Nilox SRM-850 Review
Category : PSUs
Published by Marc Büchel on 12.09.14
Today, we have a chance to look at a power supply from Nilox. To be a bit more precise we're having a closer look at their SRM-850 offering. This PSU features a single-rail design that boasts 70A on the +12 rail. Apart from that this unit also features a very reasonable price point and we're curious to see what it can do.
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Presentation
The Nilox SRM-850 comes in a standard box with all features and specifications clearly detailed on other packaging. Inside the box you find an adequate bundle, especially if you consider the price of this block.
The bundle inside is pretty standard as you get the power cable, manual, warranty information, a couple of cable ties and four black screws to mount it in your case.
The Nilox SRM-850 is a standard 160mm long ATX power supply unit and it features a 140mm fan.
| Page 1 - Presentation |
| Page 2 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 3 - Delivery / Specs |
| Page 4 - A Look Inside |
| Page 5 - Input/Output Power and Efficiency |
| Page 6 - Result Analysis and Discussion |
| Page 7 - Conclusion |
Photo Gallery
| Page 1 - Presentation |
| Page 2 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 3 - Delivery / Specs |
| Page 4 - A Look Inside |
| Page 5 - Input/Output Power and Efficiency |
| Page 6 - Result Analysis and Discussion |
| Page 7 - Conclusion |
Delivery and Specifications
The SRM-850 is a partially modular PSU.
Cables |
|
| Cable | Length |
| 1 x ATX 20+4 pin | 53 cm |
| 1 x EPS/ATX 12V (4+4) pin | 58 cm |
| 2 x PCI-E 6+2 pin | 60 cm |
| 3 x 4x SATA | 45, 60, 75, 90 cm |
| 2 x 4x Molex | 45, 60, 75, 90 cm |
| 1 x Floppy | 15 cm |
Considering the advertised wattage, it's not possible to attach too many devices to the SRM-850. There are for example two PCI-Express 6+2 pin connector cables and you get two connectors with each cable. Apart from that there are two cables to attach a total of eight SATA drives and there are another two cables to connect up to eight devices with molex connectors.
Specifications |
|||
| Voltage | Current | Power | |
| + 3.3 V | 25 A | 130 Watt | 850 Watt (Total) |
| + 5.0 V | 30 A | ||
| + 12 V | 70 A | 840 Watt | |
| - 12 V | 0.8 A | 9.6 Watt | |
| + 5 Vsb | 3 A | 15 Watt | |
The Nilox SRM-850W is an 850W PSU, which is based on a single +12V rail design. As you can see from the specification table, it offers up to 70Amps on its +12V rail.
The SRM-850 has been 80Plus Bronze certified, which means that this PSU is able to reach a maximum efficiency of 82 percent at 20% load, 85% at 50% load and 82% at 100% load. Furthermore this PSU complies with ErP guidelines (Energy Rated Product) and therefore it consumes less than 1 Watt when an attached system is powered off or in standby.
As you can see from the list below, the rest of the features include standard protections and a 5-year warranty which is pretty much what you get with a mid-range class PSU.
- 80Plus Bronze
- ErP
- OVP, UVP, OCP, SCP, OPP, OTP
- Dimensions (W x H x D): 160 mm x 86 mm x 149 mm
- 140 millimeter fan
- Warranty: 5 Years
- Price: 103 EUR
| Page 1 - Presentation |
| Page 2 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 3 - Delivery / Specs |
| Page 4 - A Look Inside |
| Page 5 - Input/Output Power and Efficiency |
| Page 6 - Result Analysis and Discussion |
| Page 7 - Conclusion |
A Look Inside
The design is based on a 12V PSU using the LLC resonance converter topology. The 3.3V and 5V are generated from 12V using DC-DC converter. This topology is very common in modern PSUs.
Directly at the AC input we can see two Y capacitors for burst pulse filtering. On the main PCB the filtering continues with one Y, one X caps, one MOV and two CM chokes for the input filtering. The rectification is done using a GBU806C (8A, 600V) fixed to a heatsink. The APFC uses two Mosfets (FQA24N50 500V, 0.20 Ohm) and a QH8TT600 (600V, 8A, trr 19.5ns, Vf 2.6V) Diode. One Aishi (400V, 470uF, 85C) is used as APFC capacitor. The LLC resonance converter is controlled by a CM6502S. On the primary side there are two more FQA24N50 (500V, 8A, 0.2 Ohm) mosfets. With this PSU most heatsinks are plain metal plates.
For 12V rectification there are six 9990GH (60V, 70A, 6.0 mOhm) mosfests, which have been place directly into the air stream of the fan, but the have not been attached to a specific cooler. On the secondary side, Nilox decided to use CapXon 105C capacitors for DC filtering. The 3.3V and 5V converters are located at the back end of the PCB. The cables of the connectors are split here between 12 and 3.3, 5V for a good reason and are soldered to the correct place. Overall this is a low cost design, which has been done decently.
| Page 1 - Presentation |
| Page 2 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 3 - Delivery / Specs |
| Page 4 - A Look Inside |
| Page 5 - Input/Output Power and Efficiency |
| Page 6 - Result Analysis and Discussion |
| Page 7 - Conclusion |
Input/Output Power and Efficiency
| Page 1 - Presentation |
| Page 2 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 3 - Delivery / Specs |
| Page 4 - A Look Inside |
| Page 5 - Input/Output Power and Efficiency |
| Page 6 - Result Analysis and Discussion |
| Page 7 - Conclusion |
Result Analysis and Discussion
Efficiency 115V |
|||
| Load | Pin(W) | Pout(W) | Efficiency |
| 20 % | 199.50 | 173.60 | 87.02 % |
| 50 % | 490.10 | 431.50 | 88.04 % |
| 100 % | 1020.30 | 853.90 | 83.69 % |
The 80Plus Bronze certification requirements (82% - 85% - 82%) are surpassed especially at 20% load. The full load efficiency is a bit higher at 230V AC. This is the case with most of todays PSU's as it mainly originates from the reason of lower losses in the AC filtering stage and the PFC at 230V AC.
Output Stability |
|||
| Load | Rail | Loading(A) | Output(V) |
| 20 % | 5V | 2.7 | 5.09 |
| 3.3V | 2.7 | 3.31 | |
| 12V | 12.0 | 12.20 | |
| 5VSB | 0.5 | 5.10 | |
| 50 % | 5V | 6.7 | 5.03 |
| 3.3V | 6.7 | 3.32 | |
| 12V | 30.0 | 12.20 | |
| 5VSB | 1.3 | 5.02 | |
| 100 % | 5V | 13.3 | 5.01 |
| 3.3V | 13.3 | 3.29 | |
| 12V | 60.0 | 12.10 | |
| 5VSB | 2.6 | 5.01 | |
The Voltage Regulation of this PSU is quite surprisingly good. It makes use of a DC-DC topology. This means, that the SRM-850 is mainly a 12V PSU and then generates its 5V and 3.3V from 12V rail. This is a modern approach, and since the load is mainly on the 12V rail, the design makes a lot of sense. For almost any PSU which makes use of this topology crossload tests do not present a problem.
| Noise | |
| Load | |
| 20 % | silent |
| 50 % | Audible |
| 100 % | Loud |
Noise level results are good as the PSU can be categorized silent at 20% load. At 50% load the PSU is audible but still sufficiently quiet. At full load, the noise is a different story as that fan was never meant to spin at high RPM and it makes the PSU quite loud.
| Noise/Ripple | |
| Voltage | Noise/Ripple Vpp |
| 5V | 0.019 |
| 12V | 0.030 |
| -12V | 0.071 |
| 3.3V | 0.026 |
| +5VSB | 0.021 |
The noise values are OK and within the ATX norm.
| Page 1 - Presentation |
| Page 2 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 3 - Delivery / Specs |
| Page 4 - A Look Inside |
| Page 5 - Input/Output Power and Efficiency |
| Page 6 - Result Analysis and Discussion |
| Page 7 - Conclusion |
Conclusion
With the SRM-850 Nilox created a power supply, where you can clearly see the compromises regarding quality on the inside of the unit in favor of maximizing margin. Considering the price of 103 Euro at Amazon.it this unit is not cheap. Apart from that the internals of this unit cannot be compared to a high-end power supply. Nevertheless Nilox succeeded in releasing a unit, that is suitable for most PCs. What we liked is that the fan is overall silent and there is a partially modular cable management in place. In our opinion Nilox could have used high quality Japanese capacitors on the DC side considering the given price.The Nilox SRM-850 receives 3 out of 5 possible stars from us.
| Page 1 - Presentation |
| Page 2 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 3 - Delivery / Specs |
| Page 4 - A Look Inside |
| Page 5 - Input/Output Power and Efficiency |
| Page 6 - Result Analysis and Discussion |
| Page 7 - Conclusion |
Author: JAVASCRIPT l.muehle@ocaholic.ch