Output Quality Testing

+3.3V Ripple Testing



+5V Ripple Testing



+12V Ripple Testing


It looks like all is quiet on the Western Front. With this power supply OCZ has not only demonstrated that they have a product with stable rails and good efficiency but also with extremely good ripple suppression. There wasn’t even one test where the traces went anywhere near the ATX specified maximum values proving that this is a hell of performer in every category. Naturally, there were slight spikes when load was increased on certain rails from one test to the next but there was absolutely nothing to be concerned about at all.

Acoustical Performance

When many of us see a modern power supply with a 120mm or larger fan we naturally expect it to be whisper quiet but forget that a lot of the acoustical properties are linked to how the fan speed is controlled. In less efficient power supplies the fan speed will need to be a lot higher as load increases due to the excess heat produced by the interior components. On the flip side of the coin, a more efficient power supply will have less output power lost to heat production which in turn means the fan can spin at lower RPMs. Naturally, a larger fan will produce more airflow at lower speeds than smaller fan will which is why manufacturers are moving towards larger and larger fans on their power supplies.

OCZ’s choice of a 120mm fan may have some people scratching their heads wondering why a larger fan wasn’t used but we can tall you here and now that this is one quiet power supply. While not completely silent, at not one point during our testing did its fan speed increase to the point where we could hear it above the noise produced by our case fans. Even in the final hour of the System Stress test the only sound produced was a muted “whoosh” that was easily lost in the background noise of a running computer.