Specifications & Certifications

• ATX

ATX stands for Advanced Technology Extended and is the norm which regulated today’s power supplies, motherboards, chassis and all other components from a system. The ATX form factor was established by Intel as the successor of the AT standard. It was enhanced over the years and today we have several different standards such as Micro ATX or E-ATX. The norm helps the manufacturers to build parts for PC systems that actually fit to each other in the end and function without problems. The standard makes for example sure that motherboards fit into the chassis and power supplies hold up certain guide lines.

• EPS

EPS stands for Entry-Level Power Supply Specification and is similar to the ATX standard. As the name suggests is it more for power supplies for the work station or small server market. If an ATX power supply today is marked with compliance to the EPS standard than it is in most cases just the 8-pin connector powering up the processor.

• nVIDIA SLI

The SLI certification is a simple certification from nVIDIA to show which power supply complies with which graphics cards model. This was necessary from nVIDIA since more and more inferior products have been in the market and the company wanted to make sure the user runs only recommended products with their graphics cards. You can check nVIDIA certified products at this website: http://www.slizone.com

• AMD Crossfire

AMD Crossfire and AMD GAME! Certified power supplies will run without problems with the respective hardware from AMD. This certification is similar to the nVIDIA certification just for AMD products. A list of Crossfire / GAME! certified products can be found on this website: http://game.amd.com

• 80 Plus

The 80PLUS program was established to make the user aware of the necessity of higher efficiency power supplies today. The company behind 80PLUS is Ecos Consulting and with the establishment of 80PLUS the company started a fight between manufacturers for even higher efficiencies. The 80PLUS logo helps the users to identify high efficiency power supplies from which we have the Normal, Bronze, Silver, and Gold today.

• CE

The CE certification is necessary if a company wants to sell an electrical product within the European Union. It has primarily something to do with product safety and is mandatory for companies selling in this field.

• TUV

The TUV is an independent German laboratory that certifies different kinds of products in different fields. It is not mandatory to have a TUV certification for power supplies as it is for cars in Germany for example. Since a few years TUV is seen more as a quality seal which makes it interesting for power supply companies as well.

• UL

The UL (Underwriters Laboratories) certification is mandatory in the U.S market. It is comparable with the German CE or TUV and needs to be on every electrical product entering the U.S.A.

• FCC

FCC stands for Federal Communication Commission and is an independent department in the U.S.A. which controls Radio, TV, Satellite and Cable appliances.

• Nemko, Fimko, Demko, Semko

These certifications are distributed by the Intertek Group which is specialized in electrical products. These certificates are mandatory for the markets in Scandinavia (Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden)

• GS

GS stands for the German words of Geprüfte Sicherheit which means as much as Proven Safety. It is for the German market and can be found on many different kinds of products.

• Provenquality

Provenquality offers product reviews from actual power supplies and certifies these according to own quality standards. Power supplies need to prove themselves for example with 50°C ambient temperature or overload tests. In addition Provenquality offers the largest power supply database connected to a very extensive power calculator.

• BSMI

BSMI stands for Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection and is a Taiwanese pendant to TUV or FCC.

• RoHS

RoHS is mandatory for the whole European market and started to take action in 2006. With this regulation the European Union wants to limit hazardous materials to enter the market as easy as it was before.