NZXT HALE90-850-M Power Supply Review

Secondary Analysis

This power supply uses a synchronous design in its secondary, meaning that the Schottky rectifiers were replaced by MOSFET transistors in order to increase efficiency. On top of that, this unit uses a DC-DC design, meaning that this unit is basically a +12 V power supply, with the +5 V and +3.3 V outputs being generated by two small power supplies attached to the +12 V output.

The +12 V output is generated by six IPP040N06N3 MOSFETs, each one capable of handling up to 90 A at 100° C in continuous mode, or up to 360 A at 25° C in pulse mode, with an RDS(on) of only 3.7 mΩ. In this power supply the +12 V output is also used to generate the +5 V and the +3.3 V outputs, as you know. As an exercise, if we assume that all load was exclusively pulled from the +12 V output, we would have a maximum theoretical current limit of 386 A or 4,629 W.

Figure 14: +12 V transistors

Usually power supplies that use DC-DC converters in the secondary to generate the +5 V and +3.3 V outputs have two separate printed circuit boards, one for each output. The NZXT HALE90-850-M, however, has a single printed board hosting both circuits.

Each converter is based on one NCP1587A PWM controller and four ME70N03S MOSFETs, each one with a current limit of 62 A at 25° C or 50 A at 70° C in continuous mode, or up to 100 A at 25° C in pulse mode, with a maximum RDS(on) of 11 mΩ.

Figure 15: The DC-DC converter

Figure 16: The DC-DC converter

We didn’t see an integrated circuit for monitoring the power supply outputs, and since the Power Good wire and sensors were connected to the small printed circuit board where the resonant controller was attached to, our best guess is that the
enigmatic SF29601 controller with the aid of four operational amplifiers provided by an LM324 integrated circuit do the trick.

The electrolytic capacitors available in the secondary are also from Chemi-Con and labeled at 105° C.