Cooler Master Silent Pro 700w Modular PSU

 

One thing we always find ourselves commenting on when it comes to Cooler Master PSU’s (and in fact most of their products) is their no-expense-spared approach to packaging. Even on their lower-end models, Cooler Master seem to go the extra mile, adding styrofoam padding along with elaborate bags and boxes to their entire range. Not only does this give the feeling that you’ve bought something extra special, but it also provides extremely good protection from rough courier companies.

 

 

 

Nothing has changed this time round either, with the Silent Pro being packaged inside a plain black cardboard box with swing-open style doors. A half-width cardboard wrap-around also encapsulates the box, providing Cooler Master with somewhere to print the unit specifications and feature list, while also preventing the box doors from opening unintentionally.

 

 

A large chunk of styrofoam padding has been used to separate the PSU from the accessories bundle. This should prevent items such as the mains plug from scratching the paintwork on the PSU as they move around during shipping.  While on the subject of accessories, let’s see what’s included in the box:

 

 

Most interesting of all the accessories is the inclusion of a compact disk. At first, our imagination ran slightly wild with thoughts that we might actually need to install drivers for a power supply! But nope, all that’s on the disk is a good old user manual in PDF format.

 

 

 

Measuring in at an extremely compact 150x150x83mm, the Silent Pro 700w has a very good size to power ratio and should easily be able to fit inside even the smallest of ATX cases without any issues. Unlike the Real Power Pro M700 and M1000, the Silent Pro doesn’t come with any kind of fancy paint job or electroplating, instead opting for a fairly coarse and rugged powder-coated finish.

 

 

As previously mentioned, a 135mm fan consumes the entire surface area at the bottom of the PSU, with a black fan grill preventing any stray cables inside your case finding their way into the fan blades. At the top of the casing, Cooler Master have livened up what is normally a fairly bland side of the PSU with a small embossed Cooler Master logo.

 

 

The obligatory specification sticker is in its usual place at the side of the unit and mirrors the information found on the power output chart over on the previous page.  At the other side of the unit is yet another sticker, but this time only serves purpose to advertise what model of PSU you have installed inside your system.

 

 

Comparing the Silent Pro 700w to the Real Power M700, we can see that Cooler Master have reduced the number of modular plugs from eight to six. This seems a bit strange considering both units are rated at 700w, and if anything the single +12v rail design of the Silent Pro will encourage people to plug more devices in.

 

Around the back of the unit is an extremely fine honeycomb mesh grill with a mains plug and power switch.

 

 

Finally, and probably most importantly, the Silent Pro features a silicone gasket around the front and back of the PSU to prevent vibrations from the fan transferring to the PC case. Initially we wondered why Cooler Master decided to place the gasket at both ends of the PSU, but in situations where the PSU sits at the bottom of the case, having silicone at both ends ensures that the entire PSU will be isolated from its surroundings.

 

Unfortunately the mounting of the gasket was quite poor, and as shown above, the glue used hadn’t actually bonded with the PSU casing. This led to the gasket looking quite untidy and more of an afterthought rather than an integral element of the PSU.