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Introduction:
First a little about the company,
HEC Group, Compucase Enterprise. This next blurb is from HEC’s website on their company structure:
“Starting from 1979, HEC has been striding across vehicle
components factory to a supplier of PC components. In 1989,
HEC relied on professional management and strong R&D to grow
to present scale. Today HEC is one of the world leading
companies of computer housing and switching power supply
products and establishing a very good reputation. To server
quick and flexible instant service, HEC develop and
construct a global logistic operation system. It established
its base of manufacturing in Shenzhen Mainland China, and
established branches in the U.S., Germany, U.K., Japan,
Spain and China. Working together, coordinated by
headquarters in Taiwan, HEC’s corporate headquarters includes its sales and
sourcing center, its administration and finance divisions as
well as its R&D team...” ~
more
info
I’ve reviewed many products from HEC and overall they
provide quality power at a reasonable price. This is an
important selling point for any power supply, especially if
you have a system that’s very power hungry as are many of
the latest computer systems.
Packaging:
The
packaging is your average sturdy
cardboard power supply box. It was shipped in another box
though to prevent damage. This may seem trivial; however, if
products are not packaged correctly they can and often do
sustain damage.
Included
with this product is a power cable, 4 to 8 pin motherboard
adapter, two Velcro cable ties, four screws for mounting the power
supply in the case, a users manual, and the power supply.
Specifications:
This
particular product is available in three wattages, 420, 480,
and 550. I will be looking at the WIN 480AB model.
This
power supply has a continuous wattage of 480 which is
adequate power for today’s computer systems. Now how is this
wattage determined? Well to understand that you need to know
what rails are.
The power
specifications are listed below:
Rails are basically well regulated transformers which convert
domestic current into the voltages that your computer system
can use. There are essentially two different rails: the
3.3/5v rail and the 12v rail. In this particular case the
approximate maximum peak output of the 3.3/5v rail is 220
watts and the 12v is 260 watts, which is essentially how the
wattage of this power supply is determined.
The 3.3/5v rail is responsible for the motherboard, memory,
PCI cards, AGP card and so on. While the 12v rail is
responsible for the HDD’s, DVD, CD-ROM, fans, etc.
Also, some might be interested to know the peak amps on each
rail. The +3.3V is 30A and the +5V is 35A. Unlike most power
supplies with only one +12V rail, this product has two. The
+12V1 is 17A and the +12V2 is 16A.
This power supply meets the
ATX 12V v2.01 specification. This basically means that a
power supply must be able to sustain full load in 50°
C (122°
F) ambient conditions. Although, power output on all models
will decrease ~1°
C starting at an ambient temperature of 40°
C. Having the ATX 12V v2.01 specification is important
because some power supplies tend to overheat and shutdown
the system under max load. The efficiency is within
specification and is 75% efficient. Higher end power
supplies float in the ~85% range. Note that the more
efficient a power supply is the less heat is generated and
therefore won't require excessive cooling.
This power supply (AB model) also has Active Power Factor
Correction (PFC). Please note that the UB series of this
product does not have Active PFC. Active PFC is preferred
over Passive PFC because it provides more efficient power
frequency. This reduces total harmonics, corrects input
voltage, and it allows for a full input voltage range. The
disadvantage is that it increases the cost of the power
supply.
Additionally this product is 100% Hi-pot,
Chroma & Burn-in
function tested. What the heck does all that mean?
Production Hi-pot testing ensures insulation integrity.
Chroma is a world recognized leader in power supply testing
equipment which includes automated power supply test
systems, electronic loads, programmable AC power supplies
and related equipment to support the power conversion
industry. Finally, Burn-in is really a stress test and means
it was tested at full load and still meets specs.
A power supply also needs to be fail-safe. This unit have
Over Voltage Protection (OVP), Over Current Protection (OCP),
Short Circuit Protection (SCP), and Over Temperature
Protection (OTP).
A closer look:
Like the majority of new power supplies on the market,
this one is compliant with Energy Star and Blue Angel
delivery environmentally-friendlier power standards.
Now, let's get a measurement;
15cm(L) x 14cm(W) x 8.6cm(H).
That's a standard size and will fit in most ATX cases. This
power supply has a high gloss black paint finish and comes
with a large 120mm blue LED fan
with a gold grill.
This tends to give it a basic look, nothing really fancy
here like modular design, windows, etc.
Please note that the fan grill is mounted on the outside of
the power supply so this could pose a problem with some
cases. Some power supplies have recessed fan grills, but this not
one of them. The 120mm fan supplies more than enough air circulation
though and keeps
the inside of the power supply cool. Also, this fan is very
quiet and is temperature controlled so it's the best of both worlds. When the power
supply is inside the
case it's virtually silent and that's great. I dislike a
power supply that has loud fan(s). Although, if the power supply
is of a higher wattage sometimes higher speed fans are
required. Also, there are plenty of ventilation holes to
assist in cooling.
This is a auto switching power supply so there's no need to
adjust the voltage. I should note though, I was sent a 220V power
cable and I'm located in North America. I contacted HEC about this and they are sending a
120V power cable. An honest mistake on their end, although
they did this in past past as well. I'm not sure if
customers are having this minor issue or not. If you are, please
refer to the
thread and post a comment.
This power supply has plenty of leads and they are all
sleeved. This reduces the cable mess and increases air flow
inside the case.
Leads/Adapters:
1- 24(20) pin Main Motherboard Lead
1- 4 Pin ATX 12V Motherboard Lead (4 to 8 pin adapter
included)
2- 6 Pin Video Card Lead (for PCI-E Video Card)
2- 4 Pin FD Lead (for Floppy drives)
6- 4 Pin Acc Lead (for HD, CD, DVD, etc)
4- SATA Power Lead
Also note, the 4 pin leads have easy grip connectors which
makes connecting/disconnecting components quick and easy.
One big plus with this power supply is its dual 6 pin PCI-E Video Cards leads. This means two video cards can be
connected for an NVIDIA SLI
or ATI
CrossFire setup. Please note, this is not an officially
certified SLI or CrossFire certified product. For your average
consumer, dual 6 pin leads are not that big of a deal. However, for a
serious gamer it most certainly is.
Testing:
For testing the HEC WinPower 480W SLI Power Supply I
used the following test setup:
Motherboard: DFI UT nForce4 SLI DR Motherboard
CPU: AMD Athlon™ 64 3000+ @ 2.7GHz Processor
PSU:
HEC WinPower 480W SLI Power Supply Unit
Video Cards: 2 x BFG 7800 GT Video Cards
Hard Drives: 2 x WD Raptor 74GB HDDs in RAID0
Drive: Plextor PX-712A DVD±R/RW Drive
Memory: OCZ EB DDR PC-4000 2GB Memory
Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2 ZS Sound Card
Please remember that when testing this power supply it was done
with the system overclocked to 2.7GHz. Also, the system was
at maximum load. The results were taken with a Multimeter, not
through system software.
Conclusion:
This power supply performs well for this category of
product. While the 12V rail is a little low it has no
problem powering an overclocked system. Stability is also
important, especially when overclocking. This really
reflects the quality of power it's providing. I experienced
no locks or system instability. I love the 120mm fan for
it's quietness and provision of excellent cooling. I have to
say, I dislike gold colored fan grills. Many power supplies
these days seem to have them so someone besides me must like
them ;). Having dual Video Card leads is something many
newer power supplies now have and it's delightful. The bang
for the buck on this product is very high.
Pros:
- Affordable
- Active PFC (AB models)
- Quiet
- Quality power
- All cables are sleeved
- Comes in three wattages
Cons:
- 12V rail is a little weak
- Only four SATA leads
- No modular leads
- Not SLI/CrossFire certified
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