Overview of the Power Supply Chieftec APS-1000CB Series A-135

Chieftec power supplies are one of the most popular brands on the domestic market, and it's not surprising, since the manufacturer has been on it for about 20 years. During this time, the decisions of the German brand have acquired both an army of admirers and opponents. The first like these blocks for the optimal price/quality ratio, while others are not satisfied with their consumer properties. It’s primarily because of a higher noise level than some competitors or more expensive products have. But with a limited budget, Chieftec becomes one of the main candidates for purchase, especially when building powerful systems, where the difference between the costs of blocks produced by different manufacturers can reach 50-150 dollars or even more.

In this review, we will consider a 1000-watt Chieftec device belonging to the A-135 series, the hallmark of which is a 135-mm fan and a modular cable connection for the periphery. Also representatives of this line meet the requirements of the 80 Plus Bronze certificate.

Chieftec A-135 1000W (APS-1000CB) Features and Equipment

The unit is delivered in a black box with the image of the device and the name of the model, there is no more useful information on it.

The APS-1000CB power supply is delivered with the instruction, a set of mounting screws, a set of pluggable cables and a network cable. A bag for storing accessories, which are usual for more expensive solutions, is, unfortunately, not provided.

The main part of the plumes cannot be unfastened. This is the motherboard power cable (52 cm), two separate cables for the processor (8 contacts of 57 cm and (4 + 4) contacts of 52 cm), and a pair of separate cables for the video card (6 + 2, 52 cm each ). The rest of the set is as follows:

• • four with two 8-pin (6 + 2) connectors for powering the PCI-E video cards (55 cm);
• • three with three power connectors for SATA devices (45 + 15 + 15cm);
• • one with three power connectors for IDE devices and one FDD (45 + 15 + 15 + 15 cm).

This number is absolutely enough to power a powerful modern system with a top processor and a couple of productive video cards. All plumes are enclosed in a nylon braid, which allows to accurately position them inside the PC case. It is interesting that cables for graphic accelerators are separate and one can easily supply six different cards with one connector, for example, a couple of video adapters, sound and some other devices.

The design of the power supply unit is standard for a modern device produced for demanding users: a black case and a wire grid that protects the fan, as well as a toggle switch for de-energizing the system. The depth of the case is determined by the propeller used and the modular design and is 160 mm.

On the inner wall all the necessary connectors for connecting detachable cables are located. For video cards there are both eight- and six-contact sockets, each pair (8 + 6) refers to one +12V line, therefore, in order to avoid load imbalance, it will be necessary to connect the cables in pairs.

According to its characteristics, Chieftec A-135 1000W meets all the modern requirements, it can easily give almost all of its rated capacity of +12 V, but the presence of two virtual channels on this line will not be pleasant for everyone. Although, even their download will not be easy as 42 is not too little. The separation of the lines by load is as follows: + 12V1 is used for the motherboard, video card, as well as for one more video card and part of the periphery already on the detachable cables; + 12V2 is provided for the processor and the third video card with the rest of the periphery.

The total power of low-voltage lines is 140 W. For the standby mode, 3 A is provided, and for the -12V line, 0.5 A.

The unit is equipped with active power factor correction and is able to operate over a wide range of mains voltage. It also has protection against low and high voltage, short circuit, overload of output lines, overheating, as well as automatic fan speed control.

The APS-1000CB is built according to the classical scheme with a synchronous rectifier and a DC-DC converter in the secondary circuit and is most likely implemented on the Sirfa platform.

Inside the unit is assembled neatly, the number of used parts is large, but the installation is not very tight.

All the components are of high quality, the input filter is completely assembled.

The device is controlled by the CM6806+X controller located on a separate board, which also houses the CM03AX chip reducing the consumption of the unit in the standby mode. The DC-DC converter is built on the popular APW7159 chip, and PS224 is responsible for monitoring.

Cooling of the power elements is entrusted to thick aluminium plates with ribs in the form of petals at the ends. Each node is cooled by its own radiator, so that the temperature regime of the components stays stable and is not to be worried about.

The fan speed control sensor is located on the output circuit cooler.

In the input circuit uses a very high-quality capacitor of 680 uF and 400V produced by Rubycon, while the average Teapo is used in the output circuit.

The board for connecting detachable cables carries purely transit functions and has no filtering tanks on it.

The quality of the board’s soldering is good enough, there are some flux traces, but it’s not so critical. There are no other drawbacks in soldering noticed.

Cooling of the unit components is carried out by means of eleven-blade 135-mm fan Globe Fan RL4Z S1352512HH implemented on the slide bearing and with a two-contact connection.

During the system standby, it rotated at a speed of 820 rpm and during a serious load with one video adapter its rotation frequency did not exceed 950 rpm, but the installation of two gluttonous video cards forced the fan to spin up to 1720 rpm. The noise, naturally, was at the appropriate level.

Conclusions

The Chieftec APS-1000CB power supply is well-assembled, has enough connectors to build up a powerful system, but its noise level will become an obstacle for usage in quiet PCs. It can most likely be called a compromise when high power is required, but something should be sacrificed. And given its cost of about $140, many users will close their eyes to its high noise level, since this is the most affordable unit on 1 kW.

An interesting solution here is the realization of powering video cards – there is a separate cable for each connector, which allows assembling a system of a large number of relevant components without resorting to various adapters.