Review: A Silent And Compliant Dual Engine

Tagan's Dual Engine Series 600 power supply is one of the most silent units on the market. Contributing to this is Tagan's unique dual transformer technology, which provides high loads while maintaining a stable current output. Tagan also guarantees a stable voltage output for its connectors running under full loads while the large capacity transformer reduces heat and fan operation.

Tagan's power supply was tested with an Nvidia SLI motherboard, an Intel quad core CPU and a single SATA drive. (The Dual Engine's steady current output keeps its fan at low decibels even when running at high rpm.) During testing, the power supply, which included noise from the CPU fan and hard drive, gave a reading of 24dB for a period of one minute. According to Tagan, the Dual Engine reaches 28dB at a maximum of 2,595 rpm.

Because the Dual Engine runs so quietly, system builders will find it ideal for media centers and systems built for video and audio production. What's more, the Dual Engine has been certified 'Nvidia SLI ready,' so custom builders can place it on high-end Nvidia game and graphics workstations. The Dual Engine's cables have a special EMI shield to insulate the high load from PCI Express graphics cards. This model arrives with four separate six-pin power cables for graphics cards.

The Dual Engine has universal motherboard power supply connectors for 20+4 pin ATX, including two four-pin and eight-pin + 12 V connectors. The power connectors allow for 20, 20+4, 24+4 and 24+8 pin configurations. This power supply fits just about all motherboards that adhere to Intel's EPS12V 2.9 standard.

In addition, the Dual Engine arrives with 10 SATA five-pin connectors and IDE adapters that fit into SATA connectors. The wires are neatly embedded into a rubberized mesh hose, so system builders do not need tie wraps.