PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 500 W Power Supply Review

Introduction

The Silencer Mk II power supply series from PC Power & Cooling is comprise with 500 W, 650 W, 750 W and 950 W models. The 650 W, 750 W and 950 W models come with 80 Plus Silver certification, synchronous design with DC-DC conversion, and seven-year warranty, but the entry-level 500 W model comes with 80 Plus Bronze certification, traditional design, and five-year warranty. Therefore, the 500 W model doesn’t share the same internal platform as the other models. We’ve already tested the 650 W and 750 W versions, and both proved to be excellent products. Let’s see if the 500 W model is also a good option.

The power supplies from Silencer Mk II series are manufactured by Highpower.

Figure 1: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 500 W power supply

Figure 2: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 500 W power supply

The PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 500 W is 6.3” (160 mm) deep, using a 135 mm fan on its bottom. This fan is a Globe Fan RL4Z-B1352512H, which is a ball-bearing fan with a maximum rotation of 1,500 rpm and a maximum airflow of 106.86 cfm.

This unit features active PFC, of course, and following PC Power & Cooling tradition, it doesn’t come with a modular cabling system. The cables included are the following:

• Main motherboard cable with a 20/24-pin connector, 19.3” (49 cm) long
• One cable with one ATX12V connector, 22.4” (57 cm) long
• One cable with one EPS12V connector, 22.4” (57 cm) long
• One cable with one six/eight-pin connector for video cards, 22.4” (57 cm) long
• One cable with one six-pin connector for video cards, 22.4” (57 cm) long
• Two cables, each with four SATA power connectors, 22.4” (57 cm) to the first connector, 5.5” (14 cm) between connectors
• One cable with four standard peripheral power connectors, 23.6” (60 cm) to the first connector, 5.5” (14 cm) between connectors
• One cable with three standard peripheral power connectors and one floppy disk drive power connector, 23.6” (60 cm) to the first connector, 5.9” (15 cm) between connectors

All wires are 18 AWG, except the orange (+3.3 V) wires in the main motherboard cable, which are thicker (16 AWG).

The cable configuration is outstanding for a 500 W product. In fact, this practically the same configuration used on the 650 W model, the only difference between the two is that the 500 W model comes with one additional peripheral power connector, whereas the 650 W model has one additional floppy disk drive power connector.

Figure 3: Cables

Let’s now take an in-depth look inside this power supply.