Sentey Golden Steel Power 850W Power Supply Review

paulktreg - June 9, 2011
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Testing:

For more information on how we test our power supplies, please browse our testing methodology.

Throughout the tables, all passes will be highlighted with green text, while failures will be in red.

Short Circuit Protection:

I short circuited the 3V3, 5V0, and 12V rails in turn. The power supply did shut down, and once the short was removed and the unit switched off for at least one second, resumed normal operation. Although listed here at the beginning of the testing section, I tend to leave this test until the very end, in case it doesn't quite go as planned.

DC Output Voltage Load Regulation:

In an ideal world, the ATX power supply, or any other for that matter, should maintain its DC rails at a constant voltage, but this is very difficult to achieve due to variations in the AC mains supply and changing DC load levels. The ATX12V V2.2 specification limits for this variation, expressed as a percentage, at either side of the ideal voltage, are given in the table below.

PSU Rail	Range	Minimum	Nominal	Maximum
+3V3	±5%	+3.14V	+3.30V	+3.47V
+5V	±5%	+4.75V	+5.00V	+5.25V
+12V	±5%*	+11.40V	+12.00V	+12.60V
-12V	±10%	-10.80V	-12.00V	-13.20V
+5VSB	±5%	+4.75V	+5.00V	+5.25V

*The +12V rail is permitted to go to ±10% at its rated maximum DC load.

There is no unit associated with voltage regulation, it is a simple ratio expressed as a percentage.

Voltage regulation VR= ([V no load – V full load] / V full load) x 100%

This equation is used to measure the voltage regulation of a simple single rail power supply, but measuring the voltage regulation of the ATX power supply and the difference from the specified rail voltage will require a slightly different tack.

ATX Power Supply regulation = ([V measured - V specified] / V measured) x 100%

This will give the difference as a percentage from the specified rail voltage, +3.3V, +5V, +12V, etc.

There will be very few, if any, power supply failures in this section. The switched mode power supply is very good at maintaining its rails at the correct voltage — they are constantly monitored and any changes are instantly fed back to the control circuitry and the necessary adjustments made to correct any error. So why test? The tighter the regulation, the better — ±5% is acceptable, ±3% is very good, and ±2% is excellent. The quality of the regulation is a useful indicator of the power supply’s overall quality.

Mains Input Voltage 110VAC

Sentey Golden Steel Power 850W (GSP850-SM) DC Output Voltage Load Regulation
Supply = 116VAC/50Hz
PSU DC Rail	Rail Loading	Measured Voltage	Permitted Regulation	Actual Regulation
+3.3V	0	3.37V	±5%	+2.1%
+5V	0	5.15V	±5%	+3.0%
+12V	0	12.36V	±5%	+3.0%
-12V	0	11.98V	±10%	-0.2%
+5VSB	0	5.14V	±5%	+2.8%
Total PSU DC Loading = 0W (0% of Rated Maximum Output Power)

Sentey Golden Steel Power 850W (GSP850-SM) DC Output Voltage Load Regulation
Supply = 115VAC/50Hz
PSU DC Rail	Rail Loading	Measured Voltage	Permitted Regulation	Actual Regulation
+3.3V	10.55W	3.36V	±5%	+1.8%
+5V	24.32W	5.12V	±5%	+2.4%
+12V	128.23W	12.33V	±5%	+2.8%
-12V	4.23W	11.75V	±10%	-2.1%
+5VSB	10.27W	5.01V	±5%	+0.2%
Total PSU DC Loading = 178W (21% of Rated Maximum Output Power)

Sentey Golden Steel Power 850W (GSP850-SM) DC Output Voltage Load Regulation
Supply = 113VAC/50Hz
PSU DC Rail	Rail Loading	Measured Voltage	Permitted Regulation	Actual Regulation
+3.3V	10.69W	3.35V	±5%	+1.5%
+5V	24.63W	5.11V	±5%	+2.2%
+12V	397.92W	12.35V	±5%	+2.9%
-12V	4.24W	11.77V	±10%	-1.9%
+5VSB	10.11W	4.93V	±5%	-1.4%
Total PSU DC Loading = 448W (53% of Rated Maximum Output Power)

Sentey Golden Steel Power 850W (GSP850-SM) DC Output Voltage Load Regulation
Supply = 108VAC/50Hz
PSU DC Rail	Rail Loading	Measured Voltage	Permitted Regulation	Actual Regulation
+3.3V	42.44W	3.30V	±5%	0
+5V	72.07W	4.97V	±5%	-0.6%
+12V	690.96W	12.21V	±5%	+1.7%
-12V	4.27W	11.85V	±10%	-1.2%
+5VSB	9.84W	4.90V	±5%	-2.0%
Total PSU DC Loading = 820W (96.5% of Rated Maximum Output Power)

Mains Input Voltage 230VAC

Sentey Golden Steel Power 850W (GSP850-SM) DC Output Voltage Load Regulation
Supply = 244VAC/50Hz
PSU DC Rail	Rail Loading	Measured Voltage	Permitted Regulation	Actual Regulation
+3.3V	0	3.37V	±5%	+2.1%
+5V	0	5.15V	±5%	+3.0%
+12V	0	12.36V	±5%	+3.0%
-12V	0	11.98V	±10%	-0.2%
+5VSB	0	5.14V	±5%	+2.8%
Total PSU DC Loading = 0W (0% of Rated Maximum Output Power)

Sentey Golden Steel Power 850W (GSP850-SM) DC Output Voltage Load Regulation
Supply = 245VAC/50Hz
PSU DC Rail	Rail Loading	Measured Voltage	Permitted Regulation	Actual Regulation
+3.3V	10.68W	3.36V	±5%	+1.8%
+5V	24.53W	5.11V	±5%	+2.2%
+12V	127.98W	12.33V	±5%	+2.7%
-12V	4.24W	11.77V	±10%	-1.9%
+5VSB	10.17W	4.96V	±5%	-0.8%
Total PSU DC Loading = 178W (21% of Rated Maximum Output Power)

Sentey Golden Steel Power 850W (GSP850-SM) DC Output Voltage Load Regulation
Supply = 243VAC/50Hz
PSU DC Rail	Rail Loading	Measured Voltage	Permitted Regulation	Actual Regulation
+3.3V	10.65W	3.35V	±5%	+1.5%
+5V	24.68W	5.11V	±5%	+2.2%
+12V	397.57W	12.32V	±5%	+2.7%
-12V	4.23W	11.76V	±10%	-2.0%
+5VSB	2.05W	4.94V	±5%	-1.2%
Total PSU DC Loading = 447W (52.5% of Rated Maximum Output Power)

Sentey Golden Steel Power 850W (GSP850-SM) DC Output Voltage Load Regulation
Supply = 241VAC/50Hz
PSU DC Rail	Rail Loading	Measured Voltage	Permitted Regulation	Actual Regulation
+3.3V	42.57W	3.30V	±5%	0
+5V	72.81W	4.97V	±5%	-0.6%
+12V	690.59W	12.21V	±5%	+1.7%
-12V	4.25W	11.83V	±10%	-1.4%
+5VSB	9.96W	4.86V	±5%	-2.8%
Total PSU DC Loading = 820W (96.5% of Rated Maximum Output Power)

The Sentey Golden Steel Power 850W power supply produced an excellent set of results in this section. The actual DC voltage regulation was no worse than ±3% from the ideal on all the rails. No problems here, so let's move on.

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