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CoolingWell V14 Vortex 800W


Date
: 05/28/07 – 10:34:31 PM

Author
:

Category
: Power Supplies

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer
: CoolingWell

Price
: $115 MSRP

Remember that old TV, or that car that is falling apart, but just refuses to give up? This is the kind of products CoolingWell believes in; products that last. CoolingWell was founded on the principles of honour, quality, and excellent service in order to form a lasting bond between customers.

But, who exactly is CoolingWell? They certainly are not a familiar name, which is because they were only founded in 2006 with a brand new factory, machinery, equipment and headed by a superior management system. Despite their late enter into the enthusiast market, CoolingWell has established their product line to include a vast array of cooling devices, accessories, external enclosures, and power supplies.

Today we will be taking a look at CoolingWell's Vortex V14 800W power supply which was designed power even the most demanding system while looking good and remaining silent. The Vortex series is equipped with a silent yet powerful 140mm LED fan, patterned sleeved wires and enclosed within a mirror finish chassis.

Page 2 : Features and Specifications

According to CoolingWell, their utilization of new advances in technology and promise to deliver only the best products has resulted in high quality, professional desktop products. Their power supplies are designed to meet the latest ATX specifications and the highest efficiency levels possible. Recognizing the growing need for more and more power, CoolingWell ensures each and every one of their power supplies can stand the test of time by providing more than enough power needed and places reliability as an utmost priority.

Features:

Compliance with SSI EPS 12V V2.91 and Intel ATX 12V V2.2
140mm silent ceramic axis blue LED fan.
Fully supports the latest Intel & AMD series demand, ex, core 2 Quadro / Extreme, Athlon64 FX / 64×2 FX
CPU.
Support of Dual PCI-E graphics cards,. Full compliance with the nVIDIA SLI and ATI Crossfire highest
label 3D gaming graphics.
Honeycombed cooling vents on the case reduce noise and improve the heat dissipation and air flow.
8 Pin 12V which supports Dual Core/ Extreme core CPUs and supplies stable voltage(only for EPS 12V)
Independent 4 Channel 12V Input design. Provides stable power(only for EPS 12V)
24 pins EPS connector with detachable 4-pins for ATX version
Full load at efficiency more than 75%
Built-in big heat-sink enhancing heat dissipation
Full safety approvals and protection
Multiple protections:
Over-Voltage protection
Over-Current protection
Over-Loading protection
Short circuit protection
Higher reliability (MTBF > 100,000 hours)
Designed for RoHS
Over-Loading protection
Short circuit protection
Higher reliability (MTBF > 100,000 hours)
Designed for RoHS

The Vortex V14 series also comes in four different colors: standard chrome, black mirror coating, Japanese steel, and red mirror coating.

While 800W is plenty to power almost any modern day system, I did find it disappointing that the 12V rail could only output 60A as opposed to the combined total of 78A from each rail which is 216W worth of power. Regardless, 60A spread across four rails is still plenty!

In order to utilize all that power, CoolingWell has included quite a few cables including six SATA power cables, and seven 4 pin peripheral cables. Unfortunately, the CoolingWell Vortex V14 800W does not come equipped with any 8 pin PCI Express power connectors.

Page 3 : Package and Contents

The Vortex V14 800W power supplies comes packed within a fairly standard sized power supply box decorated with plenty of colors and eye catching graphics.

Even with all the graphics, the sides of the box are plastered with information including features, output, cables, noise, and so on.

Removing the power supply from the box, it is evident that CoolingWell put quite a bit of effort in ensuring the unit looked good!

Although I personally am not too fond of LED fans, I am sure most users would welcome the blue glow to complement the mirror finish and unique gold trimmed sleeving.

Taking a look at the rear of the unit, CoolingWell matches the 140mm fan's massive airflow with a perforated back in order to dissipate the heat.

Speaking of heat, opening up the unit we find two large anodized gold heatsinks with finned tops in order to utilize the intake.

In the primary stage and secondary stages, this power supply uses various Jpcon branded capacitors. Also, as the printing on the transformer suggests, this is a Super Flower built unit.

Page 4 : Testing and Installation

In order to simulate system load, we will be using peltiers. The reason for this is because when using an actual computer system there is no way we could accurately measure how much load we are putting on the power supply without some very expensive equipment.

The total load on the 12V rails is approximately 6364W while the 3.3V and 5V rails will be loaded with approximately 93.1W. This totals to 729.1W which is 91.1% of this power supply's 800W output capacity.

Prior to any official tests, the unit will run with no load for two weeks or approximately 336 hours at an operation temperature of 21°C (room temperature will vary throughout this period) as a burn-in period. We will be running two sets of tests, a cold and a hot test, but both under loaded conditions. This is to reflect different conditions the power supply could potentially encounter within an enclosed system. Cold tests will run with an exhaust temperature of 21°C and hot tests will be run with an exhaust temperature of 45°C. All temperature and voltage readings will be recorded with two separate digital multimeters.

The voltage regulation was pretty good during the cold tests, but once the heat kicked in, all of the rails dropped a significant amount. While the rails dipped, the numbers were still well within safe limits that everyday computer systems probably won't encounter.

Next, let's take a look at installation. CoolingWell's Vortex V14 power supply is a fairly standard sized unit so size constraints should not be a problem.

The only thing to look out for is the extra long cables and the mirror finish!

Page 5 : Conclusion

CoolingWell's Vortex V14 800W power supply is truly a unique product. It may not boast to be the best of the best or have rock solid rails, but for the price of $115, this unit truly is an unbeatable buy, especially for those who need a lot of power but are on a tight budget.

As we have seen in this power supply, cheap does not always equate poor performance. In fact, although the rails did dip noticeably more than other high end power supplies we have taken a look at in the past, they were well within specifications. This power supply combines good performance with features found in high end power supplies such as a beautiful finish, sleeved wires and, of course, a silent 140mm LED fan.

Advantages

Very affordable
Sleeved wires
Quiet

Disadvantages

No 8 pin PCI Express support

Overclockers Online would like to thank Cooling well for making this review possible.