AeroCool Strike-X 800W PSU Review

Today we are looking at a power supply from Aerocool, the Strike X 800W. This power supply is a modular design with 80 Plus Silver Certification. The appearance is certainly bold and dramatic but with such intensive competition today in the sub £100 sector is this unit worthy of a shortlist? Features: Powerful "X" theme Gaming PSU Compatible with ATX 12V 2.3 and EPS 12V 2.92 Low Noise 13.9cm Fan with intelligent fan speed control High-Efficiency (up to 88%) – 80+ Silver Certified Modular Cable w/ Black Sleeving to reduce the cable mess inside your chassis and improves the air flow of your system. Supports Dual Core CPU, ATI CrossFire, NVIDIA SLi and all Multi-Core GPU technologies. Built in next generation 6+2 pin PCI-Express graphic card connector. Active Power Factor Correction (PF>0.99) Extremely good voltage regulation (±5%): provides steady power input High reliability: MTBF>120,000 hours Green power design that meets EuP requirements Protections: Over Current, Over Voltage, Over Wattage, Over Temperature and Short-Circuit protection Safety / EMI Approvals: CE, CB, TUV, FCC, UL The Aerocool Strike-X 800W power supply arrives in a very bland looking box with an image of the unit on the front. Inside, the unit is protected between two rubber foam pads. The accessories and cables are in a separate box at the side. We were surprised to find that the company don't seem to include a user manual, unless our sample was opened previously and this was removed. Inside is a thin cardboard box with the modular cables, installation screws and a regional specific power cable. The AeroCool Strike-X isn't a pure modular design, some of the main cables are hardwired, as seen above left. The cables are all sleeved and decent quality. Cable Connectors MB 20+4 pin x1 (720mm) CPU 4+4 pin x1 (720mm) CPU 8 pin x1 (720mm) PCI E 8 pin (6 pin +2) x4 (650mm) SATA x8 (600mm) MOLEX x5 (600mm) A decent array of cables, although it is worth pointing out that the Corsair AX860 which we reviewed earlier this week ships with six x 6+2 pin PCI-E cables. Those two extra connectors may be useful to a small portion of the prospective audience. The AeroCool Strike-X 800W is a bright, eye catching red and black design with the 'X' logo crafted in aluminum on the top. The fan is hidden behind the grill and 'X' logo, with another smaller 'X' badge in the center. One side of the AeroCool Strike-X 800W is honeycomb vented to help improve airflow. The power button and socket is set to the side. Most of the AeroCool Strike-X 800W power supply is finished in a bright red paint which attracts the light very nicely. It would look great with some red case LED's close by. The hardwired cables are protected into the chassis as we can see above, with a rubber grommet protecting against the metal chassis. To check the surface of the power supplies we test, we often gently run a screwdriver across the paintwork, to see if they can withstand careless handling without damage. Sadly the AeroCool Strike-X paintwork is very thin and marks easily. You really do need to handle this unit with care. That said, I do like the finish, it is a very attractive colour of paint. The modular connectors are on the other side of the AeroCool Strike-X, they are colour coordinated and labelled for ease of install. It is a shame they didn't opt for a pure modular design as they could have removed the hard wired cables and used the space for more modular ports. AeroCool Strike-X 800W Power Supply DC Output +3.3V +5V +12V1 -12V +5Vsb Max Output 24A 24A 66A 0.5A 3A Total Power 170W 792W 6W 15W 800W The AeroCool Strike X 800W Power supply can deliver 66A to the +12V rail for 792W of the total output. Aerocool are using a Young Lin Tech fan, model number DFS132512H. This fan is rated to 1,700 rpm and has a translucent red impeller. Sadly there is no backlighting which would have enhanced the unit in operation. There are three plastic boundaries on the housing to direct and enhance the fan air flow. Initially we thought this was a Hiper design, but it appears to be manufactured by Andyson - a company we haven't rated that highly going on past experiences. There are several rows of black heatsinks across the length of the PCB to help maintain the required thermal curve under load situations. The construction/soldering quality of this unit isn't bad and it is using Teapo electrolytic capacitors throughout the design. We aren't big believers in Teapo capacitors as we have experienced failures in the past. The two main capacitors are 85c Teapo, 420V 270uF rated. Output capacitors are rated to 105c. This supply is using the PS232S supervisor processor. There are two DC-DC converter cards and two input capacitors. On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. 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 recently – 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 • Extech digital sound level meter • 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 100W 1.55 3.30 1.78 5.07 6.67 12.07 0.5 5.05 0.20 -12.04 200W 3.13 3.29 3.45 5.04 13.53 12.03 1.0 5.03 0.30 -12.05 400W 6.17 3.27 7.16 5.03 27.62 11.97 1.5 4.98 0.50 -12.06 600W 9.44 3.26 10.77 4.99 41.32 11.95 2.0 4.96 0.60 -12.10 800W 13.24 3.23 15.09 4.97 55.45 11.92 2.5 4.93 0.80 -12.10 The AeroCool Strike-X 800W has a decent load regulation, and all readings fall within acceptable parameters. AeroCool Strike-X 800W Maximum Load 834W We managed to get the PSU to hit 834W before it would shut down. delivering around 34W more than the rated specifications. 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 760W 1.0 3.30 1.0 5.07 60.0 11.85 0.2 -12.04 0.50 5.03 165W 15.0 3.22 18.0 4.94 2.0 12.06 0.2 -12.03 0.50 5.02 Cross loading results are acceptable, however the +12V output dropped to 11.85 when hit with 60A. Not a problem under real world conditions, but we have seen a lot better this year. 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 100W 10 10 20 15 200W 15 20 25 20 400W 20 40 35 25 600W 30 50 50 35 800W 35 65 70 40 Noise suppression is not good, the +3.3V rail peaked at 35 mV, which is still within rated tolerance levels, but higher than most we have tested this year. The +12V output peaks at 70mV which is safe enough, but higher than we would like. The issue is the +5V output which peaks at 65mV. This is classed as a 'fail' and could potentially prove an issue long term, especially if the power supply is being pushed hard on a regular basis. At a 600W demand it was reading 50mV on the +5V output, which is far from ideal. We class noise suppression as a fail for this unit. Efficiency (%) 100W 81.66 200W 83.44 400W 87.68 600W 86.21 800W 84.52 Efficiency results are not wonderful, peaking at 87.68% at 50% load. This falls short of the 80 Plus Silver Certification. Efficiency at 200W and less is also poor. 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 Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2 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) 100W 28.0 200W 29.2 400W 31.3 600W 33.6 800W 36.8 The large fan is quite good until the last 200W of total power output, when it rotates much faster to ensure an adequate thermal curve. At full load it is clearly audible, although never too annoying. Temperature (c) Intake Exhaust 100W 37 41 200W 39 45 400W 42 48 600W 44 53 800W 47 58 The temperatures rise as the fan becomes more active. The overall cooling performance is quite good. Maximum load Efficiency 834W 83.78% For those interested, we measured efficiency when stressing the unit to breaking point. 83.78% at 834 watts. Not realistic at all, but an interesting closing point. The AeroCool Strike-X 800W power supply is not one that we can recommend. While the appearance of the unit is eye catching, there are technical issues which we feel could be problematic. First impressions were less than positive. The lack of user manual and low quality cardboard storage box for the modular cables points to a budget, value oriented supply. The power supply itself looks quite attractive from the outside, and the bright red paint and 'X' logos will surely split opinion with the potential user base. It would look quite attractive in a colour coordinated chassis with some red LED lighting closeby. A pure modular design would help a little with routing, although most of the hardwired cables would be needed for even the most basic system build. The paintwork looks great, but sadly the quality of finish is lacking, our unit chipped and marked quite easily and compares badly to lower cost models in the Corsair or Seasonic range. The Andyson design delivers decent load regulation and it dealt with our cross loading test without falling over, although we have seen much better from other units recently. The fan performed well, however it has to spin quite fast in the last 30% of power output and is clearly audible even over several chassis fans. At full load it generates a noticeable noise emission. The unit failed the ripple suppression test, peaking at 65mV on the +5V output. The other rails held within the official tolerance guidelines, although they were all a little higher than we would like to see. The unit didn't fail in our 'real world' testing this week, but we would have some concerns with the overall noise suppression capabilities, especially if the end user was pushing the supply hard, particularly when overclocked with expensive, high drain partnering equipment. I wouldn't trust this unit long term with a high end system build. The efficiency of the AeroCool Strike-X 800W was also disappointing, especially at lower wattage demands. You can buy the Aerocool Strike-X 800W power supply from CCL for £87.98 inc vat. If you need an 800W supply then we would recommend the higher quality Corsair Gaming Series 800W (Channel Well design) and keep the extra £5 in your pocket. We reviewed it in June this year. If you don't really need an 800W unit (and few do believe it or not) for only £10 more, you can pick up the 80 Plus Gold Certified Seasonic G Series 650W. Pros: Looks quite attractive, if you like bold and loud design. decent load regulation. Cons: poor noise suppression. expensive for what you get. can get loud. didn't reach 80 Plus Silver Certification. finish is lacking. Kitguru says: Sadly we can't recommend the AeroCool Strike-X 800W. There are better units, some of which are cheaper.