Stress Testing

Now that we have a better understanding of the design and all the connectors the supply offers we can move onto some stress testing to see how well it stands up under load.

The system used for real world testing consists of the following hardware:

ATI X1900XT 512MB PCI-e @ 650/750 MHz
AMD A64 3700 SanDiego @ 2.43 GHz 1MB L2 Cache
MSI RD480 Neo2-FI 220MHz FSB
2 GB Kingmax PC3200 @ DDR 440
Cooler Master Centurion 534
2 x 120mm fans @ 12v
Cooler Master IGreen 500W PSU
1 x 80GB WDJB 8MB cache ATA100 7200RPM
1x 400GB Seagate SATA II drive with 16MB cache
Dell 2005fpw 20.1” LCD
2x LG GSA-H10A 16x Super Multi DVD/CD Rewriter

For all testing instances our CPU was overclocked to 2.43 GHz and our FSB speed was 220 MHz or a 10% increase in FSB speed over default. Our ATI Radeon X1900XT was overclocked to 650/750 MHz which should increase the load on the 12V rail.

 

Torture Test #1 Synthetic benchmark application 3DMark06/Prime 95

We used 3DMark06 for this test because it is demanding on the CPU and even more demanding on the video card. Even though this benchmark does have flaws in the way it interprets Dual core CPU results, it will have no real bearing on the type of testing we are doing here. This testing will provide a decent representation of the stress a power supply endures under heavy load. The 3DMark06 Demo was looped for 2 hours with Prime 95 running in the background. Voltages were recorded at 15 minute intervals over the duration of our testing.

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The IGreen was rock solid through this test and did not display any audible rattle when stressed; the voltages also remained very stable throughout. Very impressive performance and not very noisy either. The 12V rails barley moved only dropping to 11.96 at it lowest point of this test.

Torture Test #2 Game testing

We played COD2 and 2x FSAA enabled and 16x High Quality AF @ 1680x1050 for two hours with Prime 95 running in the background. Voltages were recorded at 15 minute intervals over the duration of our testing.

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During our COD2 game testing the iGreen once again proved to be extremely stable and quiet. Our 5.5V rails ran slightly over voltage but within specs and the 12V and 3.3V rails were both solid once again.

 

Torture Test #3 Photoshop Benchmark

For this test the DH Photoshop benchmark was run continuously on a 250 MB image, with Prime95 running in the background. Voltages were recorded at 15 minute intervals over the duration of our testing.

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Again this power supply performed admirably in our final stress test. All of the voltages remain well within spec and the unit is quiet at the same time.