SilverStone Decathlon 700 W Power Supply Review
Load Tests
Contents
We conducted several tests with this power supply, as described in the article Hardware Secrets Power Supply Test Methodology.
First we tested this power supply with five different load patterns, trying to pull around 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% of its labeled maximum capacity (actual percentage used listed under “% Max Load”), watching how the reviewed unit behaved under each load. In the table below we list the load patterns we used and the results for each load.
If you add all the power listed for each test, you may find a different value than what is posted under “Total” below. Since each output can vary slightly (e.g., the +5 V output working at +5.10 V), the actual total amount of power being delivered is slightly different than the calculated value. On the “Total” row we are using the real amount of power being delivered, as measured by our load tester.
+12V1 and +12V2 are the two independent +12V inputs from our load tester and since this power supply has a single rail design the two inputs were connected to the only +12 V rail available on the power supply.
| Input | Test 1 | Test 2 | Test 3 | Test 4 | Test 5 |
| +12V1 | 5 A (60 W) | 10.5 A (126 W) | 15.5 A (186 W) | 20.5 A (246 W) | 25 A (300 W) |
| +12V2 | 5 A (60 W) | 10.5 A (126 W) | 15.5 A (186 W) | 20.5 A (246 W) | 25 A (300 W) |
| +5V | 1 A (5 W) | 2 A (10 W) | 4 A (20 W) | 6 A (30 W) | 10 A (50 W) |
| +3.3 V | 1 A (3.3 W) | 2 A (6.6 W) | 4 A (13.2 W) | 6 A (19.8 W) | 10 A (33 W) |
| +5VSB | 1 A (5 W) | 1.5 A (7.5 W) | 2 A (10 W) | 2.5 W (12.5 W) | 3 A (15 W) |
| -12 V | 0.5 A (6 W) | 0.5 A (6 W) | 0.5 A (6 W) | 0.5 A (6 W) | 0.5 A (6 W) |
| Total | 140.5 W | 283.3 W | 420.9 W | 556.9 W | 696.0 W |
| % Max Load | 20.1% | 40.5% | 60.1% | 79.6% | 99.4% |
| Room Temp. | 47.2° C | 47.3° C | 49.1° C | 49.4° C | 53.3° C |
| PSU Temp. | 52.8° C | 52.3° C | 52.8° C | 53.2° C | 56.9° C |
| Voltage Stability | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Ripple and Noise | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| AC Power | 167 W | 328 W | 489 W | 659 W | 852 W |
| Efficiency | 84.1% | 86.4% | 86.1% | 84.5% | 81.7% |
| Final Result | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass |
This power supply is a very good product. It can really deliver its labeled power at more than 50° C, has outstanding voltage stability, an outstanding low noise level and a decent efficiency.
Efficiency was always above 84% when we pulled up to 80% (560 W) of the power supply nominal power, peaking 86% if you pull between 40% and 60% of the nominal maximum power (between 280 W and 420 W). When we pulled 700 W from this unit efficiency dropped to 82%, but still above the 80% mark.
Voltages were always inside 3% from their nominal values, which is terrific (the only exception was the +5VSB output during test number five, which dropped to 4.81 V, but still inside the 5% tolerance set by the ATX standard).
Noise level was always low, including the -12 V output, which usually has a high ripple. At 100% load noise level at -12 V output was only 14 mV (the maximum allowed is 120 mV).
Below you can see noise level when we were pulling 696 W (test number five) from this power supply. Just to remember, the maximum allowed for the +12 V outputs is 120 mV peak-to-peak and the maximum allowed for the +5 V and +3.3 V outputs is 50 mV peak-to-peak.
Figure 16: Noise level at +12V1 input from our load tester with the reviewed unit delivering 696 W (50.6 mV).
Figure 17: Noise level at +12V2 input from our load tester with the reviewed unit delivering 696 W (66.2 mV).
Figure 18: Noise level at +5 V input from our load tester with the reviewed unit delivering 696 W (14.2 mV).
Figure 19: Noise level at +3.3 V input from our load tester with the reviewed unit delivering 696 W (17.8 mV).
Now let’s see if we could pull even more power from Decathlon 700 W.