Result Summary

The heated environment and overload tests were not a problem for the X Silent Edge Platinum. The PSU completed all tests with no issues.

While the recorded temperatures of the exhaust might look surprisingly low, I must again note that there is no fan to push the warm air out. In reality, after testing, the side of the PSU (aka the external heatsink) was measuring over 57 °C, which to some is even too much for a steak. At the hotspots internally, of course, the temperatures were much higher. Nonetheless, no OTP was triggered, and all tests were completed with no issues, which is the important thing.

Other items worth pointing out is the good performance for power factor correction and, of course, the lack of noise levels as there is no fan. No additional noise (e.g. coil whine) was observed during testing.



When it comes to efficiency, there are two most noteworthy results. The first is the overall very high 80 Plus Platinum level reaching efficiency overall, which is great. And the second one is the fairly low-ish efficiency at the bottom steps of 5% and 10% of the PSU's maximum rated power. While this is by no means a dealbreaker, expectations for a unit of this caliber are slightly higher.

Voltage Regulation

Voltage regulation looks very strong on the +12V. The +3.3 V results also look really good apart from the initial couple of tests. As for the +5V rail, we step beyond 2% for the last few tests, but still remain well within the ATX specs.

Ripple

Ideally you want the DC voltage delivered by your power supply to be a completely flat line when looking through an oscilloscope. However, due to the switching nature of ATX power supplies and the less than ideal real world behavior of all the components involved, we get very small fluctuations in output voltage known as ripple and noise. The ATX spec allows for ripple of up to 120 mV for the +12 V rail and 50 mV for the minor rails.


While ripple suppression is not the greatest we have seen so far, the X Silent Edge Platinum has no issues staying within the ATX spec even while overloaded. The oscilloscope waveform output of the 110% load test can be seen below.

Short Circuit Protection

Short circuit protection is one of the most fundamental and important protections for a power supply. If a short circuit is detected on any rails, the PSU should turn off to prevent damage to itself and other components.


SCP worked as expected with the unit.