Silver Power Blue Lightning 600W
by Christoph Katzer on August 27, 2007 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Introduction
Most of our readers are probably not familiar with the company Silver Power, which is no surprise considering that this is a new brand name primarily targeting the European market. However, the parent company of Silver Power is anything but new and has been manufacturing a variety of power supplies for many years. MaxPoint is headquartered in Hamburg Germany and they have ties to several other brands of power supplies, the most notable being Tagan.
The Tagan brand was established to focus more on the high-end gamers and enthusiasts, where quality is the primary concern and price isn't necessarily a limiting factor. Silver Power takes a slightly different route, expanding the product portfolio into the more cost-conscious markets. Having diverse product lines that target different market segments is often beneficial for a company, though of course the real question is whether or not Silver Power can deliver good quality for a reduced price.
We were sent their latest model, the SP-600 A2C "Blue Lightning" 600W, power supply for testing. This PSU delivers 24A on the 3.3V rail and 30A on the 5V rail, which is pretty average for a 600W power supply. In keeping with the latest power supply guidelines, the 12V power is delivered on two rails each capable of providing up to 22A. However, that's the maximum power each 12V rail can deliver; the total combined power capable of being delivered on the 3.3V, 5V, and 12V rails is 585W, and it's not clear exactly how much of that can come from the 12V rails which are each theoretically capable of delivering up to 264W each.
Most of our readers are probably not familiar with the company Silver Power, which is no surprise considering that this is a new brand name primarily targeting the European market. However, the parent company of Silver Power is anything but new and has been manufacturing a variety of power supplies for many years. MaxPoint is headquartered in Hamburg Germany and they have ties to several other brands of power supplies, the most notable being Tagan.
The Tagan brand was established to focus more on the high-end gamers and enthusiasts, where quality is the primary concern and price isn't necessarily a limiting factor. Silver Power takes a slightly different route, expanding the product portfolio into the more cost-conscious markets. Having diverse product lines that target different market segments is often beneficial for a company, though of course the real question is whether or not Silver Power can deliver good quality for a reduced price.
We were sent their latest model, the SP-600 A2C "Blue Lightning" 600W, power supply for testing. This PSU delivers 24A on the 3.3V rail and 30A on the 5V rail, which is pretty average for a 600W power supply. In keeping with the latest power supply guidelines, the 12V power is delivered on two rails each capable of providing up to 22A. However, that's the maximum power each 12V rail can deliver; the total combined power capable of being delivered on the 3.3V, 5V, and 12V rails is 585W, and it's not clear exactly how much of that can come from the 12V rails which are each theoretically capable of delivering up to 264W each.
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33 Comments
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Samus - Monday, August 27, 2007 - link
It appears that a log of people on newegg have this PSU fail after a few months. Now before we get into newegg consumer feedback 'reliability' :) there are a few people who've had these fail, not just one or two.I'm ganna give it a shot anyway. Should work well with my DFI Infinity 975 board, being EPS12v and all.
Slaimus - Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - link
Knowing it is an Apex-built power supply took most of the wind out of its sails. Apex, also known as L&C and Deer, has made some of the most unreliable power supplies ever.This seems to be one of their better efforts, but reliability will always be a concern with this company.
mindless1 - Thursday, August 30, 2007 - link
SMPS tech is reasonably mature beyond present tweaking a bit for higher efficiency, more 12V current, and these without cost rising out of control.Point being, Apex (actually better known as Foxconn or Hon Hai) can easily build quality PSU, it is not inability it is the choice of product placement and construction cost that results in some of the junk we've all seen.
As for reliability, there is a problem as always that you hear of someone with a failed PSU but no autopsy most of the time. No disrespect meant to reviewers, but over the years I can't could how many times a product seemed good at first glance, and second glance (a review period), but later a fault compromised the lifespan. A review of one unit can't take forever, it is going to be inherantly limited in scope, but still must be seen as a way to disqualify products more than qualify them for long term use.