Cooler Master Elite Power 350 W Power Supply Review

Primary Analysis

On this page we will take an in-depth look at the primary stage of the Cooler Master Elite Power 350 W. For a better understanding, please read our Anatomy of Switching Power Supplies tutorial.

This power supply uses one GBU606 rectifying bridge, which supports up to 6 A at 100° C if a heatsink is used, which is not the case. Without a heatsink, the maximum current drops to 2.8 A at 100° C. Therefore, this unit would be able to pull up to 322 W from a 115 V power grid; assuming 80% efficiency, the bridge would allow this unit to deliver up to 258 W without burning itself out. Of course we are only talking about this component and the real limit will depend on all other components from the power supply.

Figure 10: Rectifying bridge

This unit is based on the obsolete half-bridge topology using two 2SD209L power NPN transistors on its switching section. Each transistor is capable of handling up to 12 A at 25° C. Unfortunately the manufacturer does not say the current limit at 100° C. These are the same transistors used on the 400 W and 460 W models, even though they are manufactured by a different company.

Figure 11: Switching transistors

The switching transistors are controlled by an ATX2005 PWM controller, which is located on the secondary from the power supply.

Figure 12: PWM controller

The two electrolytic capacitors from the voltage doubler are labeled at 85° C (we couldn’t recognize the brand).

Let’s now take a look at the secondary from this power supply.