SilenX Luxurae Review --- TheThirdMedia Hardware

Testing
I put this SilenX power supply up against three others with similar wattages. A 350w Thermaltake PurePower (0dB), 300w AGI 1125BTA, and 330w Enermax EG351P-VE were the competitors for the testing. I opted to do the testing in a mid level system rather than a top of the line one because of the wattage. In all testing idle voltages were taken while idling in Windows XP and the load voltages were obtained by running Prime95 to get the processors to 100% utilization. The 5v, 12v, and 3.3v lines of these power supplies were tested to get a good idea of how they all compared. All voltage results were obtained using Hardware Monitor Pro.

Testbed

Albatron KM18G Pro

AMD Athlon XP 1800+

PMI 512MB PC3200 Dual Channel kit

Plextor PX-504A

40GB Seagate hard drive

Power supplies tested

SilenX 0dBA Luxurae 400w (passive)

Thermaltake PurePower 350w (passive)

Enermax EG351P-VE 330w (active)

AGI 1125BTA 300w (active)

After booting up the computer the power supply was completely silent, as it should be. With the 5v line testing the SileX PSU didn't do very well. All three of the other power supplies did better than the SilenX with the exception of the Enermax idle voltage which ended up being 0.02 lower. I expected the SilenX to do much better than this, especially since it is higher in wattage than the rest.

The 12v line testing was a little better for the SilenX, however the Thermaltake did much better. Compared to the rest of the power supplies it did do pretty well. Again though I would have liked to have seen more from this unit.

The 3.3v testing yeilded different results than with the 5v and 12v tests. The SilenX was actually the worst in the group during the idle stages and 2nd to worst when the system was at load. The Thermaltake was not the best like it was with the 5v and 12v testing and the Enermax was the champ here.

After these somewhat disappointing results I quickly remembered the voltage regulation knob on the back of the power supply. Initially the knob is at its lowest levels, which I assume are the default. I then slowly turned the knob and didn't notice as much as I thought I would. Only when I cranked the knob up to the maximum did I see any real difference. I then ran Prime95 again to bring the processor to 100% utilization and compared the results with the original testing with the knob turned down. The knob produced an extra 0.10v moving giving it a solid 5.00v during load. The 12v line increased 0.24v bringing which resulted in a total 12.40v. Lastly, the 3.3v line had 0.02v added on giving it a final result of 3.25v which is still below the needed 3.3v.

Conclusion
At the end of this review I am stuck with mixed feelings over the product. On the one hand you are getting a silent power supply that is cooled very well and has a lot of great features. On the other you get an expensive power supply that is somewhat lacking when it comes to brute force power. These are generally not going to cause you system to be unstable and did not fluctuate much under load. However with more powerful hardware your system will draw more from the power supply. These upgrades or additions will cause more stress on the power supply and generally will cause the voltage levels to drop. The way I look at it in a situation like this is what are you looking for from the product, how well it does that, and what is the cost. In this case the power supply is designed to be silent, which it does very well and has a lot of great features on top of that. As far as the cost, this power supply is going to set you back over $200 which is quite a lot for a 400w power supply. If you want good hardware sometimes you gotta shell out the cash for it. This product is obviously intended for certain people looking for something specific, so if you are one of those people this could be for you. If you are looking for the biggest baddest power supply on the block you may want to look at something else. Overall I am giving this power supply a 8/10 and awarding it the We Seal of Approval. I would like to thank SilenX for making this review possible.

Pros:

Totally silent

D-shaped molex connectors

Excellent passive cooling

Vented housing

2 native SATA plugs

External voltage regulation knob

Looks great

Cons:

Expensive

Voltages could be stronger



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