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PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 510 Deluxe, a PSU evolution.
PCPower&Cooling have been producing what are widely considered to be, the best PSU's on the market today. Since the company's inception, they've raised an industry-wide bar on manufacturing standards for Switching Power Supplies. Theirs have been, and remain, the standard by which all others are measured. Given these facts, one might think; "Why bother reviewing a product, which is already beyond reproach?" The answer is simple, evolution. PCPower&Cooling has not earned their reputation being complacent, resting on prior success. They continually strive to improve on previous designs. Competition being the all powerful motivator, I have no doubt PCPower&Cooling have motivated more then a few companies to re-assess their offerings. PCPower may charge a bit more for their PSU's, however; relative to purpose, the price is a bargain. After all, without power, you have a box filled with over-priced silicon, copper, and aluminium, all useless. Sure, your system will be quiet, but as we'll discover, noise is not an issue with TurboCool 510 Deluxe.
Recently I reviewed the TGI USA TT-550TS, which takes a very different approach in its design philosophy. The TT-550TS features an aluminum chassis, four fan compliment, and rear LED, compared to TurboCool's single, fan steel chassis, and minimalist approach. The best analogy I can make would be through audiophile amplifier comparisons. The TTGI TT550 reminds of Audio Research REF300MKII, big, powerful, packed with innovations, ergonomically adventuresome, and it sounds damn good. PCPower&Cooling on the other hand can be compared to the Atma-Sphere MA3-OTL monoblocks.
Also big and powerful, built like a tank, and inspired by a "Purest" principle in design. The two distinct differences being the MA3 pushing enough current to drive any speaker impedance on the planet and it sounds out of this world. We often juxtapose the preponderancy with which we choose and organize system components, all too often placing the emphasis on the CPU or graphics card. These are important and their price dictates our being fixated on them but there is not a single device in your system which can operate independently of the PSU.
Without clean, noiseless, uninterrupted current on demand, you’re dropping the proverbial power bucket down a dry capacitor. As it hits dry bottom, so the echo of its crash manifests itself in your system rebooting, and data loss. Where DC current reserves are concerned, PCPower&Cooling shall have your capacitor 'runneth' over. As the arrow indicates below, PCPower&Cooling specs some of the largest input capacitors on the market for that purpose;
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PCPower carefully chooses, and quality tests every component they place in their chassis, and only handicraftsman can adequately accomplish this goal. In so far as the PCB, PCPower has them custom made, as seen below;
One of the simplest ways to determine a mediocre PSU, from a quality PSU is weight. Pure copper wiring, large transformers, capacitors, and heatsinks, equate to weight. Just as the best heatsinks are 600g copper monsters, so should your PSU possess mass. There is a direct correlation between mass and heat. More mass distributes more heat. PCPower&Cooling occupies every square millimeter of their steel chassis with highest quality components, and fan placement is right where it should be. Earlier I'd spoke of a "purest" or "minimalist" design. While other's sell units based on a large number of fans, chassis material, windows, and LED fans, PCPower eschews such ergonomics investing every penny into components. They "minimalize" so that manufacturing costs go towards a better capacitor, or inductor.
This is also what is meant by a "purest" approach, employing tried and true electrical theory and circuitry, featuring ripple and noise suppression, and extensive line conditioning. They back it all up with a 5-year warranty, and that truly says it all. There are many whom might think paying over a $100 for a single fan unit, is crazy. What is in fact crazy is the effectiveness of marketing which has us focusing on prima facie accoutrements rather then basic electronics. When the designer spec's the unit with electronics exceeding the requirements of their intended function, they're not running so hot as to require localized cooling. This is where PCPower&Cooling sets the bar. They use only one fan, because that is all that is required, and place it where it's needed most as seen below;
The photo above indicates four adjustable pots, and the yellow arrows point out the 3.3V, and 12V rails which are accessible with the chassis in place. The 5V rail is also accessible with the chassis in place, located on the side of the unit. The photo below is a close-up of the 3.3v, and 12V pots with chassis in place;
The cabling supplied with the TurboCool 510 Deluxe is the finest I've seen with any PSU. Each cable is individually braided, and just the right lengths are used. Often PSU makers in their attempt to please everyone will supply overly lengthy cables.
While this is helpful for those of us with very large towers, most ATX towers regardless of size have the motherboard and PSU within close proximity. PCPower has made the primary ATX, and Intel connectors optimal length, and others long enough for the tallest of cases. None-the-less they're a company renowned for custom orders, and adding a few cm's to specific cables can be resolved with a phone call;
The true test of any PSU is its ability to hold the rails, and hold them as things heat up. For the TurboCool 510 there may be a challenge for which it was born. I'm speaking of the infamous, literal gateway to a silicon Black Hole, otherwise known as the Prescott pipeline. The TurboCool 510 shall be our guiding light as we enter a vacuous realm from which few motherboard power circuits have egressed unscathed. A point of singularity even Intel hasn't been able to fully explore. It has been whispered, when Prescott reaches speeds of 5GHz, (error free of course) its bandwidth shall cast a shadow over the entire Central Valley of Southern California. Will Prescott, leave the TurboCool 510 a quivering mass, of smouldering steel, ball of fused plastic and glass inside? Or will TurboCool 510 prevail, leading us back into the light?
Our test system will feature the Abit AI7 (Springdale chipset) featuring the µGuru utility. µGuru derives its capabilities from a custom made Winbond microchip. I searched Winbond's site and emailed both Winbond and Abit concerning this chip, but haven't received a response yet. The chip, (Winbond W83L950D) is located in close proximity to the PLL crystal clock-generator, seen below;
The chip is basically a W83L785R on steroids, monitoring 8-voltages, 3 fan RPM's and 3-temps, one being the Intel on-die thermal diode. In addition, and its claim to fame is the ability to adjust the FSB frequency, AGP-voltage, DDR-voltage and Vcore. As seen below;
The utility does in fact work, and for the most part changes are recognized, however; certain programs are not able to read these changes. WCPUID and Sisoft Sandra benchmark are not able to recognize these changes. While this may not be a problem for most, as an Enthusiast or Reviewer, measuring performance after making such changes is essential. While the anomaly may be attributable to the hardware, the fact CPU-Z does acknowledge the changes seem to refute this theory.
ClockGen suffers from the same problem in that WCPUID, nor Sandra’s memory benchmark cannot recognize its changes unless the system is re-booted. One can see the dilemma. If you have to re-boot for all changes to take place, you could just have easily raised the FSB, and any voltages in the BIOS as well. In fact entering the BIOS is the preferred method. It's just not the simplest method. In some respects this kicks Guru back to the Fuzzy Logic, or Easy Tune-III/IV from Asus and Gigabyte respectively.
On to the testing ->
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Test System:
CPU - 3.0E SL79L 7403A378 Philippines
Motherboard - Abit AI7 (BIOS 16)
Cooling - First stages of testing running TTGI USA TT-550TS:
-- CoolCases CF1 microstructure water block, Hydor L30, Black Ice Extreme 2x120mm Sunon's.
Cooling - Second stage of testing running PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 510 Deluxe:
-- Danger Den RBX (nozzle-5) , Hydor L-40, Danger Den Double Heater Core, 4x120mm Sunon's
RAM - Corsair Twin-XPRO4000 (2x1GB-matched pairs)
RAM - OCZ Premiere PC4200 (1GB-kit)
HDD - Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 9 (SATA150, 120GB)
VGA - Asus 9950 (Det.56.64)
Optical - TDK VeloCD/RW
Monitor - IBM P260
PSU - PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 510 (12V - 34A / 5V - 40A / 3.3V- 30A)
PSU - TTGI USA TT-550TS (12V - 22A / 5V - 55A / 3.3V - 28A)
From the temp sensors available from the Abit AI7, most pertinent for our purposes will be Guru's PWM (power circuitry to the CPU). It's the first motherboard to incorporate this feature I've come across, and I'm dedicating an entire article to its timely introduction corresponding to the release of socket-478 Prescott. Since installing the Prescott 3.0E SL97L, I've seen these devices endure temps I wouldn't think possible. The highest I'd seen occurred running the Prescott 3.0E with the TurboCool 510 Deluxe behind it, at 250FSB, 1:1-aspect ratio (3.7GHz @ 1.468Vcore) under full LOAD (Seti@Home), as PWM temps reached 88C/192F;
At 255FSB 1:1 (3.8GHz @ 1.485Vcore) also under full LOAD (Seti@Home) temps with the TTGI reached 74C/174F. The TTGI TT-550-TS was incapable of running the system stable for an extended length of time, above 255FSB regardless of Vcore. Running under power of the TTGI TT-550TS note the oscillations on the 12V rail (which power's the CPU for Northwood/Prescott) under this duress (below);
While the TurboCool 510 surely doesn't have the ability to "cool" mosfetts, it's abundant current may give them a fighting chance (read lower temp). Running under the same conditions for an extended period of time (3.8GHz @ 1.485Vcore) with the PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 510, resulted in a 14C/33F PWM temperature drop. In addition the 12V rail is almost devoid of oscillations (below);
The source of the PWM temp problem is not attributable to the PSU, but due to the fact all socket-478 motherboard CPU power-circuitry were originally designed for 130nm current demands. When your specific motherboard maker states your motherboard is "Prescott ready" this merely equates to ad hoc adjustments such as dropping the minimum Vcore setting to 1.385V, etc. These prima facie fixes preclude part changes such as mosfetts, capacitors, and other related devices necessary to power a completely different CPU. This is, however; an issue for another article.
Perhaps the only way to explain what these PSU's have endured given the Prescott's "needs" and the AI7's "co dependency" would be their martyrization. If there ever was a true test of a PSU, this was it. Now for the shocker. The PCPower&Cooling not only ran the Prescott overclocked to 3.8GHz at 1.485Vcore running Set@Home, it simultaneously powered five 80-mm fans in the TTGI USA TT-201T3, along with the other components, it also powered four 120mm Sunons mounted on a Danger Den double heater core.
Every 12v-molex were occupied with multiple devices and the PCPower&Cooling still held it's rails above spec, and without fluctuation during testing. The photo below exemplifies the rig;
The screen-shot below represents system temps/voltages at full-load overclocked (255FSB/3.8GHz/Vcore-1.485). Given the overclocking conditions these rails are simply outstanding;
The next screen-shot represents system temps/voltages running Idle, under default speeds (200FSB/3.0GHz/Vcore-1.385V);
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Testing Summary:
The rails remained steadfast no matter the conditions. With the PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 510, temps reached and maintained a high plateau without the system crashing; this wasn't possible with the TTGI TT-550TS. The tables below represent PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 510 Deluxe results;
System overclocked (255FSB / 3.8GHz / 1.485Vcore)
| @ 3830MHz 12V rail (34A) |
Idle - 12.00V |
Load - 12.22V |
| @ 3830MHz 5V rail (40A) |
Idle - 5.16V |
Load - 5.16V |
| @ 3830MHz 3.3V (30A) |
Idle - 3.41V |
Load - 3.41V |
At default speeds (201FSB / 3.0GHz / 1.385Vcore)
| @ 3015MHz 12V rail (34A) |
Idle - 12.22V |
Load - 12.22 |
| @ 3015MHz 5V rail (40A) |
Idle - 5.19V |
Load - 5.19V |
| @ 3015MHz 3.3V rail (30A) |
Idle - 3.36V |
Load - 3.36V |
Conclusion
As the tables above indicate, PCPower&Cooling's TurboCool 510 has the goods. I can't think of another test for this (or any) PSU which might have been more taxing with the exception of shorting the molex connectors, or running a Peltier off the unit. I'd also like to point out this was not a "shoot-out" between PSU's. I used the TTGI USA TT-550TS because of it's quality. Between these two, I consider TTGI to be the next best PSU on the market, at any price. When all is said and done, owning a PCPower&Cooling is an investment in insurance. I think of the TurboCool 510 Deluxe as full-coverage. With its 5-year warranty, exceptional build quality, and reputation for unmatched performance, this is a policy no Enthusiast can afford to neglect.
It's a reassuring feeling to depress the power button with this "beautiful beast" powering your system. I'd like to thank Mick, and everyone at PCPower&Cooling.
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