Hardware Secrets Power Supply Test Methodology

ByMike S.

Known “Flaws” in Our Methodology

Contents

Here are some of the things people may criticize on our methodology, but even with the criticism we are very confident that we are using a good methodology:

  • Our load tester is limited to 33 A on each +12 V input, meaning that we are can only pull up to 792 W from the +12 V outputs. So we can only test power supplies up to 900 W. Power supplies above that can be tested, but by pulling more power from the +5 V and +3.3 V outputs instead from the +12 V outputs.
  • We won’t test the power supply installed on a typical PC. We will test it exclusively with our load tester. We think this is the best approach.
  • So far we don’t measure acoustic noise level, but we may change this in the near futu
    re, as we bought a noise level meter but we are still not using it. The main challenge is that we have other items generating noise near the product being reviewed, like the load tester.
  • We are not using any AC conditioner or simulator. Some websites go to the extent of simulating spikes on the AC line to see how the power supply reacts. We think that is too much for us.

By the way if you want to compare our methodology to the one used by other leading reviewing websites, here are the links to their methodology:

If you know about any other website that uses a load tester to test power supplies please let us know so we can add it on the list above. This list is short because, like we always say, 99% of power supply reviews are wrong.

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