Asus TUF Gaming 550W Bronze PSU review: Long warranty, decent price

The Asus TUF Gaming 550W is a good-performance budget power supply.

Reviews
By
published

Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Protection Features

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

Swipe to scroll horizontally
OCP (Cold @ 26°C)12V: 63.4A (138.43%), 11.921V 5V: 36A (180%), 5.106V 3.3V: 39A (156%), 3.321V 5VSB: 4.8A (160%), 5.030V
OCP (Hot @ 37°C)12V: 63A (137.55%), 11.948V 5V: 36A (180%), 5.119V 3.3V: 39A (156%), 3.322V 5VSB: 4.8A (160%), 5.028V
OPP (Cold @ 26°C)732.52W (133.19%)
OPP (Hot @ 37°C)660.41W (120.07%)
OTP✓ (110°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 16ms
NLO✓
SIPSurge: MOV Inrush: NTC Thermistor

The OCP triggering points are set high on all rails, especially the minor ones. Great Wall ignored setting up the minor rails properly. Who needs so many amps on them? On the contrary, the over power protection is set correctly.

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.

Image 1 of 3
ASUS TUF Gaming 550
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

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

Image 1 of 4
ASUS TUF Gaming 550
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

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.

Image 1 of 4
ASUS TUF Gaming 550
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

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).

Image 1 of 5
ASUS TUF Gaming 550
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

We didn't notice any high temperature spots inside the PSU, during this test session. 

MORE: Best Power Supplies

MORE: How We Test Power Supplies

MORE: All Power Supply Content

Aris Mpitziopoulos
Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a contributing editor at Tom's Hardware, covering PSUs.

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Co BIY
    Is the large amount of concern about capacitor quality still valid ?

    Is there any evidence that Japanese caps are a lot better than Chinese brands in 2023 ?
    Reply
  • Soaptrail
    I know it has that Cybenetics Siler++ but still a bronze. I would only consider a Platinum or Titanium at this point.
    Reply
  • digitalgriffin
    Highly disappointing on the quality of the caps. There was a time TUF branding meant higher quality components for longevity. Now it's just a sales tag with no meaning.
    Reply
  • digitalgriffin
    Co BIY said:
    Is the large amount of concern about capacitor quality still valid ?

    Is there any evidence that Japanese caps are a lot better than Chinese brands in 2023 ?

    Yes. They are still made of paste. Paste, barrier, and sealing are NOT the same. Compare a RMx or Seasonic which come with 10 year warranties. They are 100% Japanese capacitors. Kind of says a lot.
    Reply