it seems to be necessary to cool down the power supply to keep it working properly. We would love to see Silverstone take a second look at the fan speed and adjustments. The sound issue shouldn't be a real problem for most users who chose this PSU, as they will not be able to load the PSU anywhere near 80%. Not many people will ever hear this power supply with full load.
Protection features work fine in this model. The power supply correctly shuts down with any potential threat to its life such as over current or over power. Our short circuit test on each line during different loading stages had a positive outcome too with no damage to our unit.
In case of efficiency the OP650 has surprised us in a good way. At 230VAC it reached 80% efficiency with the impressively low load of 20%. At a medium load we saw an impressive 83% efficiency which held on until our highest load tests. At the lowest input of 115VAC we could only reach an efficiency of 81% which is still a very good result. In case of standby efficiency we measured just about 1.19W at 115VAC and 1.7W at 230VAC which is not a very high energy loss: exactly what we would like to see.
The price of the OP650 is just about $160 in the United States and around 139€ in Europe which is a reasonable price for a 650W power supply. It is a good price for the quality and performance this power supply brings to the table.
The build quality of the Olympia series is unmatched from other series of Silverstone PSUs which makes it the highest performer the company offers. We are looking forward where this leads in the future and what power supplies Silverstone will put out next.
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46 Comments
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meeshu - Thursday, July 19, 2007 - link
I would have liked to have seen results of ripple tests, regardless of whether they are within spec or not.Piyono - Sunday, July 15, 2007 - link
As your power supply testing methodology continues to evolve do you see yourself retesting previously reviewed units, if necessary? My concern is that all test results should be directly comparable between all reviewed units.Thanks,
Piyono
Christoph Katzer - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
If it's possible (a matter of time) we will do it.Piyono - Sunday, July 15, 2007 - link
Very good first PS review.As an audio guy I feel it's necessary to point out that the *frequency* of the sound generated by a fan has a lot to do with how loud / annoying we might perceive it to be. The human ear, as we know, is not linear and is more sensitive at some frequencies than at others (for those unfamiliar with the concept, Google "Fletcher Munson equal loudness curve" or try the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher-Munson_curve...">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher-Munson_curve...]Wikipedia entry[/url]).
For example, given two fans outputting 40dBSPL, one generating a tone centered at 1KHz will be far more annoying than one with a fundamental of 600Hz, simply because the ear is particularly sensitive around 1KHz, and less so at 600Hz.
Given the quality of your audio test equipment (great choice on the MG mic & pre, BTW) you can easily create an accurate frequency plot of the PS's audio output. Perhaps you could include these frequency plots in future reviews, along with sample recordings of the actual fan noise.
Just a thought.
I've been waiting a long time for a review site to pick up some chroma gear and put out consistent PS reviews. Kudos!
Piyono
mindless1 - Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - link
It can be problematic picking a high wattage PSU based on fan noise frequency. It is actually better to have a higher fan frequency for PSU lifespan, because that higher frequency is typically caused by use of ball bearings instead of sleeve bearing, which is much more reliable in a horizontally mounted PSU fan.If the noise is important I suggest you use a system that doesn't consume much power and has the older rearward facing fan (being a quality sleeve bearing, brand like Papst or Panaflo).
Christoph Katzer - Sunday, July 15, 2007 - link
Thanks, actually we are still working on the audio-equipment. When it's ready we will have quite some data to show.Piyono - Sunday, July 15, 2007 - link
Hey, that's good to know.I'm eager to see how this develops!
Piyono
xsilver - Saturday, July 14, 2007 - link
do silverstone manufacture this psu themselves or do they subcontract it to an OEM company like etasis?im most intrigued because they make the ZF series of psu's which have a dual PCB design
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/atx...">http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/atx...
this review tells of how this is one of the very few psu's to actually have true independent voltage regulation; not sure how that has any real world effect but it at least looks like one of the most jam packed psu's i've ever seen.
Operandi - Saturday, July 14, 2007 - link
A good PSU review the proper way isn't an easy thing but it looks like you guys have an excellent handle on it, great work.maluckey - Saturday, July 14, 2007 - link
I noticed that the secondary heatsink temperature reached 90 degrees during testing. I've never been a fan of Teapo capacitors, and I suspect (though not stated in the article) that the caps on this PSU are NOT 105 C. caps. This means that given time, the degradation can be significant and the MTBF will rise accordingly. Can anyone justify 170 doolars a new PSU every couple of years? Especially when 35 dollars in better caps would change all that. It would basically future-proof your purchase, though the manufacturer would have to raise the price accordingly as they are not in the business of charity.I forsee this happening as soon as the majority of home users expect more from a PSU than a shiny case or blinky lights and a wildly opptimistic output rating.