Bitfenix Formula Gold 650W PSU Review

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Protection Features

Check out our PSUs 101 article to learn more about PSU protection features. Our protection features evaluation methodology is described in detail here.

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Protection Features
OCP12V1: 34.9A (140%) 12V2: 34.9A (140%) 12V3: 39.3A (131%) 12V4: 38.7A (129%) 5V: 26.4A (132%) 3.3V: 28.2A (141%) 5VSB: 4.4A (176%)
OPP851.27W (131%)
OTP✓ (160°C @ secondary side)
SCP12V: ✓ 5V: ✓ 3.3V: ✓ 5VSB: ✓ -12V: ✓
PWR_OKOperates properly
NLO
SIPSurge: MOV Inrush: NTC thermistor & bypass relay

OCP's triggering points on the +12V rail are notably higher than the ones listed on BitFenix's spec sheet. The difference between the first and second pair of +12V rails is around 5A, with the latter ones being stronger. OCP on the minor rails is configured properly, and the same goes for over-power protection.

Since the +12V FETs are installed on the main PCB's solder side, we had to apply a very high temperature on the secondary side to trigger over-temperature protection.

Finally, the power-good signal is accurate, and there is protection against large inrush currents/voltage spikes coming from the grid.


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Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

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

  • Dark Lord of Tech
    Great Review..Thanks!
    Reply
  • turkey3_scratch
    Man this one is great! Thanks for the review, I appreciate the hard work you put into them.
    Reply
  • Lutfij
    Was a great read for the weekend and an interesting one too. Keep up the good work Aris! ;)
    Reply