Dual 12V PSU Shootout Author: JonnyGuru Date Posted:21/07/2005 13:42.03 AMS Mercury PP-44603 SLRating: Seasonic S-12-430 SLRating: Thermaltake TWV500 SLRating: Bottom Line: The three of these power supplies really don\'t shoot-out each other. If you want cheap, the AMS. If you want quiet, the Seasonic. If you want modular, the Thermaltake. Article Navigation Introduction Testing The AMS Mercury PP-44603 The Seasonic S-12-430 The Thermaltake TWV500 A look at the cables Load test results Conclusion - AMS Mercury PP-44603 - Seasonic S-12-43 - Thermaltake TWV500 Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Discuss This Article

The AMS Mercury PP-44603

Ahh!! Old school. In a land of bling and dookie, the AMS looks like... well... a power supply.  There's no fancy paint job, no lights, no windows.  No modular cables.  Just gunmetal gray and two 80MM fans.

When I first powered up the unit, the first thing that impressed me was how QUIET it was.  AMS's website claims 28dba or less.  I would say, "A LOT less."  Even under load, when the fans spun up to full RPM, I'd have to say the fans were still quieter than a lot of 120MM fans out there.

I'll tell you honestly, I never thought of AMS as someone to go to for an ATX power supply.  A redundant power supply, external drive array enclosure, rack cabinets, etc.  But the construction looks good, the numbers on the label certainly look good... heck!  At $60 the price was right too.

The cables were no frills.  Above we see the ATX 24-pin, a Xeon 8-pin and a 6-pin AUX (NOT a PCI-e.)  Apparently, there is another version of this power supply available with an ATX12V 2x2 connector and PCI Express.  I bought mine from Newegg.  They do NOT list which PSU comes with which cables. When you look at them on Newegg's website, the only difference is one has a "-X" after the part number and costs $5 less than the other.  This model isn't the one I bought.  I was later told that the model that was $5 cheaper that actually had the PCI Express power connector.

In order to use this PSU with an ATX12V, you have to adapt the 8-pin Xeon down to a 4-pin.  There's no such adapter included.  There is a 24-to-20-pin adapter that comes with an adjacent 8-to-4-pin adapter

The cables are all twisted really tight before the ends are put on.  This might help with EMI, but it made the cables stiff.  Handling them was like handling a live snake.  I'd best the cable one way and then with a snap the cable would squiggle in the other direction.

A pair of SATA power connectors are included with this power supply.

Inside the power supply we don't see anything too unusual.  The heatsinks are unique, smaller length than other power supplies, but substantially thicker and of a good width.

The caps on the AC side are "only" 1000uF.  This is the minimum I'd like to see.  They still seem to suit the AMS power supply just fine, but only long term use under high heat can really say for sure.

Now let's take a look at the Seasonic S-12 430W.....

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Article Navigation Introduction Testing The AMS Mercury PP-44603 The Seasonic S-12-430 The Thermaltake TWV500 A look at the cables Load test results Conclusion

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