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The Power Supply Unit (PSU) is a
critical system component, however, it is often overlooked when
building a system. An inferior power supply, or an
underpowered one, can cause interference with other
components, automatic system rebooting, drive errors and
other problems than can be very hard to diagnose. An
inferior PSU can
also cause trouble if you expand your hardware, such as an
upgrade to a new high-en Athlon XP or a Pentium 4, which may require
more current than the cheap supply can provide, or the board may
even need certain connections not currently available.
The Raidmax Aluminum Series PSUs are
very quiet and well-built aluminum Power Supplies.
They come in three ?flavors?: Gold (500W), Blue (400W), and
Silver (320W) and are perfect companions for those of you
who like to modify their cases, or just want add a colorful
accent. Today we will be looking at the Blue 400 Watt Power
Supply from Raidmax, which we purchased recently.
Out of the Blue?
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As the pictures show, the 400
Watt version comes in a bright, anodized blue, and has two
transparent built-in 80mm Ball Bearing fans, each of which
is has a very low noise output (25db) and spin at 2200 RPM.
It has six four-pin Molex connectors, two floppy drive
connectors, and the three additional 12c power connectors needed for most
Pentium 4 mainboards. The Molex connectors extend almost a
foot and a half from the PSU, so there?s should be no
problem
reaching any where within your PC, even in larger
full towers. It?s such a good looking PSU that
it?s almost a shame to place this in a standard case where
you wouldn?t normally get to see it.
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Specifications of the
RaidMax Aluminum Series PSU |
Cool Blue Power... |
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Features:
- High efficiency
- Low Ripple & Noise
- Over-voltage protection
- Short circuit protection
on all outputs
- Inrush Current Protection
- Overcurrent Protection
- Reset table power shut
down
- FM Fan Speed Monitoring
- Approved by UL,CSA TUV, CB
& CE
- 2 Low Noise (RPM=2200,
25db) Ball Bearing Fans
- Complies with EMI and FCC
Class B, CE and meets EN55022 Class B.
- Supports Cooling fan RPM
signals (by mainboard and BIOS support)
- Meet K7 and Intel 2.03
Version
- MTBF: > 100,000 hours at
full load, 110VAC and 25BC ambient conditions
- 100% Hi-pot tested
- Extra long power leads
The unit is constructed of a
heat-flake aluminum covered crust, which allows for more
heat to be transferred out of the PSU. This extends the life
of the components within the unit, and gets more heat
conducted out of the chassis. It also has built-in line
conditioning and independent regulation of the lines, which
should keep the voltage tolerances tighter than average
power supplies.
Installation:
There is not much that I can really say here since the process is
pretty straightforward. Remove the connections from the old PSU to the drives and motherboard, and unscrew it from the
back of the chassis. Then put the new unit into the same
location, screw it into place, and attach the connections as
necessary. Plug in the supplied power cord, and move the
cutoff switch from the off to on position.
Processor ID and Preliminary Tests
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