Cooler Master Silent Pro 700w Modular PSU

Packaging & Appearance

Published: 13th June 2008 | Source: CoolerMaster | Price: £94 approx. | Author: James Napier

Packaging

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:

- Mains cable.
- Bundle of modular cables.

- Cooler Master warranty card.

- Installation leaflet.

- User manual CD

- ATX screws (black)

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.

Appearance

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.

Cooler Master Silent Pro 700w Vibration Dampening

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.

Most Recent Comments

13-06-2008, 15:20:53

Jim

"With a powerful single +12v rail and Silicone vibration dampening, can the Silent Pro be the best of both worlds?"

http://www.overclock3d.net/gfx/artic...214535437s.jpg

Cooler Master Silent Pro 700w Review

13-06-2008, 15:43:30

Kerotan

Nice review mate- interesting idea with the gaskets- sure should reduce some noise, but if you're mounting a normal PSU in cases where it's at the bottom like a 900 there are rubber pads which do a pretty good job of dissipating excess vibration. I'm just hoping PSU requirements for the 4870 won't be over 520W tbh, don't fancy replacing my HX520 just yet.

13-06-2008, 17:16:27

MikeEnIke

Nice write-up and not a bad PSU especially like the silent aspect. Good work Jimbo

14-06-2008, 03:01:24

Rastalovich

Decent, modular and silent. Some excellent attributes.

(U know I`d love to be able to do a search of OC3D reviews, with the options of the awards given to each review. e.g. Silence award.. and all the silent awarded stuff comes up, likewize performance, value.. etc)

14-06-2008, 13:56:23

MikeEnIke

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Rastalovich'

That's an awesome idea, we'll have to pass that around to Jim see if he feels like working

15-06-2008, 06:28:31

mrapoc

Like my suggestion here? lol

23-06-2008, 14:31:57

Nick R

And mine, albeit posted after this was posted, here: http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=23280.

Looks like a pretty solid PSU.

25-02-2009, 10:55:49

yonef

Hello,

I've just considering to buy Cooler Master Silent Pro 700w Modular PSU, I've read the review and noticed that the +12V Rail is running at almost 13V And droping to 12.3V. It wasn't mentionned in the review, but isn't it too HIGH!? I have a cheap psu wich doing 12.3V to 11.6V and I have s stability isues while gaming.

Can anyone confirm that this is HARMLESS to the hardware?

25-02-2009, 11:19:40

Jim

Hi Yonef,

13v could indeed damage some fragile components that don't have their own power filterin. However something I probably should have mentioned in the review is that the 12.95v output was only seen at zero load - obviously something no PC will ever run at.

After completing the review Cooler Master did also inform me that they was making changes to the unit based on my findings and that retail models would not only have better voltage stability, but also a more firmly secured rubber gasket.

Hope that helps.

25-02-2009, 12:52:42

yonef

Thanks for the realy fast response, Jim.

So, when idleing my pc will cosume about 120W wich means that 12V rail will run at 12.7V, and on load should go to 12.3V wich is not so bad.

But you mean that the retailed units that are now in stores shoud differ from the one you tested? If so, how can I determine wich revision they gonna sell me?

I'm considering this one because I need realy quite PSU, and can't find anything else 650-700W range that quite.

25-02-2009, 16:38:47

Jim

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='yonef'

As far as I know, the version I tested never made it on to the shelves. All the issues were fixed before they went to retail.

I have seen reviews of the retail version from other respectable PSU testing websites and their results look much better than the ones I got.

I think the easiest way to tell between the version I received and the retail version is the use of glue in between the PSU and the vibration dampening gasket.

25-02-2009, 18:18:04

yonef

Yeah, I have found couple of other reviews wich they tested the retail version(the one with new gaskets) and the 12V rail seems OK, it did 12.1V to 12.4V across the full range of power output. Is this OK ?

So what is your opinion? should I go for this Cooler Master Silent Pro 700w?

I've found it for £82 wich is not so bad.

P.S. I'm just RMA-ing OCZ Stealth XStream 700W because it is hell noisy, I thing the fan spins on max rpm (I can hear it from outside the room

) And a low whistleing sound coming out when the PC is off.

26-02-2009, 05:15:17

Jim

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='yonef'

) And a low whistleing sound coming out when the PC is off.

Are you looking specifically for modular/silent mate? Also what is your max budget? I think there are probably better PSU's out there for the price you are looking at.

26-02-2009, 05:45:25

yonef

I do not need to be modular, can go for non modular as well.

My budget is around £70-£80, 600-700W range, and most important for me is to be quite. If it is possible to provide ~550W continiously, I'm not using that much right now but I want it to be future-proof.

If it helps, my specs:

AMD Phenom II 940 OC @ 3.6Ghz 1.45V

cooler: Zalman CNPS9700-NT

ATI Radeon 4870 OC @ 850/1100

2x HDD Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB

DVD-RW

2x LAN cards

27-02-2009, 09:32:16

yonef

any suggestions ?

27-02-2009, 10:14:38

Rastalovich

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=27381

(with no 8pin pcie)

03-03-2009, 12:13:14

Ducky Spud

Good review

Im after a modular PSU thats pretty quiet and that seems to look alright according to your review. Just need to save up a bit, dont really have a spare £90+ at the moment

10-03-2009, 17:04:41

Gerisz

Is it quieter than the Corsair HX620?

I would like to buy one of this, what are your opinions?

Have it's fan the clicking sound like in the youtube review?

I'm afraid of it!

Thanks!

10-03-2009, 17:21:00

Hatman

I have the 600watt modal and I can quite happily say that I cannot hear a thing from it : )

And thats running 4830xfire and 3.4quad.

11-03-2009, 07:14:12

Gerisz

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Hatman'

I have the 600watt modal and I can quite happily say that I cannot hear a thing from it : )

And thats running 4830xfire and 3.4quad.

I could buy the 700W in the same price like the 600W now. That's why I will chouse the bigger one!

Thanks for your answer!

I would like a 4830CF too, but with a Phenom II 940

11-03-2009, 08:02:18

HypoglossalXII

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='yonef'

any suggestions ?

yonef, if you cannot wait for the revision of this PSU may I suggest the PC Power and Cooling SILENCER 700W PSU?

-HypoG

11-03-2009, 14:34:30

Gerisz

What kind of PSU would you buy in this price category?

Why get it 7.5point for performance?

Why get 9 point the 620HX? Why is it better?

Cooler Master Silent Pro 700w Modular PSU

Packaging & Appearance

Published: 13th June 2008 | Source: CoolerMaster | Price: £94 approx. | Author: James Napier

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