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.
Performance Rating
The XPG Pylon 550 achieves first place on pure performance when compared to PSUs with similar wattage. There's a lot of factors to consider in a PSU beyond performance, but that's a very impressive stat.
Noise Rating
The graph below depicts the cooling fan's average noise over the PSU's operating range, with an ambient temperature between 30 to 32 degrees Celsius (86 to 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
We'd appreciate if the XPG Pylon 550W's average fan noise were lower than 30 dBA. Still, it's understandable that CWT wanted to stay on the safe side, given the SBRs on the secondary side.
Efficiency Rating
The following graph shows the PSU's average efficiency throughout its operating range with an ambient temperature close to 30 degrees Celsius.
The XPS Pylon 550W's average efficiency stands in the middle when compared to CPUs with similar wattages. With synchronous rectification on the secondary side, it could be notably higher.
Power Factor Rating
The following graph shows the PSU's average power factor reading throughout its operating range with an ambient temperature close to 30 degrees Celsius.
The APFC converter performs well here, putting the XPS Pylon 550W towards the top of the charts.
MORE: Best Power Supplies
MORE: How We Test Power Supplies
MORE: All Power Supply Content
Razer's high-end Huntsman V2 Analogue gaming keyboard drops to an all-time low of $79 at Woot
Valve now sells refurbished Steam Deck OLED for 20% cheaper than brand new — 512GB model for $439 and 1TB model for $519
Custom Raspberry Pi 5 case rebuilds Pi 5 open loop into the hyper-compact case with the loop still intact — system stays below 43ºC at max load
