PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W Quad Crossfire Edition PSU

The Results and Conclusion

The Results

First we will look at the power consumption of the system. This was taken with a P3 Kill-A-Watt EZ. Idle numbers were taken after the system set idle for 30 minutes, load measurements taken while running 3DMark06 benchmarking tool. Now as one would expect the configuration that drew the most power was the overclocked system with crossfire. With a total system draw of 541 watts; which just goes to that with todays systems a quality power supply is needed.

Now we will look at the 12v rail readings, voltages were taken from the PSU connectors with a digital multi-meter, again after 30 minutes setting idle and while under load during the 3DMark06 benchmark. In the mild setup of the stock E6300 with a single HD 2900 XT video card the Silencer 750 Quad held up well and kept the voltage above 12 volts, at this point the system is only pulling 290 watts under load. As I added in the second card you can see the strain the extra card puts on the system when under load, and the 12v rail just drops below 12v; at this point the system is pulling 490 watts under load. The overclocked power readings somewhat mirror the non-overclocked profiles.

I did notice one thing while watching the system I felt worth mentioning. As the total system draw passed the 450 watt mark, that is the point at which the 12v rail dropped below 12v. This could be bad those who add in multiple drives and a water cooling system could drop the 12v rail that much more and stability issues could start showing up.

The 5 Volt rail hardly moved at all, only overclocked and under load did it move but it was very minor.

Finally we have the 3.3 Volt rail. It stayed above 3.3v, more towards 3.4v, through out the testing.

Conclusion

By using only a single 80mm fan for cooling, the Silencer 750 Quad PUS was found to be very quiet. If it wasnt for the 2900 XTs, that can sound like a hair dryer at times, I would not have known the system was on. The cabling was long enough to reach all the places I need it to go in the Ultra M998 case and still be some what hidden.

The finish was very nice, looks sharp, and did not seem to be easily scratched or chipped while trying to get it in the case.

The Silencer 750 Quad was designed to take the stress brought on by the needs of high end video card like the Radeon HD 2900/3870and the GeForce 8800 line up. After testing the PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad CrossFire power supply we found it can do it with no problems, but you might want to consider a more powerful setup if you plan on doing more with your system. Adding a water cooling system or overclocking the processor and video cards will draw even more power, so keep this in mind when shopping for a power supply for your next gaming rig. Also keep in mind than when running Quad-SLI with a pair of GeForce 9800 GX2 video cards that NVIDIA suggests a power supply with at least 850W with two sets of 6-pin and 8-pin power supply connectors. It’s tough to say that 750W will be enough in the future when the video card companies keep pushing out crazy video card setups like Quad CrossFire (CrossFireX) and Quad SLI! If you plan on going with quad video cards in the future you might want to consider something a little stronger than 750 Watts.

The Silencer 750 Quad can be found for as little as $145 shipped which is not bad for a quality PSU with a 5 year warranty. This also puts it in the same price rage as other popular PSUs like the Corsair 750TX, which also sports 4x PCIe connections.

Bottom Line: The Silencer 750 Quad is a very capable power supply for mid-rage systems.