| BFG Tech LS-680 680W Power Supply
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Testing:
A system with the components listed below was used to test the BFG Tech LS-680 680W power supply:
» ASUS P5E64 WS Evolution X48 ATX motherboard
» Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 dual core processor
» G.Skill 4GB DDR3-1600 Pi Series dual channel memory kit (at 1600MHz and 7-7-7-18)
» OCZ Technology Vendetta CPU cooler
» Maxtor MaxLine III 250GB SATA 3Gbps hard drive (Qty. 4)
» Sapphire Toxic 512MB HD3870 graphics card (Qty. 2)
» Sapphire Toxic 512MB HD4850 graphics card
» TSST Super WriteMaster SATA optical drive
For comparison purposes, the LS-680 was tested against the Rosewill RX630-S-B 630 Watt power supply and the Nesteq EECS 700 Watt power supply. Both units are in the same range of power output as the LS-680, and the comparison on paper is very close. Testing will show if there are other factors that give one unit the edge over another.
With five SATA drives and three (6-pin powered) PCI Express graphics cards, this test system has exceeded the number of connections available on other power supplies. This is not a problem with the BFG Tech LS-680, as there were connectors to spare once everything was all set up. One note on the the connectors is that the PCI Express and 24-pin motherboard connection seemed to need a little extra effort in order to get them fully seated.
All of the components listed above were used during idle testing, while load testing saw a Seasonic brand "Loader" connected, too. This device can generate up to 148W on the 5V and 12V rails, bringing the system's demand a bit closer to the limit of the power supply. The other equipment used during testing included a Radio Shack digital multimeter (Cat. No. 22-810) and a Seasonic Power Angel power monitor.
For idle condition testing, the system was powered up with the hardware listed above except for the Seasonic Loader. It was allowed to sit at the Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit) desktop with nothing else running for a period of at least 30 minutes. For the load conditions, the Seasonic Loader was connected, Folding@Home was run on each of the processor's cores, and 3DMark Vantage's first two tests were run at a resolution of 1680x1050. The load testing was also around 30 minutes, during which time the two tests from 3DMark Vantage were executed over and over again, and the Seasonic loader was unplugged while 3DMark Vantage transitioned from one test to the other in order to keep it from getting too hot.
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