Let's start off by providing a complete list of the components
that we will be using in our test setup.
To try and place the greatest load possible on the our system
while we measured the voltages of the SP1000E using our Fluke 180 Series V
multimeter. One nice feature of the Fluke is the Min/Max record feature
the meter has, whereby you can clamp a lead on to say 12-volt line and it will
read the lowest voltage as well as the highest voltage all the way through the
test.
The first part of staged test was
to burn 3.5GB file from Drive D: to Drive E: using Nero Burning ROM from the
Nero 7 Premium Suite. The second stage of our test was use the Burn-in
test from Sisoft Sandra with a setting of high processor utilization and the
final stage was to run PiFast 128meg setting.
What we wanted to do was get a voltage
measurement with the system at idle, then another at 50% load or as close to
that as we could get and finally one at 100% load. After running our test
for 35 minutes here are the numbers we came up with. By the way if the
35-minute number seems odd, that is the amount of time it took to check all of
the voltages.
| |
+12V1 |
+12V2 |
+12V3 |
+12V4 |
+12V5 |
+12V6 |
+5V |
+3.3V |
| Idle |
12.23 |
12.23 |
12.24 |
12.24 |
12.23 |
12.24 |
5.09 |
3.35 |
| 50% |
12.21 |
12.21 |
12.21 |
12.20 |
12.22 |
12.21 |
5.02 |
3.33 |
| 100% |
12.14 |
12.14 |
12.09 |
12.07 |
12.05 |
12.05 |
4.99 |
3.33 |
What was very evident was how the speed of the fan increased as the temperature
of the case and power supply went up. With the system running at idle
speed the fan remained at its slowest speed and it was not until we increased
the load to about 30% did we begin to notice a huge increase in fan speed.
Looking at the report included with the power supply when they tested it the
power supply was putting out 200 watts and the fan voltage was 5.9 volts @ 2113
rpm. As they increased their current output the fan voltage increased
proportionally. At 600 watt output the fan voltage was recorded at 8.15 volts
and the speed at 2830. Then looking at the 1000 watts output which we have
no means of duplicating the fan voltage was 10.60 volts @ 3468 rpm.
The Tagan SP-1000E GuardianX is a perfect example of what a high-end power
supply should look like. For starters the company is good enough to
provide you with a record showing you exactly how well you power supply
performed. The other thing this says is they go to the trouble of checking
each and every one of these power supplies and that alone takes a great deal of
time I'm sure.
Now you might be asking why they opted for a single 80mm fan as opposed to a
single 120mm fan. I happened to find this explanation on one of their
competitors web sites.
"However, problems occur with this design when the load exceeds 50%-60%.
Because the 120mm fan consumes about 1.5” of vertical space inside the PSU, heat
sinks, capacitors, and other components are about 30% smaller in height compared
to a PSU with a rear-mounted fan. The smaller parts can handle less current, so
the maximum power available with the 120mm design is limited. And, because the
heat sinks have less surface area, more air flow is needed with this design to
keep the thermal situation under control. With 80%-100% load, the 120’s fan
speed can double and the noise level can jump by up to 20dB.
In conclusion, for systems that require more than 50% of the power supply’s
capacity, a well-engineered PSU with a rear-mounted 80mm fan will provide
superior performance and reliability (due to larger components) at a noise level
comparable to a PSU equipped with a 120mm fan." source
PC
Power and Cooling.
If you are in the market for a monster of a power supply that will keep you
powered for the next few years the Tagan SP-1000E should be near the top of your
list. While my system is pretty power hungry the SP-1000E never let me
down in the 1-month that I have used it.
If any power supply deserves our Award of Excellence it the TAGAN SP-1000E
GUARDIANX with it unique design using six 12-volt rails, tight voltages on
all rails and temperature controlled fan.
A special thanks to Tagan for allowing us to review this product.
