Cooler Master Silent Pro M1000 1000W
by Martin Kaffei on September 5, 2010 10:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- PSUs
- 80Plus
- Cooler Master
- Silent Pro
Interior/Design
The distinctive protective foil on the input will clue some readersin: the electronics are manufactured by FSP. Notwithstanding the ODM, the configuration depends on what Cooler Master asks for, and this area shows some decent expenditures.
The EMI filtering consists of four Y- and four X-capacitors. Additionally two common mode chokes can be found, as well as a ferrite core, which is wrapped by phase and neutral cord. In contrast to many PSUs two linear chokes are used to compensate differential mode interferences. Not least we find an MOV. The power switch has been insulated with shrink tubing as it’s relatively close to the main PCB, but the highlight is neither the input-side filter nor the abundantly measured 680 µF filtering capacitor by Nippon-Chemicon (KMR, 105°C for 2000 hours until 20% of the capacity will be lost).
On the secondary circuit, where temperatures rise and space is scarce, high quality capacitors are used. We sometimes have discussed the usefulness of Japanese capacitors. When they are used sensibly in a high-end PSU, the choice will be a welcome one, and Cooler Master uses a good choice of Rubycon along with Nippon-Chemicon capacitors. This shows that Cooler Master doesn’t want to use the primary capacitor as an eye catcher and stint on the secondary side, but also uses high-grade parts there.
On +12V the Rubycon MBZ-series are used, which can be found on many motherboards but seem to harmonize quite well in power supplies. These are characterized by a low ESR (resistance), which resembles the losses in the capacitor. So low-ESR capacitors contribute their part to the general efficiency. On +3.3V and +5V mainly the YXG-model is used, which can take high ripple current and is specified for a lifespan of 6000 hours at 105°C. That are respectable qualities, which not only refer to these special components.
We often have pointed out that the weakest part limits the performance of the whole PSU and the quality of the capacitors is not the only feature that matters. The well-dimensioned rectifier bridges suit the well-dimensioned main capacitor and the EMI filtering suits the secondary setup. External as well as internal interferences are compensated by large filtering stages. Not least a Silicon Touch protection-IC is used, which offers OTP besides the usual functions and isn’t very common. Two measuring diodes check the temperature of the secondary heat sink and control the fan speed or shut down the PSU before the temperature gets too high.
But of course, good capacitors have their right to exist as well. Besides the quality, the number and presence of capacity is crucial to improving the voltage quality. On the cable management PCB, whose cables and connectors are soldered well, additional Nippon-Chemicon capacitors are smoothing the output voltage. We will see whether this can be noticed in our further measurements. The only point of criticism is a slightly loose PFC-choke as a point of hot glue was not set precisely enough.
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pg55555 - Sunday, September 5, 2010 - link
Your main complain is noise, but your table indicates 20dB up to 50% load, 22dB at 80% and you complain because it becomes louder (35dB) when you overload??Form a table I got from other site:
TYPICAL SOUND LEVELS
Jet takeoff (200 feet) 120 dBA
Construction Site 110 dBA Intolerable
Shout (5 feet) 100 dBA
Heavy truck (50 feet) 90 dBA Very noisy
Urban street 80 dBA
Automobile interior 70 dBA Noisy
Normal conversation (3 feet) 60 dBA
Office, classroom 50 dBA Moderate
Living room 40 dBA
Bedroom at night 30 dBA Quiet
Broadcast studio 20 dBA
Rustling leaves 10 dBA Barely audible
So you are saying it is louder than expected because its sound level - up to more than 50% load (this is 500W what would require an i7 920 OC at 4.0 GZ with an HD5970) - is similar to a Broadcast studio?
cactusdog - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
Its loud compared to the manufacturer's claim of silence. There are plenty of PSU's that are silent. They should have called it the "CoolerMaster Nearly Silent Pro"cactusdog - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
My experience with fans is 20dB is just audible in a quiet room. 22dB(80% load) is clearly audible so it cant claim to be silent.7Enigma - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
You also have to remember that different frequencies of sound are perceived differently to the human ear. There can be some very annoying quiet sounds (high frequency can be horrible), while some loud sounds (especially low frequency) can't even be perceived. Take your home theater sub; below about 15-20Hz can no longer be heard, but can be physically felt.When calibrating my SVS PV-10 with a single tone drop from 150-0Hz it got to a point where I heard nothing but the walls were shaking. Really creepy and cool at the same time. I'm kind of shocked more horror movies don't put some odd inaudible noises in just to make your house moan. :)
sonicology - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
Another 1000W PSU is great for those running overclocked hex-core quad SLI set-ups, however what I would really like and what nobody seems to offer is an 80 Plus Gold or Platinum 300W PSU that runs near enough silent.I guess consumers only care about huge wattage ratings that they don't even come close to using whilst the quality low watt PSUs go to the large OEMs?
7Enigma - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
You're just not going to find a 300w quality supply. 400-500 yes and that is where I normally shop, but everything does tend now to be above that range.And as for your second statement, quality OEM PSU's? Thanks for the laugh.....:)
Sabresiberian - Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - link
Actually, this PSU wouldn't work for hex-core quad SLI. Oh, there might be 4 SLI capable video cards that it could power, but I highly doubt it.There really is use for the high end PSUs. Consider the person who installs 2 Geforce 480s in SLI. That person needs 42A for each card for a total of 84A, which automatically makes this PSU unsuitable, because it is rated to supply a maximum of 80A @ 12V, and that's not including anything else that runs on 12V. A person considering 2 480s in SLI needs to consider a 1200W PSU, and needs to pay close attention to the rails on the one he/she buys, so that each the cards don't try to draw more power from a rail than it is rated to supply.
The fact is, Anandtech rates lower power PSUs on as regular a basis as much as they do the higher end units. True, I haven't seen them rate any 300W PSUs in quite awhile, but it takes very little these days to need more than that, considering modern CPUs and video cards (the CPU alone would take up 1/3 to 1/2 the power). Anandtech was started as and I think still is primarily a site for enthusiasts, and there aren't many people who are going to build with a 300W PSU.
Maybe there's some apps for them though; HTPC? Still, it seems to me that a suggestion could be made in a positive tone rather than one that bashes people for being interested in the high end market.
Consider too, that review sites often tell us about the products that manufacturers send them for evaluation, and manufacturers send flagship models. What the manufacturer tends to think is if you read a good review about their top end PSU, you'll buy a lower end unit thinking it's built with the same care. Unfortunately, that's often not the case, especially with PSUs, so your point is quite valid, they should be tested on their own.
r3quiem - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - link
You clearly have no Idea what you are taking about in regards to the GTX 480's in SLI. The maximum powerdraw of a single GTX 480 is 250 watts / 12V rail = 21A not 42A. Now Two GTX 480's in SLI would use a Total Max of 42A there by saturating slightly more than 50% of the 12V Rail.Now if you look the CPU side even the power hungry Hexa Core i7-990X is rated at 130 Watt TDP. Doing some simple match 130W / 12V = 10.8 A.
So in total without overclocking we only just used up 63 A out of the available 80A leaving 17A more headroom to play around with overclocking as you need it. And that's only if everything is working at 100% load which isn't a likely scenario unless you are running multiple benchmarks at a time.
7Enigma - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
Article seems a bit odd without any introduction, just jumping right into the contents of the product. Me thinks a page is missing!Martin Kaffei - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
Sry, you're right. Fixed!I agree with cactusdog. Of course we have seen worse results. But in this case, the manufacturer is using the word "Silent" in his name. So it shouldn't be louder than the smaller Silent Pro, which are very quiet.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2613/8