Asus TUF Gaming 450W Bronze Power Supply Review

The Asus TUF Gaming 450W is a low-power but high-performance PSU.

Asus TUF Gaming 450W
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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Protection Features

Check out our PSUs 101 article to learn more about PSU protection features.

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OCP (Cold @ 21°C)12V: 50.6A (135.29%), 11.919V 5V: 35A (175%), 5.125V 3.3V: 35A (175%), 3.324V 5VSB: 4.8A (160%), 5.024V
OCP (Hot @ 39°C)12V: 50.4A (134.76%), 11.929V 5V: 35A (175%), 5.129V 3.3V: 35A (175%), 3.330V 5VSB: 4.7A (156.67%), 5.017V
OPP (Cold @ 26°C)591.51W (131.45%)
OPP (Hot @ 38°C)591.63W (131.47%)
OTP✓ (115°C @ 12V Heat Sink)
SCP12V to Earth: ✓ 5V to Earth: ✓ 3.3V to Earth: ✓ 5VSB to Earth: ✓ -12V to Earth: ✓
PWR_OKAccurate but lower than 16.0ms
NLO
SIPSurge: MOV Inrush: NTC Thermistor

The OCP triggering point is correctly set at 12V, and the same applies to over power protection. On the contrary, OCP on the minor rails is set too high. Lastly, there is over temperature protection, and the power ok signal might be lower than 16ms, the lowest threshold that the ATX spec requires, but it is accurate, at least. 

DC Power Sequencing

According to Intel’s most recent Power Supply Design Guide (revision 1.4), the +12V and 5V outputs must be equal to or greater than the 3.3V rail at all times. Unfortunately, Intel doesn't mention why it is so important to always keep the 3.3V rail's voltage lower than the levels of the other two outputs.

No problems here since the 3.3V rail is always lower than the other two. 

Cross Load Tests

To generate the following charts, we set our loaders to auto mode through custom-made software before trying more than 25,000 possible load combinations with the +12V, 5V, and 3.3V rails. The deviations in each of the charts below are calculated by taking the nominal values of the rails (12V, 5V, and 3.3V) as point zero. The ambient temperature during testing was between 30 to 32 degrees Celsius (86 to 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Load Regulation Charts

Efficiency Graph

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Ripple Graphs

The lower the power supply's ripple, the more stable the system will be and less stress will also be applied to its components.

Infrared Images

We apply a half-load for 10 minutes with the PSU's top cover and cooling fan removed before taking photos with a modified Fluke Ti480 PRO camera able to deliver an IR resolution of 640x480 (307,200 pixels).

The temperature inside this low-capacity PSU are in control, even with the cooling fan removed and with a half-load applied for a ten-minute period. 

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Contributing Editor

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

  • Dark Lord of Tech
    You can buy the 650w version for $4.00 more. :unsure:
    Reply