| Reviews about the Turbo-Cool 510 AG |  |
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| Turbo-Cool 510 ATX-PFC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ashley Glenn  Wednesday, May 28, 2003 |
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You’ll not find a single site worth their salt that doesn’t remind you of the importance of a good power supply. Generic 250W and 300W power supplies simply don’t cut it anymore, and power quality is just as important as power quantity. To meet with this challenge, companies have been releasing power supplies with technologies and added options that make them one of the most complex components in the system. Power supplies now double as case lighting; have fan speed control, and even offer upwards of 6 fans built in to the unit with some power supplies. No matter what bells and whistles are built into a power supply, none of them mean anything if the internals and construction aren’t up to snuff. There’s one company that has bucked the trend and has not gone on an additive spree. Their power supplies are built around the sound, proven technology they’ve used for years, being refined wisely and without gigantic jumps in options or the addition of questionable and useless frills. In an industry full of modified Honda Civics, this company’s products are the Aston Martins of the power supply industry. The one company that carries this prestige is PC Power & Cooling. PC Power & Cooling carries one of the most extensive lines of power supplies available. From their economy class power supply to their Max-Performance power supplies for multiple CPU and specialty motherboards, PC Power & Cooling has over 30 different power supply models to take care of almost every possible need. In this review, we have the privilege of taking one of their newest and most powerful units to the limits, the Turbo-Cool 510W ATX-PFC. With a peak power output of 650W and line regulation with a tolerance of 1%, this power supply should be able to handle anything we throw at it. Our review unit arrived in a brown box, containing the PSU and all needed accessories. The unit was packed very tightly and securely, with the screws and power cable wrapped separately. While it’s not pictured here out of the wrap, the AC power cable is one of the thickest I’ve ever seen. Considering how powerful this power supply is supposed to be, it’s good to see a cable that is made to handle the throughput.
A brief view of the power supply itself shows one of the least decorous exteriors you’ll find today. There are no colored or brushed aluminum panels, no windows, no second fan, and no lighting strips. A quick look at the back shows a single 80mm fan and a power plug, there’s no voltage selector or power switch. We’ll discuss some of the more common missing items later in this review.
The cabling on the power supply is fairly standard. The ATX, 12V, and PS2 connectors are long enough to be helpful in routing but not too long as to be in the way; anyone using a mid tower or even full tower case should be comfortable with the amount of cabling. The peripheral connectors come in 2 sets of cables, each set having three 4-pin Molex plugs and a small floppy plug. It’s important to note how pliable the cabling is; it is thin enough that it can be easily routed into place and organized or tied without much problem, but it is strong enough that it can take some abuse. This is a far cry from the way-too-stiff and soggy spaghetti feelings I’ve gotten from many power supply cable sets.
A quick shot of the insides of the power supply shows quite a bit of activity. Peeking through the rear grille, quite a few extra PCB boards and heatsinks can be found that I’m used to seeing on a power supply. Unfortunately, a broken elbow and an accident with a screwdriver kept me from being able to show the power supply’s entrails in all their glory. I am including an image below from the product PDF that shows accurately what the insides do look like. Please feel free to compare the brochure picture to the entrails visible through the grill and with the slightly-opened top cover.
One last item of note on this power supply is the addition of 3 knobs. Each of these three knobs controls the level of a specific voltage. For overclockers, the ability to raise or lower the 12V, 3.3V, and 5V lines is very important, since as much as a single tenth or hundredth of a voltage can mean the difference between a booting computer and an overclocked computer. The knobs are sensitive and require only small turns for a noticeable voltage change, but are stiff enough that it takes intentional turning to change a voltage level. This is an option for this power supply series and does not come standard; however, it is an option that anyone looking for total system control would appreciate. The PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510W power supply with Active PFC is rated differently than other power supplies. Most power supplies use their Peak Output as their rating; for example, the Antec TruePower 430W power supply is rated for 430W at peak output, but does not supply this amount of power readily at all times. The Turbo-Cool 510W power supply matches its rating of 510W constantly; at peak output it is capable of up to 650W of power. Here is the specifications chart taken from PC Power & Cooling's website.  The Active PFC ability of this power supply is the reason for one of the items we noted as missing on the rear of the power supply. The infamous “little red switch” that changes the input voltage from 115 to 220 is no longer present due to this power supply’s ability to recognize the input voltage and adjust accordingly. For regular LAN gamers that find themselves victim to the “Switch of Death” from less-than-reputable opponents, this feature alone is worthy of a second look. Another omission that comes into play in this test series is the lack of a second fan. According to PC Power & Cooling, fans aren’t just being added to keep the system cool, they’re being added to keep the internals of the power supply as cool as possible to avoid voltage drop. I noticed this with my TruePower power supply; as the temperature got warmer than the 2nd fan could prevent, the power levels started to dip slightly. This was especially noticeable last summer when my air conditioning went out and the apartment was at 80°F even with 2 box fans pulling air through the room. After artificially recreating the same conditions, the Turbo-Cool 510W power supply didn’t even flinch after an hour of UT2k3. With this in mind, take a careful look at the next power supply you buy – why are the fans really there? Click HERE to view the PDF from which the above graph was taken. No matter how many bells and whistles there are (or aren’t), the only thing that matters is performance. Here come the performance tests. For the performance tests, we’ll be using the following platform:
 With the system at normal operating parameters, the power supply holds its own and stays well within the 1% tolerance range. The 5V rail drops only to 4.95V and only for long enough to produce an average rating of 4.99V during the test. The 3.3V rating wandered slightly beyond the 1% tolerance, dropping to a low of 3.28V but raising only to 3.36V and averaging 3.3V over the test. The 12V rail is just as stable as the others, sitting at 12.16V at idle, dipping only to 12.10V, and running at an average of 12.16V.  After overclocking the system to a FSB speed of 146MHz, the same test batch produced surprisingly similar numbers. There was no difference in idle, high, or low scores for the 5V line; the drop in the average from 4.99V to 4.98V does show that there was some slightly longer time spent at a lower output, but not enough to pull the power supply outside of its 1% promise. The 12V line is exactly the same as before, and the 3.3V line had a peak of only 3.4V but not for long enough to affect the average (3.3V). In both of these tests, the DigiDoc5 reported 5V readings ranging from 5.06V to 5.08V, with the 5.06V dips being only intermittent and 5.07V and 5.08V being the most common and stable readings. Voltage did not fluctuate rapidly, even while changing test types. The 12V readout moved between 12.20V and 12.25V, with 12.25V being the most common reading. These results were consistent from test to test and were not affected by overclocking. While I do not understand the difference in readings between the motherboard and the DigiDoc5, the consistency of the voltage difference between readings and the movement of the voltages with the DigiDoc5 lead me to feel that the readings from Motherboard Monitor can be taken as an accurate representation of the stability and movement of the readings even though the readings are slightly lower than those directly measured from the power supply. Now that all is said and done, I can say without reservation that this is the most stable power supply I’ve ever had the chance to work with. It provides clean power no matter how hard the system is being pushed and no matter how dirty the input power is. Even plugged directly into my wall socket, I get stable power that doesn’t fluctuate when the power demands in the room change. The optional inclusion of external voltage potentiometers, which allow for fine tuning of the 3.3V, 5V, and 12V rails, is extremely useful for enthusiasts that need to increase or decrease voltages to maintain a stable overclocked state. Two rather invisible features on this power supply are what I feel are the two most important features. The Active-PFC detection of input voltage removes the ominous red switch from the back of the power supply. There’s no need to check and double check to make sure the switch is in the right place, just plug into the wall and you’re ready to go. The thermally resistant internals make this power supply ideal for the more realistic conditions found in corporate and server environments where adequate cooling isn’t often readily available. This power supply has only one shortcoming, and that is the price. However, you do get what you pay for; like I said on the front page, the Turbo-Cool power supply is an Aston Martin in a world overloaded with Honda Civics. The addition of an extra Molex connector or two wouldn’t hurt, especially since the newer video cards now require extra power inputs to meet their needs. There’s simply no better power supply on the market. PC Power & Cooling’s Turbo-Cool 510W power supply with Active PFC is one of the most stable, reliable, and powerful power supplies on the market. If you have mission critical applications and data, are an avid overclocker, or simply want to protect your computer investment then there’s only one power supply you should consider: the Turbo-Cool. Accept no substitutes, no matter how many fans it has. 
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