Sparkle Gold Class Series 80 Plus ATX 750 Watt Power Supply Review

Sparkle Gold Class Series 80 Plus ATX 750 Watt Power Supply Review

Up for review today I’ve got a power supply from Sparkle,
it’s their Gold Class Series that features 80 Plus certification. This power
supply is their top of the line model, and rightly so as it comes with more
than enough power to handle most any system. It features plenty of connections
so you’ll have more than enough for your needs. It has a large and quiet 13.9cm
fan to help keep it cool even under the toughest loads. Read on to learn more…

 

 

 

 

Product Name:  Sparkle
Gold Class Series 80 Plus ATX 750 Watt Power Supply

Author: Kristofer Brozio

Sponsor:  Sparkle

 

 Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:

 

SPARKLE
SCC-750AF GOLD CLASS SERIES 80PLUS 750W ATX POWER SUPPLY

 

Features:

-750W Modular Power
Supply

-80 Plus Gold
Certified

-Double Ball
Bearing Fan

-All connector AU
coating to keep Ultra high efficiency

-Full Thermal
Control with super silent fan

-12V peak at 70A

-Temperature
control design mode

-Active PFC design

-Keep PSU fan
running for 5-10 seconds after shut down to dissipate the remaining system heat
and prolonging system lifetime.

-Ultra-quiet 13.9cm
Fan with intelligent RPM control guarantees cool performance and silent
operation.

-99.9% 12V Power

-SYNC Transformer
Array

-Double main
electrolytic capacitors

-DC to DC circuitry
design with solid capacitors

-Forward Safe Guard
Circuitry Design

-Dual Layer main
PCB 1.6mm thickness

-Quardruple 12V
Rails

-100A Mosfet 12V
Rectifiers

-20k µF low ESR
secondary 105
? electrolytic capacitors

-Triple AC EMC
Filtering stage

-Dual capacitors
design to protect system safety when sudden shut down

 

Specs:

 

Series: Gold Class
Series

Intel
Specification: ATX12V / EPS12V

Energy Efficiency:
80Plus Gold

Modular Cabling:
Yes

Fan: 139mm Fan

Fan Type: Double
Ball Bearing

+12V Rail: 4

AC Input Range:
Full Range: 100~240Vac

Frequency: 50/60Hz

Input Current:
10-5A

+5V: 30A

+3.3V: 24A

+12V1: 16A

+12V2: 16A

+12V3: 16A

+12V4: 18A

-12V: 0.5A

+5VSB: 3A

Total Power: 750W

24P Mainboard
Connector: X 1

4+4P CPU +12V
Connector: X 1

6+2P PCI-E
Connector: X 4

SATA Connector: X 9
(Max.)

4P Molex Connector:
X 9 (Max.)

4P FDD Connector: X
3 (Max.)

Dimension: 175mm X
150mm X 86mm

 

Price: $139.99
(from NewEgg at time of review)

 

 

 

A Better Look at Things

:

 

The Sparkle power supply comes in a nice looking box.

 

 

When you open it you’ll be greeted with a folder containing user manual,
warranty and the 80 Plus Gold Certificate.

 

 

 

Beneath the folder are two boxes, one big and one small, and the power
supply wrapped in a cloth bag. It’s nice looking presentation.

 

 

In the smaller box you’ll find a rather thick power cord, screws and a
bag of Velcro fasteners instead of zip ties. I like the Velcro much better as
it is reusable.

 

 

In the larger box you’ll find a black bag which contains all of the
cables for the power supply.

 

 

 

The connectors are:

 

24P Mainboard Connector: X 1

4+4P CPU +12V Connector: X 1

6+2P PCI-E Connector: X 4

SATA Connector: X 9

Molex Connector: X 9

FDD Connector: X 3

 

This power supply is advertised as modular and for the most part it is
but then it isn’t as it does have the main and CPU power hard wired into the
unit. So it’s not 100% modular and from what I’ve learned modular can mean
different things to different companies.

 

The PSU has a big 13.9cm purple fan in it for cooling. The look of the
PSU is pretty good, it’s a bronze color.

 

 

 

On one side the Sparkle logo and on the other you’ll see the standard
specs label.

 

 

 

On the back you’ll see the now common honeycomb style ventilation with
power connection and a nice large main power switch. This is something I like, the
large switch; I hate PSUs with those tiny switches on them.

 

 

Here are all of the connections with a little diagram to let you know
which is for what.

 

 

 

 

 {mospagebreak title=Installation and Testing}

Installation, Testing and Comparison

 

 

It’s a mostly modular power supply so installation is easy and being
modular it does help keep your case clean and free of lots of wires. One thing
I like about modular is that you don’t have to try to hide the extra wires
somewhere in your case.

 

The one thing I can’t understand is why each set of Moles cables has to
have a floppy connection on it? I don’t think they’re all needed. In some cases
you might need more than one, but it’s highly doubtful really.

 

The system I’m using is a Core i5 based one with dual ATI 4870 video
cards.

 

 

 

For load and testing I used OCCT 4.0 which is a good way to test your
PSU and get some nice graphs. I’ve got three graphs for you that show the
voltages and the CPU load at the same time during testing.

 

+12 VDC    ±5% (±0.60 V)    +11.40 V to +12.60 V

+3.3 VDC    ±5% (±0.165 V)    +3.135 V to +3.465 V

+5 VDC    ±5% (±0.25 V)    +4.75 V to +5.25 V

 

Essentially you want your rails to be within certain tolerances, about
5% plus or minus or a 10% total fluctuation. For example the 12v rail should be
between +11.40 V to +12.60 V when working properly. If it’s not between those
voltages then there’s obviously a problem with the power supply.

 

So here are the graphs for you starting with the 12v line:

 

 

It looks like a lot of difference between the fluctuations but the graph
goes in small increments, the voltages never get near the tolerance levels.
Still though there is a quite a bit of fluctuations, it’s not exactly what I
would call stable.

 

The next chart is the 5v line and this one looks a lot more stable until
there’s no load, which is odd.

 

 

Here again we can see the voltages never get close to the acceptable
tolerances.

 

Finally is the 3.3v graph for you.

 

 

This one is much more stable than the 12v but not nearly as the 5v rail,
but it only jumps around slightly. The voltages here again never even approach
the tolerances of the rail.

 

 

 

 

Summary and Comments

 

For the most part this power supply works very well, it’s quiet and it’s
well made and it performs well within tolerances. The voltages though aren’t
exactly stable, but I’m not too worried about it as it’s the voltages we should
focus on and those are decent.

 

The Sparkle PSU is modular which makes for a cleaner looking system with
less clutter. There are more than enough connections for even the largest
system I think.

 

 

 

DragonSteelMods gives the Sparkle Gold Class Series 80 Plus ATX 750 Watt
Power Supply a 4.5 out of 5 score.

 

 

 

 

 

Pros:

+Lots of connections

+Quiet fan

+Long cables

+Includes Velcro cable ties

+Runs within tolerances

 

 

Cons:

-Not quite stable running

 

 

 

 

 

 

review# 721

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disclosure: This product was given to DragonSteelMods for review
by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment
for the review; we do not, never have, and never will, accept payment from
companies to review their products.

 

To learn more about our review policy, testing methods and ratings
please see this
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