Topic: Power Supplies
Product: Seasonic S12 - 430
Supplier: Seasonic
Date: December 28, 2004
Reviewer: K. Elliott

Things are pretty well nestled in the box and as you can see their is not much room since they do provide an AC power cord as well mounting screws for mounting the power supply. 

The first thing you will notice when you remove the S12 - 430 from its protective bubble-wrap sleeve is the high-quality gloss-black paint finish on the case.  Having reviewed numerous Seasonic power supplies in the past one thing you can always be certain of is that the finish of the product will be immaculate. The paint finish on the case is so good in fact they even go to the trouble of painting the inside of the case, which in my opinion is a perfect touch to great looking case.

The next thing to catch your eye will be the massive 120mm fan that that take up the entire bottom of the power supply, yes it is on the bottom - the power supply has been turned over for the photograph.  Seasonic has found that by using a single 120mm fan in conjunction with their Ultra Ventilation System which uses their patented Honey Comb Structure they are able to produce 40 CFM at 1500 RPM, where a 80mm at 2500 RPM only produced 20 CFM.  So you can see the 120mm fan greatly increase the airflow through the power supply allowing it to operate far cooler than most power supplies on the market.

The Honey Comb Structure is worth taking closer look at, as you can see by the picture it offers a far better solution for cooling the entire power supply than those other brand of supplies that uses slits or punched out mini holes in an attempt to get air inside their case. The thin interconnecting material that runs from one cell to the next offers the bare minimal amount of material needed to keep things tucked inside and still maintain a vertical and horizontal stiffness.

Internally we find the S12 - 430 has two nice sized heatsinks that run the width of the power supply, these heatsinks are used to remove excessive heat away from the switching circuitry, power transistors and the voltage regulator of power supply. These two items are key the success of of any power supply staying cooling and for the longevity of its components.

Here we can see the 120mm fan that is used to both cool the power supply as well as remove warm air from the computer case.  During our testing the noise level of this fan was barely audible so it should make those of you that are hoping for a noise free PC very happy.

The other connector shown, is a the pigtail connector that allows you to connect two case fans to the S12 - 430 power supply so whereby the Smart & Silent Fan Control, controls the speed of these fans as well as the speed of the 120mm fan in the power supply.

 

For as long as I can remember Seasonic has been providing a package called Dr. Hardware, which containing split tubing, cable mounts and cable ties.  This package makes the often messy job of cable management far easier and the end result far more eye-appealing to the user.

 

S2FC

The Smart & Silent Fan Controller is a feature that has been in incorporated in a number of Seasonic power supplies for quite some time now but it is still worth mentioning. Some people think of it as nothing more than a glorified thermal fan control, but if you take a close look at the chart below you can tell immediately that it goes far beyond that.

The normal power supply begins a steady progression from start to max speed at a very steep incline and never vary no matter what the load on the power supply is. In other words it never adapts to its surrounds or what's going on in the system.
 

click to enlarge

The S2FC on the hand maintain a constant minimum speed versus noise relationship 30% - 35% - 40% load before it begins to gradually curve upward towards maximum speed and noise. Now which would you rather have - a power supply that's loud all the time, or one that's smart enough to know when to be quite?