500W to 550W: 12 Power Supplies Compared
by Christoph Katzer on February 20, 2009 5:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Awards
We conclude yet another gigantic power supply roundup with our Editors' Choice awards.
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Tagan's SuperRock delivered very stable voltage and low ripple on the 5V and 12V rails. The 3.3V rail has higher ripple but it's still within specifications. Acoustic noise is very low, and even at maximum load the SuperRock doesn't break 20 dB with an ambient temperature of 26°C. The 85% efficiency is pretty average these days, which is one of our few complaints, but the cable harnesses are good and users that want run a lot of components will appreciate the vast selection of SATA and Molex connectors. We are pleased to present Tagan with our Bronze Editors' Choice award.
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Our Silver Editors' Choice award goes to Arctic Cooling for their Fusion power supply. This is another very quiet power supply that still manages to deliver excellent cooling performance. The maximum efficiency is among the best in this roundup, reaching 88% efficiency at medium load and 85% efficiency at 20% load. We do have some minor complaints about the cables and connectors, but those are only really a concern if you don't run what would qualify as a "typical" computer (i.e. fewer than three hard drives). Voltage stability was great for a Seasonic built unit and ripple was within specifications. All of this is topped by an extremely attractive price of €54 or $64.
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Last but certainly not least, the top power supply of our roundup today is the BFG LS-550. BFG delivered good performance in every aspect, with tight voltage regulation and ripple well within specifications. Efficiency was through the roof, with 86% efficiency at 20% load. It also generated the highest maximum efficiency of 88% on 230VAC and 86% on 120VAC. This isn't the quietest power supply, but it's not at all noisy -- few people would notice this PSU once it's installed within a PC case. You also get a reasonable number of connectors and good cable lengths. The excellent build quality and performance makes the US selling price of $70 a great deal; we can only hope that European users will soon be able to purchase this power supply as well. All of this makes the BFG LS-550 the winner of our Gold Editors' Choice award.
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Christoph Katzer - Friday, February 20, 2009 - link
You can find the review herehttp://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.a...">http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.a...
There are tons of others in the Cases/Cooling/PSUs section you might want to check out.
Nickel020 - Saturday, February 21, 2009 - link
There are reviews there, but it would be good if you could include PSUs you already reviewed in the conclusion to say how they measure up to the currently reviewed units.Most people just don't know enough about PSUs to judge how good that PSU in the single review is compared to the ones in the round-up.
kilkennycat - Friday, February 20, 2009 - link
No details on whether the SATA power connectors are right-angle or straight. For each power supply it would be very useful to detail the distribution of right-angle vs straight.. even to the extent of picturing or sketching the cables. In many of the mid-sized or uATX cases in which these power supplies might be used, the hard-disks may overhang the motherboard components or might bump into the rear of a video card. Remember that the SATA hard-disk power-port is much closer to the motherboard and its mounted components than the 4-pin Molex on PATA units. A right-angle SATA power connector might make all the difference between a comfortable fit and having to purchase a 4-pin Molex to right-angle SATA power adapter. I have run into this problem several times with computer cases where the hard-disks are mounted cross-wise and with little clearance between the rear of the hard-disk and the side-cover. Also my latest experience of this problem was on a recent uATX build that required 3-disk storage. The clearance space between one of the hard-disks and the motherboard memory DIMMS required a right-angle SATA power-connector. I had to satisfy that requirement with a 4-pin Molex to right-angle SATA power adapter.... If I had known in advance how many right-angle SATA power connectors came with the power-supply, I could have ordered the adapter in advance.....Christoph Katzer - Friday, February 20, 2009 - link
Quickly done, Akasa has the only angled SATA connectors and I Don't see that too often either...kilkennycat - Sunday, February 22, 2009 - link
Thanks for the reply.The Corsair HX520W Modular Power Supply has 2 modular SATA cables, each with one right-angle and one straight connector - a reasonable compromise.
Btw, the fact the Corsair HX520W was entirely missed from your 500-550W roundup is rather odd, with its high quality (HardOCP Review Gold Star, Dec 2007), 2-year-production quality history (now up to over 400 customer reviews on Newegg - 5 stars, uniquely unusual for a power-supply) It also has triple 18A max 12V outputs --- unlike those less expensive to manufacture with only one 12V rail and umpteem amps on that rail. The single-12V high-wattage power-supplies totally ignore Intel's SAFETY recommendation of a maximum of 20A per 12V output. An internal quasi-short - dendrite growth, fine metallic bits, loose wire-clippings etc - involving the 12V rail and with one of these 40-50amp 12V current power-supplies can potentially turn your PC instantly into a very handy radiant heater/fire-source.
strikeback03 - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link
Are you talking about this roundup? The Corsair is in there.kilkennycat - Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - link
Oops !!! MANY APOLOGIES to both you and Christopher. I was speed-reading the Introductory page and read the following :- "We have four units manufactured by Enhance, four more from Seasonic, two by Sirtec, one Enermax, and one Topower. " I did not realize that Christopher was referring there to the original power-supply OEMs and not the retail labels. It would have been nice to have a list of the actual retail model numbers of the 12 power-supplies on the intro page. As it was, I only read the first few reviews and quit before I got down as far as the Corsair..... Again, many apologies. Long day, late night reading, insufficient reading stamina....Nickel020 - Friday, February 20, 2009 - link
First off, great job on the performance review part! The graphs are great and much easier to understand than the usual screenshots from the measuring software.I'm a little disappointed by the acoustics part though. dB measuremeents are pretty much useless since they don't really reflect subjective sound perception. PSUs with "more" dBs will often be considered quieter, in fact, dB measurements don't reflect the ranking of PSUs that you will find on silentpcreview.com
Measurements in Sone would be much better, but I guess the testing equipment is somewhat expensive :(
Since you're also from Germany, wouldn't some kind of cooperation with PCGH or even c't be possible?
Something else that I'm missing here is a Be Quiet! unit, but I think they're pretty similar to the Tagans, are they not?
That's all :)
Thanks again for the article!
Nickel020 - Saturday, February 21, 2009 - link
One more comment:What happened to the fan speed/load curves?
Those were really useful fo judging acoustics. If you know the fan that was used in there then you can judge the subjective noise at a certain RPM pretty well.
philosofool - Friday, February 20, 2009 - link
I bookmarked this article because I want to have it around next time I'm shopping for computer parts. Unlike processors and similar components, where every extra dollar spent usually comes with a little more perforamnce, PSUs are an area where price and quality come apart. I want a stable, cool, QUIET PSU, and I want to pay as little as possible to have that. Every dollar I save getting a PSU that will do just what I need is another dollar I can spend on a video card. This article is going to help me build a better machine.