Silverstone Decathlon DA700 Super Silent Power Supply
by Christoph Katzer on April 22, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Conclusion
Silverstone wanted to prove that their power supplies are also silent and sent us the DA700 for testing. The power supply is based on the already tested Decathlon and Olympia series, which were good but not great when we tested them last year. A few things have changed inside the latest Silverstone offering, and that affects the performance. The overall quality was again superb as we are used to from the Decathlon series, but the overall look is pretty mundane. (Ed: Not that there's anything wrong with that; we don't all need flashy systems with lights and bright colors!)
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The performance is better than we expected compared to our former results from Silverstone units. The voltage regulation works exceptionally well, rarely dropping below the ideal output level on the various rails. The important 12V rail stays strong even when loaded with 50A. Silverstone also worked on the ripple and noise and we had best results in this field as well. 20mV on the 12V rail at max is a good achievement. Efficiency was also improved over previous models, where we formerly topped out at ~83% 230VAC, and now we see an additional 2%. Perhaps more useful than an 85% efficiency is the long range where the high efficiency is available. Maximum efficiency comes at the 350W mark, which reflects a loaded SLI gaming system these days, but loads of 150W to the maximum 700W stay above 80% with 120VAC or higher. Efficiency with 90VAC was not as impressive, but the 90VAC market is quite a bit smaller than 120VAC/230VAC.
The DA700 truly shines is in the noise department. Maximum noise levels are still in the "quiet-but-not-silent" category, but with a relatively high-end system drawing 350W we can pretty much assure you that power supply noise won't be a problem. Reaching 350W of load will require a fair amount of powerful components in the first place, like dual graphics cards, and those should easily drown out the noise from the DA700.
As for prices, this unit is on sale in the US for about $180. For that price you could get an Antec TruePower Quattro 850W - more power but also more potential for noise. In Europe the price will be around 140EUR which is also higher than the competition. Silverstone might want to reconsider the pricing of the DA700 if they want to sell these power supplies in larger quantities. However, when it comes to silence this unit is truly one of the best offerings available right now.
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Stefan555 - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - link
Yes Chris, the physical layout of the PCB show there are four rails. It doesnt mean each rail has a limiter. Whitout limiters = SINGLE rail unit.Kanchenjunga - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - link
You'd think that somebody who just reviewed the single 12V rail Impervio made EliteXStreams with 5 rails printed on the PCB and color coded wires would have this figured out by now. How come you guys don't do the OCP test that your testing method article talks about?Christoph Katzer - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - link
I guess that sentence where I mention the four rails has been just misleading as I didnt mean to say it's a four 12V rail PSU. I will change that for the sake of a good sleep tonight :)MrOblivious - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - link
What was the OCP set at for each of the 4 12v rails?Stefan555 - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - link
"The rail specification is rather obfuscated, requiring several perusals and the use of a calculator before you actually understand what you're reading."It's simple, what we are reading is the label, the label tells you it has an capability to put out 58A on one single rail on +12V (no matter the reality one or four rails). It also tells you the psu has the capability to put out 180W or combined on +3.3 and +5V. I can't see what is so obfuscated?
"The DA700 comes with a single 12V rail rated for up to 58A which is almost 700W already. Obviously, that load is not possible with the combined power of all three main rails; doing the necessary math, if you put a load of 180W on the 3.3V and 5V rails, that leaves 520W for the 12V rail, or 43A."
On which psu can you take the maximum combined output on +3.3V and +5V and add it with the maximum capability on +12V and get anywhere near the total specified wattage on the psu? None.
There is no psu where you can draw the maximum output on +3.3V and +5V combined and +12V at the same time.
This unit is not the only psu where the combined output on +12V is so high its more a theoretical maximum output. Other units has even less left for +3.3V and +5V. But that is pure theory.
If now the unit has four rails on +12V, well that is a bit of lame of Silvertone not to tell it. I agree. But still, it has nothing to do with the readability of the label. Besides it is mentioned later in the review.
Calin - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - link
"The problem is that there are quite a lot of patents on larger fans"How the hell could a larger fan be patented? What kind of backward country is that?
Christoph Katzer - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - link
The patent is a power supply cooled by a 140mm fan. That's why other manufacturers (other than CWT the patent owner) need to make use of 135mm or 120mm fans. In the U.S you get patents for all kinds of stuff...masher2 - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - link
Sounds like an urban myth to me..MrOblivious - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - link
SuperFlower has been using 140mm fan's for years, indeed IIRC before CWT.strikeback03 - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - link
Time for someone to make a 141mm fan