PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 510 Deluxe

Cases & PSU/Power Supplies by KeithSuppe @ 2004-03-31

PCPower&Cooling have been producing what are widely considered to be, the best PSU?s on the market today. Since the company?s inception, they?ve raised an industry-wide bar on manufacturing standards for Switching Power Supplies. Theirs have been, and remain, the standard by which all others are measured

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Testing


Test System:


  • CPU - 3.0E SL79L 7403A378 Philippines
  • Motherboard - Abit AI7 (BIOS 16)
  • Cooling - First stages of testing running TTGI USA TT-550TS:
    -- CoolCases CF1 microstructure water block, Hydor L30, Black Ice Extreme 2x120mm Sunon's.
  • Cooling - Second stage of testing running PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 510 Deluxe:
    -- Danger Den RBX (nozzle-5) , Hydor L-40, Danger Den Double Heater Core, 4x120mm Sunon's
  • RAM - Corsair Twin-XPRO4000 (2x1GB-matched pairs)
  • RAM - OCZ Premiere PC4200 (1GB-kit)
  • VGA - Asus 9950 (Det.56.64)
  • Optical - TDK VeloCD/RW
  • Monitor - IBM P260
  • PSU - PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 510 (12V - 34A / 5V - 40A / 3.3V- 30A)
  • PSU - TTGI USA TT-550TS (12V - 22A / 5V - 55A / 3.3V - 28A)


    From the temp sensors available from the Abit AI7, most pertinent for our purposes will be Guru's PWM (power circuitry to the CPU). It's the first motherboard to incorporate this feature I've come across, and I'm dedicating an entire article to its timely introduction corresponding to the release of socket-478 Prescott. Since installing the Prescott 3.0E SL97L, I've seen these devices endure temps I wouldn't think possible. The highest I'd seen occurred running the Prescott 3.0E with the TurboCool 510 Deluxe behind it, at 250FSB, 1:1-aspect ratio (3.7GHz @ 1.468Vcore) under full LOAD (Seti@Home), as PWM temps reached 88C/192F;


    Madshrimps (c)



    At 255FSB 1:1 (3.8GHz @ 1.485Vcore) also under full LOAD (Seti@Home) temps with the TTGI reached 74C/174F. The TTGI TT-550-TS was incapable of running the system stable for an extended length of time, above 255FSB regardless of Vcore. Running under power of the TTGI TT-550TS note the oscillations on the 12V rail (which power's the CPU for Northwood/Prescott) under this duress (below);


    Madshrimps (c)



    While the TurboCool 510 surely doesn't have the ability to "cool" mosfetts, it's abundant current may give them a fighting chance (read lower temp). Running under the same conditions for an extended period of time (3.8GHz @ 1.485Vcore) with the PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 510, resulted in a 14C/33F PWM temperature drop. In addition the 12V rail is almost devoid of oscillations (below);


    Madshrimps (c)



    The source of the PWM temp problem is not attributable to the PSU, but due to the fact all socket-478 motherboard CPU power-circuitry were originally designed for 130nm current demands. When your specific motherboard maker states your motherboard is "Prescott ready" this merely equates to ad hoc adjustments such as dropping the minimum Vcore setting to 1.385V, etc. These prima facie fixes preclude part changes such as mosfetts, capacitors, and other related devices necessary to power a completely different CPU. This is, however; an issue for another article.


    Perhaps the only way to explain what these PSU's have endured given the Prescott's "needs" and the AI7's "co dependency" would be their martyrization. If there ever was a true test of a PSU, this was it. Now for the shocker. The PCPower&Cooling not only ran the Prescott overclocked to 3.8GHz at 1.485Vcore running Set@Home, it simultaneously powered five 80-mm fans in the TTGI USA TT-201T3, along with the other components, it also powered four 120mm Sunons mounted on a Danger Den double heater core.


    Every 12v-molex were occupied with multiple devices and the PCPower&Cooling still held it's rails above spec, and without fluctuation during testing. The photo below exemplifies the rig;


    Madshrimps (c)



    The screen-shot below represents system temps/voltages at full-load overclocked (255FSB/3.8GHz/Vcore-1.485). Given the overclocking conditions these rails are simply outstanding;


    Madshrimps (c)



    The next screen-shot represents system temps/voltages running Idle, under default speeds (200FSB/3.0GHz/Vcore-1.385V);


    Madshrimps (c)
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