KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
If you are in the market for a new power supply there are no shortage of options this year. Kitguru does often place a focus on expensive, high end PSU's, however we know not everyone can afford them. With this in mind today we look at a bargain basement offering from Aerocool – the new Integrator 600 watt unit. With a bargain basement price just over £30 we have to ask – is it any good at all?
The Aerocool Integrator 600 watt has been launched to target the low end of the enthusiast audience. Those people who are forced to work with a very restrictive budget. You can forget luxuries such as modular cabling, high efficiency ratings and fancy digital interface cables – when meeting such a strict price point certain compromises have to be made.
The AeroCool Integrator 600 Watt is said by the company to achieve 85% efficiency, but they have not certified it for the 80 Plus Bronze rating.
Aerocool seem fairly confident about this new unit as they offer a 2 year warranty with it. The supply itself is a reference design by HEC – an OEM who have earned a reputation for creating many inexpensive yet workable budget power supplies. HEC can be a little hit and miss at times – so it will interesting to see how this specific model performs.
Key Features:
- Black Outlook – Elegant black PSU casing with fully black mesh cables.
- ATX12V ver.2.31 – Compliant with ATX12V Ver.2.3.
- High Efficiency – High efficiency PSU – up to 85% efficiency.
- Single 12V Rail – Single 12V rail for high compatibility and extreme high current output.
- Long Cabling – Main cable length up to 550mm is easy for high-end tower chassis installation.
- Two PCIe – Two PCIe 6+2pin connector for mid-range graphic card.
- 7 SATA – Up to 7 SATA connectors supports for numbers of hard drives.
- 12cm Silent Fan – 12cm silent black fan with smart thermal fan speed control circuit.
- Fully Protection – Fully protection functions with OVP/UVP/OPP/SCP/SIP.
- Fully Safety – Safety and EMC certified by CE and TUV.
- ECO friendly – ECO friendly by RoHS and Erp 2013 directives.
The AeroCool Integrator 600 Watt arrives in an understated black box. No high resolution images of the product on the front sadly.
The rear of the box highlights some key selling points as well as images (and a cable count) of the headers, and a technical table of the power output. ‘Made In China' is shown bottom right on the rear of the box.
The first giveaway that this is a low cost budget product. Only a thin strip of foam on one side of the box. The power supply itself is only protected within a thin layer of bubblewrap.
This is a very limited bundle. There is no user manual, no literature, cable ties or even mounting screws in our sample box. Just a regional specific power cable. Aerocool did confirm that final retail samples will ship with ‘power cable/safety notice and mounting screws.'
The hardwired cables, above. Aerocool have sleeved them which helps improve the appearance. This power supply is not certified for SLI or Crossfire configurations however there are two 6+2 PCI-E connectors which would support a single mid-high end graphics card or two low end GPU's adapters requiring a single power connector each.
You could obviously use Molex adapter cables to power more graphics cards, but we would recommend aiming higher up the food chain if you are running more demanding system configurations.
The finish of the AeroCool Integrator 600 Watt power supply is surprisingly good, considering the modest £30 price point.
The paint work wasn't deep enough to survive our ‘screwdriver stress test' however. We try to mirror a system build environment by running the head of a Philips screwdriver down one side of the power supply with weak to moderate force. Many people will accidentally connect with one side of a power supply during a system build, so we try and replicate this during our power supply reviews.
At the top of the power supply is a black protective grill – in front of a large 120mm fan. An Aerocool badge is clearly visible underneath. We will look more closely at the fan later in the review.
One side of the power supply is vented to aid with air flow. At the side is a power connector and button.
This is not a modular power supply, so all the cables are hardwired into the chassis. A little plastic protective cover surrounds the metal, as the cables pass into the chassis. Appearances are good as the cables are fully sleeved all the way in.
| AeroCool Integrator 600 Watt | |||||
|
DC Output
|
+5V
|
+3.3V
|
+12V
|
-12V
|
+5Vsb
|
|
Max Output
|
17A
|
20A
|
46A
|
0.3A
|
2.5A
|
| Total Power | 120W | 552W | 3.6W | 12.5W | |
| 600W | |||||
Aerocool are using a 120mm fan by Dong Guan Zhan YU Industrial Co Limited (model number ZY-1202512SH). There is very little information online about this fan, but we will analyse noise levels later in the review.
Soldering quality of the main PCB is decent and there are several rows of heatsinks across the PCB to support cooling efficiency.
The primary 330uF 400V capacitor is 85c rated and branded Asia'X. We haven't seen an Asia'X capacitor in a very long time. They are manufactured by parent company Fuhijju Electronic Industrial Co. Ltd. This company have close relations with TEAPO and their manufacturing is handled in China. They are not considered to be a quality brand.
Secondary capacitors are all sourced from lesser brands in China and are a mixture of 85c and 105c rated.
The hardwired cables are sleeved into the chassis and a plastic cover protects them from fraying against the metal chassis.
On this page we present some high resolution images of the product. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.
Additional technical assistance: Peter McFarland and Jeremy Price.
Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 watt DC load. Due to public requests we have changed our temperature settings – previously we rated with ambient temperatures at 25C, we have increased ambient temperatures by 10c (to 35c) in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions.
We use combinations of the following hardware:
• SunMoon SM-268
• CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs)
• CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4)
• Extech Power Analyzer
• Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter
• SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa)
• Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC)
• Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA
|
DC Output Load Regulation
|
||||||||||
|
Combined DC Load |
+3.3V
|
+5V
|
+12V
|
+5VSB
|
-12V | |||||
|
A
|
V
|
A
|
V
|
A
|
V
|
A
|
V
|
A | V | |
|
75W
|
1.09
|
3.35
|
1.47
|
5.00
|
4.92
|
12.05
|
0.50
|
5.00
|
0.20
|
-12.05
|
|
150W
|
2.09
|
3.33
|
2.97
|
4.97
|
10.02
|
12.00
|
0.50
|
5.00
|
0.30
|
-12.06
|
|
300W
|
4.30
|
3.32
|
6.00
|
4.94
|
20.58
|
11.97
|
1.00
|
4.99
|
0.30
|
-12.06
|
| 450W |
6.57
|
3.32
|
8.48
|
4.92
|
31.79
|
11.94
|
1.50
|
4.98 |
0.30
|
-12.08
|
|
600W
|
9.94
|
3.30
|
12.20
|
4.90
|
41.78
|
11.87
|
2.50
|
4.96
|
0.30
|
-12.09
|
The Aerocool Integrator 600 Watt supply delivers decent regulation across all the outputs and handles the load tests very well. All of the primary rails held within 3% of the nominal voltage.
| AeroCool Integrator 600 Watt PSU | Maximum Load |
| 612W |
We managed to get 612W out of the PSU before it would shut down, and the protection circuitry worked well in our testing. This is always important with a low cost power supply.
Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly.
| Cross Load Testing | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | -12V | +5VSB | |||||
| A | V | A | V | A | V | A | V | A | V | |
| 590W | 1.0 | 3.35 | 1.0 | 5.00 | 45.0 | 11.82 | 0.2 | -12.05 | 0.50 | 5.02 |
| 145W | 12.0 | 3.28 | 15.0 | 4.88 | 2.0 | 12.05 | 0.2 | -12.07 | 0.50 | 5.00 |
The Aerocool Integrator 600 watt power supply coped with the cross loading tests, although there was fluctuation on most of the rails. The +12V rail dropped to 11.82 Volts when hit with 45 Amps.
We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum. ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide.
|
ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance
|
|
|
Output
|
Ripple (mV p-p)
|
|
+3.3V
|
50
|
|
+5V
|
50
|
|
+12V1
|
120
|
|
+12V2
|
120
|
|
-12V
|
120
|
|
+5VSB
|
50
|
Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard.
| AC Ripple (mV p-p) | ||||
| DC Load | +3.3V | +5V | +12V | 5VSB |
| 75W | 10 | 10 | 30 | 10 |
| 150W | 15 | 10 | 40 | 15 |
| 300W | 20 | 15 | 55 | 15 |
| 450W | 30 | 20 | 70 | 20 |
| 600W | 35 | 25 | 85 | 25 |
Noise suppression falls within rated industry tolerance levels, although the +12V peak at 85mV could certainly be a little better.
|
Efficiency (%)
|
|
|
75W
|
80.23
|
|
150W
|
84.54
|
|
300W
|
85.21
|
|
450W
|
83.44
|
|
600W
|
79.23
|
Efficiency peaks at just over 85% in our tests at 300 watts load. This drops to around 79% at full load. Based on our results the unit wouldn't quite meet 80 Plus Bronze certification standards.
We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.
Today to test the Power Supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself.
As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.
KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 Player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum
|
Noise (dBA)
|
|
|
75W
|
28.0
|
|
150W
|
29.4
|
|
300W
|
31.6
|
|
450W
|
33.1
|
| 600W | 35.8 |
The power supply is quiet until around 350 watts when the fan spins up noticeably to deal with rising ambient temperatures. At full load it is clearly audible although not actually too intrusive due to the low pitch of the fan.
|
Temperature (c)
|
||
|
Intake
|
Exhaust
|
|
|
75W
|
35
|
43
|
|
150W
|
35
|
46
|
|
300W
|
37
|
49
|
|
450W
|
41
|
52
|
|
600W
|
44
|
57
|
The fan keeps temperatures under control, peaking at a 13c above ambient threshold when at full load.
|
Maximum load
|
Efficiency
|
|
612W
|
78.48
|
At 612 Watts the efficiency of the power supply drops to around 78.5 percent. It really wouldn't be realistic to be pushing a 600 watt power supply to its rated limit all the time however.
The AeroCool Integrator 600 Watt power supply is certainly not going to break any performance records, but considering the extremely modest £30 asking price, it will comfortably serve the audience who are forced to count every penny.
First impressions are what we would expect from a budget power supply. The box is barebones, with only a single piece of thin foam protecting the power supply from damage in transit, not ideal. Our review sample didn't have all the goodies inside, but Aerocool have assured us that the customer will get a power cable/safety notice and mounting screws.
Technically the unit is unremarkable. Load regulation is decent and it didn't shut down during our Cross load tests. When we pushed it beyond its 600 watt rating the protection circuitry kicked in, which is very reassuring – especially when dealing with a budget power supply equipped with lower cost components. Positively, it could deliver a 600 watt load for a long time, so the company are not mislabeling the unit.
Ripple suppression is not wonderful, however all rails fell within the industry rated specifications. There is no doubt that +12V suppression could be a little better … hitting 85mV at full load – however our real world system tests are positive.
Analysing technical data on a review page will highlight any noticeable shortcomings however we built a gaming system using a 4670k processor with an overclocked R9 290 graphics card and stressed the Integrator 600 for 96 consecutive hours with Furmark and Prime. The system was rock stable.
Now we aren't recommending you rush out and budget only £30 on a power supply as the foundation for new high end gaming system, but our results are an indication that the Integrator 600 will be capable in the mid to low end enthusiast gaming sector.
Right now you can pick up the Aerocool Integrator 600 watt power supply for £31.58 inc vat from CCLOnline. If you are building a new budget gaming system and have a very limited budget this power supply should do the job for a couple of years.
Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.
Pros:
- extremely competitive price point.
- looks quite nice.
- two 8 pin PCIe power connectors.
- coped with an R9 290 graphics card.
- low noise fan until last 20% of load.
- protection circuitry works.
Cons:
- low cost Chinese sourced components used in the build.
- not modular.
- ripple suppression could be better.
Kitguru says: Strictly for the budget market, but our tests highlight decent performance and good protection circuitry.
