Super Flower Leadex Gold 550W PSU Review

Reviews
By Aris Mpitziopoulos
published

Super Flower has made quite an impact on the PSU market. Its Leadex platform enjoys huge popularity, both under SF's brand name and other companies like EVGA. The newest Leadex Gold-rated PSU with 550W capacity is on our test bench today.

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Cross-Load Tests And Infrared Images

Our cross-load tests are described in detail here.

To generate the following charts, we set our loaders to auto mode through our custom-made software before trying more than 1500 possible load combinations with the +12V, 5V and 3.3V rails. The load regulation deviations in each of the charts below were calculated by taking the nominal values of the rails (12V, 5V and 3.3V) as point zero.

Load Regulation Charts

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Efficiency Chart

Compared to other Gold-rated PSUs we've tested, this isn't the most efficient unit. Its sweet spot is between 130W and 390W of load with the minor rails up to 40W to 50W combined.

Ripple Charts

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Infrared Images

Toward the end of the cross-load tests, we took some photos of the PSU with our modified FLIR E4 camera that delivers 320x240 IR resolution (76,800 pixels).

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This time around we took a different approach to our IR shots, removing the top panel but leaving the fan connected, activating the semi-passive mode to observe when the fan kicks in and applying 50 percent load (275W) for around eight minutes in a 25 °C ambient environment. The IR screenshots are taken at the end of our testing in passive mode. As you can see, the temperatures are pretty low given the conditions and the dialed load.

Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a Contributing Editor at Tom's Hardware US, covering PSUs.

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10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • blazorthon
    Granted the EPS and PCIe wires don't see very high current in most situations (especially the EPS with Haswell or Skylake CPUs), I hardly ever see other PSUs using thinner gauge wires, so I can't imagine it saving enough money to be worth going thinner than the recommended 18 gauge wires most other PSUs have regardless of capacity.
    Reply
  • Quaddro
    Why crapxon?
    I'm tired to see bulged crapxon..

    If this one use jap caps, it'll be absolutely perfect..
    Reply
  • iam2thecrowe
    I wonder if it's just a faulty unit with the low hold up time?
    Reply
  • Mac266
    I wonder if it's just a faulty unit with the low hold up time?

    My first thought too
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    The APFC caps have the advertised capacity so there is nothing wrong with this PSU.
    Reply
  • mctylr
    Unfortunately, the bridge rectifier's markings are on its hidden side, and we try to avoid desoldering these type of parts since they are extra sensitive to increased heat

    Huh? Since when are bridge rectifiers particularly heat sensitive? I would say that bridge rectifiers are not worth the hassle to desolder, unless you suspect it was an underrated part.

    APFC controller is an NCP1653A provided by ON Semiconductor. It's installed on a small vertical PCB and is covered by insulation tape in order to decrease EMI noise.

    That looks like paper and vinyl / PVC electrical tape wrapped around the vertical PCB, which provides electrical isolation only, I doubt it would make measurable difference in EMI.
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    According to my experience so far they are, unfortunately.

    This provides some EMI protection. There is no need for electrical insulation on this board. As for the degree or EMI protection I can examine this with my EMC probes (once I find the time to do it).
    Reply
  • Andi lim
    this review said uses a half-bridge topology, I only see one main capacitor. half bridge usualy uses 2 main cap and 2 main switcher right ?
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    the number of APFC caps has nothing to do with the primary topology. However yes half-bridge uses 2 switchers.
    Reply
  • Andi lim
    You are right, this is half bridge with LLC series resonant converter, nothing wrong with the primary capacitor.
    Reply