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Published: July 23, 2006 | Source: Coolermaster | Author: James Napier

Coolermaster iGreen Power 430w

Load Testing

In order for the results from all current and future PSU reviews to remain fair and comparable, Overclock3D uses a custom built Power Supply load stress tester.

The tester will be placing the following loads on each of the iGreen 430w’s rails:

+3.3v – 20a Load
+5.0v – 20a Load
+12v1 – 10a Load
+12v2 – 10a Load

The results are collected from a Mastech MAS-345 Multimeter which logs its readings via RS232 to a PC.

iGreen 430w 3.3viGreen 430w 5v

iGreen 430w 12v1iGreen 430w 12v2

Fluctuation on all of the rails remained less than 2% which is simply awesome. None of the rails went anywhere near falling outside of ATX specification (5% +/- rated voltage). All in all, some very respectable results from a manufacturer not often associated with power supplies.

Efficiency Testing

Efficiency tests are performed by measuring the wattage consumed by the power supply at the mains against the power (in watts) consumed by the OC3D power supply stress tester.

The results may not be as accurate as those produced by professional testing equipment, but will certainly come in handy when comparing several power supplies against each other.

iGreen 430w Efficiency
The iGreen 430w was placed under a load of 406 watts. This counts for a total of 94% of the power supplies rated output. At this load, the power supply required 482 watts from the mains to produce the 406 watts required by our custom made power supply tester.

Therefore the efficiency of this power supply can be found by a simple equation: (406 / 482) * 100 that works out to be an efficiency rating of 84.2%.

Noise Testing

At present Overclock3D doesn’t have the professional equipment required to reliably measure the noise output of devices, so you’ll have to rely on my ear.

Under idle conditions, the iGreen 430w is totally silent, with the installed 120mm fan running at a very low RPM. Only with my ear pressed up to the fan grill was I able to hear the gentle whisper of air passing through the unit.

Under heavy load conditions, the unit increases the speed of the fan to counteract the increasing temperature of the PSU’s components. After 15 minutes at full load, the fans had reached their maximum set speed, and I’d estimate the noise output to be around 26dBa. For me this meant that the unit was clearly audible from 1 meter away outside of a PC case.

It is worth noting that most people that purchase this PSU are unlikely to stress it as hard as the OC3D PSU tester has, and therefore are unlikely to experience such high noise levels. In addition to this, most modern CPU/GPU coolers are likely to drown out the noise of the iGreen under load situations.