PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W
by Martin Kaffei on May 19, 2012 2:05 PM ESTPC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W
The Silencer series is well known in the enthusiast community, but you rarely see reviews of the small models. The Mk III version we review today doesn't look anything like many other PSUs we know from PC Power & Cooling. It comes in a white case with some black elements as well and provides removable cables. 400W is still plenty even for a midrange system, and with optimal efficiency generally coming at 50% load this is a power supply that should run closer to its "sweet spot" when idle as well as under load. There's still enough power on top to run a Core i7 or Phenom X6 processor and a discrete GPU.
Like any decent modern power supply the Silencer Mk III 400W also carries an 80 Plus certification, this time for the Bronze level. That means the PSU should run at 82% efficiency with a load of 20%, reaching 85% efficiency or more at a load of 50%, and still maintain 82% efficiency at the maximum 400W rated load. This is nothing ground-breaking in 2012, but it does fit perfectly with moderate systems.
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iamkyle - Saturday, May 19, 2012 - link
How about the ability to compare this unit with the other ones that Anandtech has tested.So we can see the differences among units, no?
piroroadkill - Saturday, May 19, 2012 - link
If you want more indepth reviews of PSUs, you should head to http://www.jonnyguru.com/ first.iamkyle - Sunday, May 20, 2012 - link
But that's my point...every other review on Anandtech is very in-depth...except PSU reviews. It's the weakest link in the Anandtech review chain.I just want things to be on par.
ectoplasmosis - Monday, May 21, 2012 - link
Agreed.This review is particularly bad... in scope as well as being very poorly written, with many superfluous and awkwardly-worded sentences.
"A small sticker is within the scope of delivery as well"; what is that supposed to mean? Reads like something an immature student attempting to feign verbosity would write.
This sentence simply doesn't make any sense whatsoever: "The build quality is very good as always, though it seems the converter type is a very common choice these days, especially since the crossload performance is mediocre". Bizarre use of the language.
And describing sound levels as "small fan noise" and "strong fan noise" with no quantitative measurements? Ridiculous, especially for an Anandtech review.
Ditch the reviewer and get someone in that knows what they're doing when it comes to testing and writing about PSUs.
ETPrice - Wednesday, February 27, 2013 - link
This whacky language is the kind of nonsense you can get from some machine translations from a foreign language. Someone may have taken foreign text and run it through a machine that is not up to speed with the complexities of the English language. You also get this kind of nonsense when a non-speaking-English author does a literal word-for-word translation from his or her own language. " It don't work!"The review should have been sent back to the author;i.e., rejected. That's what editors are for.
average_joe - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link
Or http://www.hardocp.com/reviews/psu_power_supplies/jabber - Saturday, May 19, 2012 - link
Are baffling. I removed the huge one in my Corsair 750W. I also replaced the leaf blower fan for a low start power 1700rpm one. Works a treat now.plonk420 - Saturday, May 19, 2012 - link
and this company once said that modular was baaaaad. still, i have 4 PCP&C here... :DHomeles - Saturday, May 19, 2012 - link
PCP&C doesn't even exist anymore... they've been bought by OCZ, so this is essentially an OCZ power supply with some PCP&C stickers on it. This particular unit was built by Seasonic though, which was PCP&C's original OEM.Operandi - Saturday, May 19, 2012 - link
OCZ owns them but they still exist, a buudy of mine had to get a RMA for a refurbished Silencer that turned out to be DOA. PCP&C support is the same as it allwyays was, no holding on line and a real American on the other end as sell as a RMA number with minimal hassel.Product lines remain the same, this is just the continuation of the Silener line which was always OEMd by Seasonic.