A Look Inside & Component Analysis

Before reading this page, we strongly suggest a look at this article, which will help you understand the internal components of a PSU much better. Our main tool for the disassembly of the PSU is a Thermaltronics TMT-9000S soldering and rework station. It is of extreme quality and is equipped with a matching de-soldering gun. With such equipment in hand, breaking apart every PSU is like a walk in the park!


This PSU is made by High Power/Sirtec. An OEM with a lot of experience with budget products, it is the preferred choice of most companies when it comes to mainstream, mid-level PSUs. The platform is based on an older design with a group regulated scheme for the secondary side and passive rectification for the generation of all rails. No Japanese caps are present, but Teapo ones are used; they are the best amongst caps not made in Japan. Finally, the PCB is single-sided, something to be expected of a mainstream PSU.


The transient filter starts at the AC receptacle and includes, in this case, two Y caps and a single X cap. The main PCB has two CM chokes and two pairs of X and Y caps along with an MOV (Metal Oxide Varistor). Silverstone wisely decided not to throw away the MOV to lower production cost. To remind you of what this component does: it protects the PSU and the system from dangerous power surges. We also find a really small NTC thermistor, used for protection again large inrush currents, in the same area. Since this unit's hold-up cap is small, there was apparently no need for a larger thermistor.


The single bridge rectifier is bolted onto the APFC heatsink, and a little further in, we find an Infineon SPW20N60C3 fet and a BYC10-600 boost diode; both are used by the APFC circuit. The hold-up cap is provided by Teapo (400 V, 220 μF, 85°C, LH series), and its capacity looks small for the specifications of this PSU, but our hold-up tests will give us a definite answer to this conundrum.


The combo PFC/PWM controller is a Champion CM6805 IC that is installed on the solder side of the main PCB. The aforementioned IC is the budget version of the famous CM6800 controller widely used in Bronze- and Silver-rated PSUs.


Two KF13N50 fets are used as main switchers. The fet that rectifies the 5VSB rail, a UTC 20N60L, is also installed on the same heatsink.


Two toroidal chokes on the secondary side indicate the presence of a group regulated scheme, where the 12V and 5V rails share the bigger choke while the 3.3V rail uses the smaller one. Passive components and, to be more specific, Schottky Barrier Diodes (SBRs) are used for the rectification of the DC outputs. For the +12V rail, an MBR60100PT is used, and two Mospec S30D450C SBRs handle 5V and 3.3V. Finally, all filtering caps of the secondary side are provided by Teapo and are rated at 105°C, so they are of fairly good quality.


The supervisor IC is a HY-510N. It is installed on the component side of the main PCB. This IC only provides basic protection (Over Voltage and Under Voltage) so the claim of Over Current Protection is most likely false.


Soldering quality on the main PCB is nothing to write home about, but you can't call it bad either since we didn't find many sloppy soldering jobs or any long component leads. It is, all in all, more than acceptable given the price of this unit.


The fan is provided by Globe Fan and its model number is S1202512L (120mm, 12 V, 0.18 A, 2000 RPM, 67.28 CFM). It uses a sleeve-bearing, which is typical for fans used in budget units. It is fairly quiet at low speeds.