The test setup
You'd think it would be relatively straightforward to test a PSU, right? Throw it into a chassis and then fire up a few applications. That would work to a degree, but wouldn't tell us much about how each voltage line responds to load, and the PSU's characteristics when pushed to the limit.Pushing PSUs to their rated wattages requires some rather tasty equipment, able to load lines any way we like.
We normally hook up this kind of equipment to the labs' guy, to give him some pep when there's a weekend of benchmarking to be done (only joking).
The Chroma kit's test
harness is able to load up to six 12V lines, as found on some high-end
PSUs, and we dialled in the supplies for a 40-minute load run, taking
in measurements very close to the end. The Corsair HX850 uses a single
12V rail, of course.
