Test System:

Intel Test System
CPU	Pentium 630 Retail (3.0GHz 2MB L2 1.31Vcore) Socket-775
Mainboard	Asus P5AD2-E Premium (BIOS 1005)
Memory	Corsair micro 5400UL (2x512MB DC CL3-2-2-6)
Graphics	Sapphire X800XT PCI-ex
Power Supply	PC Power and Cooling TurboCool 850 SSI
Cooling	Alphacool Xtreme Pro Set NexXxos XP BOLD for Socket-775
Operating System	Windows XP SP2

BIOS Rail Voltages:




Test Methodology:



Using a FLUKE-187 measurements were taken at the motherboard inserting the multi-meter probes into the opposite end of the connectors.

Software monitoring (voltages/temps/CPU speed, etc.) were measured using Asus Probe v.2.23.01 in conjunction with Ai Booster v.2.00.42.

To produce LOAD I ran the system-stress test utility S&M v.0.3.2a. I've found this utility to be the most effective for placing a "virtual" LOAD on the CPU. The screenshot below exemplifies software data recording.



The remaining screenshots are viewable by clicking on the thumbnails.



Multi-meter results




Conclusion

PC Power and Cooling hasn't simply offered us another more powerful PSU this is in fact a departure from previous designs. Over the years PSU design has become homogenized with just about every design sharing of capacitors, transformers, and other stages. The end result is a compromise dictated purely by a profit driven market which has minimized the role of the PSU.

In their attempts to cut costs, system builders used PSUs which just barely got the job done. It was in fact PC Power and Cooling whom departed from the prototypical design to give us the archetypal design back in 1986 and today on their unofficial 20th anniversary they've redefined what a PSU can be. XtremeOverclocking has published an excellent guide to PSU Truths and Misconceptions. An underlying theme repeated in the article is the influences on design-integrity cost have had. In the guide they allude to the ideal PSU being a proprietary design were it not for cost considerations.

Today PCP&C has given us such an animal and it's currently the most powerful unit on the market. At $469 it is perhaps the most costly, however; in this case you truly do get what you pay for. A 5-year warranty, unrelenting power, silent operation and a PSU able to power multiple SATA, SLI graphics cards (each with a dedicated line), and the load demands of any desk-top system thrown at it.

Be sure to visit their website which has been completely redesigned. Many will be excited to find their lists of re-furbished PSUs for sale with prices ranging from $24 to $239 and many units are the (originally) higher priced custom units built for those with unlimited fund.

The false impression their PSUs were prohibitively costly evaporates with the launch of their new site. Stay tuned for our second part where we test the TurboCool 850 SSI on our DFI motherboard with nVidia graphic cards running in SLI mode. I would like to thank the folks at PC Power and Cooling for the opportunity to test their TurboCool 850 SSI.

Questions/Comments: forum thread