Technical data …
The basic weight of the CM Silent Pro Gold is approx. 2 kg (shipping weight approx. 3.2 kg) and the overall size is about 150x160x85mm.
The technical data of the 600 Watt power supply can be checked at any time on the attached label. The Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold 150x160x85 provides following voltage levels and amperages: +3.3V 22A ; +5V 25A ; +12V 48A -12V 0.30A ; +5VSB 3.5A
All voltages could be tested on different loads also with external measurements very well and pointed to a good technical conversion of the switched power supply. The combined total output values should not exceed the following ratings: At +3.3V and +5.0V up to 150 Watt, +12V up to 576 Watt and total consumption of all power lines should not exceed 600 Watt (continuous operation according to manufacturer with maximum load and up to 720 Watt peek).
These are manufacturer values, which one should not exceed, to avoid overloading and too high heat development. Apropos overloading – of course the PSU offers also all kinds of short-circuit-, overcurrent-, output- and input power protection, (OCP, SCP, OVP, OPP, UVP, OTP) which was tested successfully in the test attempt. Nevertheless one should avoid any installation failures, because under certain conditions it is possible to destroy the PSU, or other parts of the PC (up to a fire by e.g. cable fire with loose or wrong connections).
Furthermore, the power supply has an active PFC (Power Factor Correction) for the reduction of the reactive power, the EMV noise and improvement of the efficiency. Meanwhile at least the more inexpensive less efficient and bigger passive PFC (upstream throttle) is legally prescribed. So also here the company Cooler Master saved by no means and offers a power pack with 80PLUS GOLD certification, which has a .99 PFC value.
Own measurements of the test system with ASRock 890GX Extreme3 motherboard, AMD Phenom II 710 X3 CPU, 4GB DDR3-1333 memory, hard disk and ATI Radeon HD4870 PCI-E 2.0 video card resulted in an idle value of 116 Watt and a maximum value with full system load of 199 Watt. Switched off in the S5 mode, the test system with the Silent Pro Gold power supply needed max. 8 Watt. Above all the idle value of 116W with small load is thereby much lower than the value of previously tested Cooler Master Silent Pro M500 power supply with lower total power – approx. 140 Watt. More power supply reviews will published here.
With this reference value we would like to set up a noncommittal calculation example between a standard 80PLUS and the 80PLUS Gold power supply with a different service life and an electricity tariff of 0.22 EUR per kW/h:
| Cooler Master Silent Pro M500 | Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 600 | |
| Certification | 80PLUS | 80PLUS Gold |
| Purchase price | approx. 70 EUR | approx. 110 EUR |
| Consumption Idle | 140W | 116W |
| Consumption per year with a daily use of 1 hour | 365 days x 1 hrs. x 140W = approx. 51 kW | 365 days x 1 hrs. x 116W = approx. 42 kW |
| Costs per year with a daily use of 1 hour | 51 kW x * 0,22 EUR = approx. 11,22 EUR | 42 kW x * 0,22 EUR = apporx. 9,24 EUR |
| Costs per year with a daily use of 8 hours at 230 days per year e.g. in an office PC | 230 days x 8 hrs. x 140W * 0,22 EUR / 1000 = approx. 56,67 EUR per year | 230 days x 8 hrs. x 116W * 0,22 EUR / 1000 = approx. 46,96 EUR per year |
| Costs per year with a daily use of 24 hours at 365 days per year e.g. in a server | 365 days x 24 hrs. x 140W * 0,22 EUR / 1000 = approx. 269,80 EUR per year | 365 days x 24 hrs. x 116W * 0,22 EUR / 1000 = approx. 223,56 EUR per year |
| Interactive power consumption and cost of electricity consumption | ||
It should be clear, that using equipment with better energy efficiency lowers the pollution of the environment. Of course, also overclockers knows this, even if they pay less attention to power consumption, but rather importance on the maximum PC performance. But with an energy price of 22 cent per kilowatt-hour one would have saved with a daily PC use of approximately one hour already approx. 2 euros per year. That sounds not much, but one hour PC use per year is for most of us surely quite low and the cost of electricity per kW/h rises almost every year. It becomes very interesting on High-End PCs with several video cards and strongly overclocked processor(s), or with an Office PC, which runs 8 hours every day, or a server, which is switched on for 24/7. Because with approx. 46 euros higher cost for electricity, the price difference of these two power supplies of approx. 40 euros is already profitable in less than one year.
Here’s the computation table once again as link for saving, so that one can calculate at any time very easy the current consumption and cost of electricity:
Interactive power consumption calculator
The MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) of the power supply is according to the manufacturer with 40°C about 100,000 hours, which distinguishes finally the reliability of the power supply, this time between 2 possible errors is enormously good.
The 120mm fan reached thanks to temperature control an optimal adjustment of the volume for necessary cooling and the fan is pleasing to the ear with medium PSU load. So the CM Silent Pro Gold live up to its name. Unfortunately not only high-quality 105°C capacitors are integrated inside of this power supply, but also some 85°C capacitors.
Layout, Design and Features of the Cooler Master 600 Watt power supply unit …