Our editorial team’s recommendation is the Type R MKII 680 from Hiper. It is a solid power supply which has an interesting, unique feature—USB interfaces.
The voltages provided by this model are stable and constantly within specifications. In addition, the unit has a commendable level of efficiency in normal operation. It only drops very low in standby mode due to the integration of the USB interfaces.
The best buy recommendation is the older HX520W unit from Corsair. For right around $120, you get a solid power supply with modular, flat, flexible cables that are easy to install.
Despite the older design, the efficiency of the power supply can still impress even today, particularly under partial load and during standby.
The Fortron and the Everest 600 power supplies came up with a good idea, enabling partially passive operation. But our high expectations for the feature were not met. Their fans start up at a lower load than is specified and becomes very loud in the transition range.
- Our Second Round Of Mainstream PSUs
- Enermax Modu 82+ 525 Watts
- Enermax Modu 82+ 525 Watts (Continued)
- Voltage
- Efficiency
- Hiper Type R MK II 680 Watt
- Hiper Type R MK II 680 Watt (Continued)
- Voltage
- Efficiency
- Tagan SuperRock TG680-U33II
- Tagan SuperRock TG680-U33II (Continued)
- Voltage
- Efficiency
- Fortron/FSP Everest 80Plus 600
- Fortron/FSP Everest 80Plus 600 (Continued)
- Voltage
- Efficiency
- PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W
- PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W (Continued)
- Voltage
- Efficiency
- Silver Power SP-SS500
- Silver Power SP-SS500 (Continued)
- Voltage
- Efficiency
- Corsair HX520W
- Corsair HX520W (Continued)
- Voltage
- Efficiency
- Charts: Efficiency Specs
- Charts: Efficiency At 250 Watts, 35 Watts, And Standby
- Conclusion: Recommendations for Hiper and Corsair


The fan is interesting, I am used to the variable control knob but I do not miss it as the fan is silent under all but the heaviest sustained load and then it is audible, but not loud. It is a 120MM fan (quieter) but it is clear (louder). The fans' RPM monitoring lead is a must for my system board monitoring program as I could adjust other fans and settings based on the PSU fan RPM if I wanted, but as I run a near silent system, I have no need.
I wish it was $50 cheaper, but you get your money's worth, no mistaking that.
I sill miss some bits.
I would like to see how overcurrent and overheat protection works, whether mains spikes can damage the power supply.
Whether joining +5V with +12V rail (as may happen when e.g. CDROM fails) will burn the other components.
And noise/heat level.
Unless you put the thing under load and oscilloscope the outputs for ripple and open it up to see the type of parts used and the construction quality. reviews of this type are next to meaningless.
Clearly these folks don't know about the different colors of the 80+
program. The enermax is rated at the bronze level which must be 82% efficient. There is also the silver and gold level rating.
google is your friend.
Not only did enermax pursue it, but if you go to 80plus.org, you will
see that they are already certified at the bronze level. (80plus.org is
down right now, or I would provide a url showing it.)
they have a big honking picture of the 80+ bronze certificate and the 6 power supplies it applies to. I fear tomshardware has not done their homework.
Other than owning a 5 year old Enermax, I have nothing to do with the
company. I have 5 antec earthwatts powersupplies, and a seasonic power supply in my 80+ collection.
The 80+ standard is several years old. The newer colored standards of bronze, silver, and gold are newer, but that is the wonder of technology.
For a technology web site, keeping up with newer things such as standards is necessary.
I also partially agree with bobbknight in that reliability is an over-looked factor here. I know Tom's probably can't open-up a review sample to look at the parts, nor run these 24/7 for 6months to give an indication to their reliability, but a stable 12V won't mean much if the fan dies or a capacitor blows. Ripple on the DC lines is less of a concern to me. I'm sure my computer components can handle it, considering how much deviance is allowed in the specification. A 10mv ripple won't mean much if the voltage is already 10mv off base.
This article is lacking a bit in depth
No it would not, as the internal temperature of the PSU overrides any user setting of the external fan speed knob.
The better unasked question is: Why would you keep the external knob at any setting other than the lowest, knowing that if the temp rises in the PSU, it will increase fan speed? One answer is that you might wish to keep the temps stable and not have to engage a faster speed than what is required. There are other reasons.
as for the comment about seasonic, i think the corsair is a rebranded seasonic, and for under $100 power supplies, i'd say a corsair 450vx is a good choice, have one of them myself and its dead quiet with a single 33A 12v rail