Really Cool and Quiet Power Supplies?

Leads And Connectors

The Phantom 350 adheres to the ATX12V 2.01 specification, and comes equipped with a 24 pin ATX power supply connector. For older motherboards the enclosed adapter must be used. A 4 pin P4 adapter is also included.

The power supply includes connections for up to 7 5.25" peripherals, 2 floppy drives, 2 SATA connectors, and 1 PCI-E connector. A shielded ATX-cable is included; using all other connections requires obtaining the right cables to make things work.

Performance

All the information on the device nameplate is correct

In the test harness, the power supply must demonstrate its ability to match in reality what its nameplate claims. In testing, we started out small: Our Light Load only consumes 20% of the maximum power output rated. At this point all our measurements stayed within tolerances, as they also did when checked one hour later. At a Medium Load (50% of maximum power output rated) everything check out likewise. These measurements also confirmed that the device keeps operating within normal parameters even at temperatures of 158° F (70° C).

The device has no trouble delivering 350 watts as claimed (100% or Maximum Load), but we measured the startup line voltage for the +3.3V line at only 3.05 volts. This puts the device outside the specification's tolerance, which permit a minimum of no less than 3.14V.

However, after about 45 minutes at Maximum Load, the device ran at 185° F (85° C), and then turned off without any advance warning. We were therefore forced to conclude that long-term, stable operation at Maximum Load is not workable for the Phantom 350.

The device works completely within norms under a maximum load of up to 77% operating efficiency; under medium load the operating efficiency was 72%, and finally, the light load peaked out at a measly 65.5% during testing.

When we tried to hook up a second test set-up with more accurate measurement capabilities to the Phantom 350, it failed completely with a loud noise and a blue flash inside the power supply case. Luckily for us, the test set-up itself survived this failure without suffering any damage.

At a price of US$169 (160€), we conclude that this device costs to much for the performance it delivers.