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- Date:
- Wednesday, July 02, 2008
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Sigma Shark SP-635 Power Supply
Looking for something different when it comes to power supplies with a bit more "coolness" in how it looks? Sigma steps up with a Shark that looks to swim a stealthy path, but does it have the bite to go along with the sharkskin suit?
Overview
The first thing we are going to look at with the Sigma Shark SP-635 power supply is its packaging, accessories, and documentation. While none of these items is a real make or break item for a power supply the packaging quite often contains a lot of information about the product we are purchasing. The inclusion of an owner’s manual that provides actual information about our product is also of great help. Accessories are almost unnecessary with a power supply as the unit is self contained, unless it is modular, but there cases where a manufacturer can include useful accessories to make installation, routing and use more efficient.
The Sigma SP-635 packaging is similar to the SP-700 as it is dressed in basic black. Featured on the packaging are the connector count, power label (reproduced below), the usual assortment of marketing points, SLI and CrossFire labels but no listing for a warranty. After a quick check of the SLIZone website we find the website does not show the Sigma SP-635 as being certified for any level of SLI while a quick check of the CrossFire website also doesn’t find the Sigma SP-635 listed for any level of CrossFire at the time of writing.
Update 07/02/08-15:29CDT: NVIDIA has contacted us to let us know that this unit is NOT SLI certified.
Lastly, the unit’s warranty was not listed on the box. So a check of the Sigma website was in order. What we find there is this pdf that states the unit has a warranty just not how long or any of the terms. I would venture to say a warranty without a length or any terms listed is about as good as no warranty at all.
The power label for the Sigma Shark SP-635 is interesting on a couple of fronts. The first being there is no listed combined 12v output, which is certainly going to make my job a bit more challenging. Typically, a power supply is not capable of its additive 12v values as the units total current limitation is normally lower than that and dependent on a number of design factors and component selections. However, if the Sigma Shark is capable of a combined 40A on the 12v rails then the unit would still be looking at an anemic 75.59% of its total DC output capacity. Since we know that this is likely not the case but don’t have a firm figure we are going to limit our 12v combined load testing today to 38A or 71.8% of the units DC output capacity. The second item of note on the label is the fact that the unit is specified as having up to 70mV of ripple/noise on the 3.3v and 5v rails. The problem here is that is 20mV out of the ATX12v specification for ripple/noise value, and advertising the fact doesn’t simply make the matter better since it was disclosed that the unit is specified to exceed the limits. Paired with these DC output specifications we find that the Shark is not that badly appointed as it features 2 6 pin PCI-Express connectors, 4 SATA connectors, and 8 Molex connectors. However, with only 20A dedicated to these connectors this output could be overdrawn with the use of some of the more modern SLI configurations making their way into enthusiast PC’s as there is only 240w to share among all these connectors.
Once we open the Sigma Shark box we find the power supply, power cord, and mounting screws. That is it, no manual. It is almost as if I walked into NAPA and got this unit as opposed to Newegg or Fry’s given the attention to detail seen here. Moving on, let’s see if the build quality can make up for the MIA manual.