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 extremely quality and is equipped with a matching desoldering gun. With such equipment in hand, breaking apart every PSU is like a walk in the park!


This unit is made by Enhance Electronics, Silverstone's favorite OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). This is clearly evident by the cables that transfer power to the main PCB and the design of the heatsinks—it has long fins. Instead of the usual blue and brown colors, Enhance uses black and white for the cables that transfer power to the main PCB. The design of the platform is modern: The primary side utilizes an LLC resonant converter for loss-less switching, while synchronous rectification is utilized on the secondary side. The minor rails are generated by two really small DC-DC converters. The claim that these two small VRMs can deliver 150 W maximum combined power is noteworthy, and we will confirm it through our tests.


Behind the AC receptacle is a small PCB that houses some of the components for the transient filter: one DM and one CM choke, two X caps, and the mains fuse. The other components include one additional CM choke, two pairs of X and Y caps, and an MOV that are installed on the main PCB. The cables that transfer power to the main PCB are wrapped around a ferrite ring for EMI reduction.


The single bridge rectifier is bolted onto the primary heatsink. It also holds the two APFC fets and the single boost diode—two IPP50R140CP and a CREE C3D08060A. The single hold-up cap is provided by Matsushita/Panasonic (420V, 470 μF, 105°C, HC series).


The PFC controller is a Champion CM6502TX that is installed on a small vertical daughterboard.


As primary switchers, two Infineon IPP50R140CP are used. They are backed up by an LLC resonant converter, which provides higher efficiency through loss-less switching. The LLC controller is installed on the solder side of the main PCB and is a Champion CM6901 IC.


The secondary side uses synchronous rectification and four Infineon IPP023N04N fets handle the +12V rail. The minor rails are generated by two tiny DC-DC converters. Exactly the same ones are used in the Silverstone ST45SF-G, and we find an APW7073 PWM controller and a TI 86350D fet on each converter. In the aforementioned PSU, these VRMs only deliver 90 W combined, but they are, in this one, rated at up to 150 W. This is impressive considering their tiny dimensions and the fact that they are only equipped with a single fet each.


The secondary heatsink also has the diode that rectifies the 5VSB rail: it is an SBL10SL60. The standby PWM IC is most likely a PI TNY263.


These heat-shrinks hold two thermistors that provide data to the OTP and the fan speed control circuits in place.


All filtering caps on the secondary side are provided by Taicon and are rated at 105°C. Not the best cap choice, especially for a PSU of this price tag. Besides electrolytic caps, we also found two polymer ones on the main PCB. Finally, each VRM holds three Teapo polymer caps that offer their services.


The supervisor IC is a PS223. It is one of the very few to support OTP (Over Temperature Protection) out of the box. It also supports OCP (Over Current Protection) for up to two +12V rails, but only one exists in this PSU.


The front of the modular PCB has many small electrolytic caps by Suncon for some extra ripple filtering.


Soldering quality is not so good—we spotted lots of handmade soldering jobs with excess use of solder. Initially, this was also a two +12V rail design. They simply sorted the two rails in order to make it a single rail design.


The cooling fan is provided by a good manufacturer, ADDA, but it uses sleeve bearing instead of the ball bearings that lasts much longer. Its model number is AD1212MS-A71GL (12V, 0.34 A, 2050 RPM, 80.5 CFM, and 38 dBA), and the fan speed control circuit fortunately doesn't let it to go above 1735 RPM. However, the fan profile is very aggressive once the ambient reaches 40°C.