Introduction

We would like to thank 1st Player for supplying the review sample.


This is the first time I review a product from 1st Player, and I am curious to see what this PSU looks like internally and how it performs because it doesn't use a popular platform, but is based on an in-house design. This brand's parent company Helly Technology owns a manufacturing line, building its own power supplies, which can be a tremendous advantage.


The name of the line doesn't sound all that nice to my ears, but hopefully, the power supply will perform decently enough for me to forget such a small detail. Today's menu has as its main dish the Steampunk PS-750SP with a maximum capacity of 750 W. This is a fully modular power supply with two efficiency certifications, ETA-A from Cybenetics and 80 PLUS Gold. Cybenetics also gave the PS-750SP its LAMBDA-Standard++ certification for noise output.


Protection inside the small box is good since foam spacers surround the product.


Among others, the bundle includes a nice pouch used to store the modular cables.

Specifications

Cables and Connectors

With two EPS connectors, the PSU is compatible with high-end mainboards and energy-hungry CPUs, including AMD's Threadripper processors. The number of PCIe and peripheral connectors is sufficient. You will only need more 4-pin Molex connectors if you have lots of peripheral devices, like lights, AIO coolers, fan controllers, etc. Finally, at 150 mm, the distance between peripheral connectors is adequate.

Component Analysis

It was high time we saw something new. Most brands nowadays either use Seasonic or CWT platforms, so it is good to have the chance to evaluate something different even if it might not be as good. The design is clean, without any cables blocking the airflow, and there is ample space between parts. The primary heatsinks are of moderate size, and there are only two small heatsinks for the +12V FETs on the secondary side. There are not very many electrolytic caps, and those 1st Player uses are of low quality.


The transient filter is complete, and the two bridge rectifiers are bolted to a dedicated heatsink.


There is an MOV for protection against voltage overshoots and spikes, and a thermistor lowers inrush currents. The thermistor is supported by a bypass relay.


The APFC converter uses a mid-sized cap that should offer a much longer hold-up time. However, the design results in a very low hold-up time.


The main FETs are arranged in a half-bridge topology, and an LLC resonant converter is also utilized to increase efficiency.


The +12V FETs are installed on small heatsinks. The same rail feeds two VRMs which generate the minor rails.


I am not fond of the ChengX caps. The good thing is that several polymer caps are also used for ripple suppression, and these are much more tolerant of high operating temperatures.


There is space for more caps, but only three are installed on the modular board.


The 5VSB circuit is depicted in the photos above.


The supervisor IC is a SITI PS223, one of the very few supporting OTP out of the box.


You won't find any parts on the solder side of the PCB. Soldering quality is good but for two joints with less than the necessary amount of solder holding the capacitive part of the LLC resonant converter in place.


The cooling fan uses a sleeve bearing. A fluid dynamic or—even better—double-ball fan should be used instead. Those Yate Loon fans are of low quality, but very affordable, which is why they are still around.