Is it possible to find a high-quality power supply that doesn't break the bank? Yes, of course, so long as you do your research and avoid the lemons scattered across this difficult-to-benchmark segment. Really, you can’t go wrong with the Antec HCG-400. Exceptional workmanship and a myriad of connectors make this PSU a great buy in the value class. The electrical quality is excellent, as evidenced by the PSU’s efficiency numbers, and ripple and noise measurements. In short, Antec's HCG-400 offers the best value for the money.
Offering 550 W output power, Chieftec's Nitro 2 85+ is by far the most powerful power supply in this round-up, but its price also reflects that. However, if you are a gamer looking for a replacement PSU, the Nitro 2 85+ could be a good option, if you can find it. Unfortunately, it's not available in the U.S. yet. The Nitro 2 85+ doesn’t scrimp on features. Modular cable management, extra connectors, and an efficiency rating that nearly qualifies for 80 PLUS Silver grading are but a few reasons to like it. If we were judging on an absolute scale, this is the best PSU in our round-up. Then again, it only barely qualifies for the budget classification we assigned.
Cougar's A350 costs about half of the Chieftec Nitro 2, and that may sound like a bargain. But you get what you pay for. Let’s brush aside concerns about the sub-par build quality and the cheap-looking and shoddily-put-together interior. The cable lengths are OK, at least. The maximum output is adequate for office PCs. And the PSU does what it is supposed to do. However, it doesn’t deserve its 80 PLUS Bronze logo, which may lure unsuspecting customers into buying this power supply. Were the manufacturer to drop its Bronze rating and simply label it 80 PLUS-compliant, we'd have less to criticize.
Lastly, we have Enermax's Triathlor. The electrical quality of this 385 W product is excellent, and it passes all of our tests. With that said, it doesn’t stand out, either. You might counter that a budget-oriented power supply doesn't need to stand out. We'd point out, then, that Enermax's cable configuration is going to be problematic for a lot of people. Otherwise, this is a good PSU.
Because this is the first round-up where we took acoustic measurements, we'll summarize the results really quick. The differences between each power supply were marginal. You're going to notice the noise from each and every submission. However, they're really pretty quiet, and it's much more likely that your CPU or graphics card cooler is going to be more audible.
- High-Efficiency Power Supplies At A Fair Price
- Antec HCG-400
- Antec HCG-400: Measurements
- Chieftec Nitro 2 85+ BPS-550C2
- Chieftec Nitro 2 85+ BPS-550C2: Measurements
- Cougar A350
- Cougar A350: Measurements
- Enermax Triathlor 385W
- Enermax Triathlor 385W: Measurements
- Test Configuration, Hold-Up Time, And Inrush Current
- Efficiency According To The 80 PLUS Spec, Standby Power, And Sound Level
- Which One Of These Power Supplies Is Right For You?
- Model Comparison Table




Some Chinese OEMs put rocks, small concrete blocks, lumps of steel or other stuff like that disguised as a transformer with bits of wire that aren't connected to anything to trick people into believing their heavier PSUs are better.
So weight alone is not a reliable indicator.
Also, at high frequencies and high efficiencies, the size of inductors, capacitors, transformers and heatsinks along with the associated weight shrink. While light weight and high quality may rarely be seen together, they certainly are not mutually exclusive.
a good chunk of Tom's physical hardware reviews generally are conducted in europe. This goes for a good handful of the gpu tests as well. EVGA rarely ever shows up on review sites because of it(and possibly due to lack of EVGA response to a hardware review pitch)
Some Chinese OEMs put rocks, small concrete blocks, lumps of steel or other stuff like that disguised as a transformer with bits of wire that aren't connected to anything to trick people into believing their heavier PSUs are better.
So weight alone is not a reliable indicator.
Also, at high frequencies and high efficiencies, the size of inductors, capacitors, transformers and heatsinks along with the associated weight shrink. While light weight and high quality may rarely be seen together, they certainly are not mutually exclusive.
do you have pics to prove this?
They have already listed the PSUs for part 2 and I didn't see a part 3 listed. I wonder where the Corsair CX430 is. Its a 85+ Bronze PSU and is $39.99 on Egg right now. Its one of the best entry level PSUs I have actually used as well and compared to other PSUs at the same price point or higher (within 550W and may or may not be 80+ at all) I have seen less of them come back bad.
While weight is an important factor, overall weight is 100% useless
for example check out the SIGMA SHARK SP-635
http://www.ocia.net/reviews/sigma635/page2.shtml
it is probably one of the heaviest power supplies you will find (with the exception of some of the 1200 watt ones)
I purchased it a while back and was disappointed at the internals. they used an insanely thick case that made the power supply weigh a lot but the insides were were the result of the owner of the company asking while walking around china, what are the cheapest items we can find on the shenzhen market today.
(at least the power supply can double as a flail or a boat anchor)
Really useful article, let's you look for reviews of PSU real manufacturer if needed.
I'm waiting for the XFX 550W - those go for about $55 (seems to be $62 now), and are supposedly pretty decent.
EDIT: On further reading, you've got a pair of Chroma load testers - so what are the bulbs for?
(Hint: Capacitors and inductors balance out.)
See the 'Part 1'? Probably going to be more later.
Search for "Fake PFC transformer"
Here's a page with a bunch of examples:
http://www.pcpop.com/doc/0/294/294565_all.shtml
Granted, they are all brands almost nobody knows. Hantol isn't on the list above and seems to be the only other manufacturer who's been caught doing this.
My point simply was: it is known to have happened.
Actually, DC-DC converters have no power factor in the conventional meaning of the term whatsoever since power factor is used to represent the discrepancy between AC voltage and current which itself is a combination of phase shift and distortion factor intended to represent how much unlike-a-resistor an AC load is.
DC-DC converters are roughly constant-power load and aside from inrush while their input and output caps get charged and load changes, they are practically indistinguishable from resistive load to the upstream AC-DC or DC-DC converter as long as it has enough local decoupling to remove most of the switching noise and ripple.
If you were to calculate the "power factor" of DC-DC converters which basically boils down to determining how much power gets transferred at 0Hz vs any power exchanged at frequencies above that since there is no phase to worry about at 0Hz, you would find out DC-DC converters are indeed very close to 1.
There is, however, a term called 'total harmonic distortion', which (IIRC) refers to the amount of noise produced by a device.
You can basically treat any load as resistive in DC though - the ripple is barely noticeable (<5%) vs more than twice RMS voltage for AC. And it only occurs on the ripple.
I can probably scrounge some stuff out to test it though, but it's not really necessary.