PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W
by Martin Kaffei on May 19, 2012 2:05 PM ESTDelivery Contents, Power Rating and Fan
The delivery content is very generous and includes the modular connectors in a separate bag. In addition to the power cord and a set of screws, several cable ties are also included, along with the standard installation manual. A small sticker is included as well. The Silencer Mk III series comes with a 5-year warranty—more than expected in this price range.
The +3.3V and +5V rails are rated somewhat lower than we're used to, but there's nothing to worry about since modern systems don't place a huge load on these rails anymore. The +12V rail is rated at 30A, which means you can pull up to 360W—almost the full power. All Mk III power supplies use a single strong +12V rail instead of separate +12V outputs.
The ADDA fan with the model number AD1212MB-A70GL is a ball bearing type. It's a 120mm sized fan with seven fan blades. Nearly half of the cooling intake is blocked by an air guidance foil. PC Power & Cooling tries to guide the down flowing air stream out through the ventilation holes, so no turbulence from additional down streaming air should occur near the EMI-filtering components. This sounds plausible in theory, but practically it is a massive restriction of the cooling potential of the fan. When such a large area is covered, it should be in question why such large fan is used at all.
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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.