Conclusion

So, I’ve led you through over a dozen new high-wattage power supplies that are selling under different brands, including such new brands (for this market) as Corsair and Mushkin (for details on the ANtec, Corsair, CoolerMaster and High Power PSUs see our previous article called ATX Power Supply Units Roundup. Part V). These are mostly products from a category of $100 and higher that we can expect good parameters and problems-free operation from, yet we don’t always get it in practice.

First, I have to rebuke Mushkin. The company enters the PSU market with a noisy model that has low efficiency but comes at a 10-20% higher price than its closest opponents that are free from such drawbacks. I guess that’s not a reasonable choice for a successful debut. I hope Mushkin’s upcoming PSU models will either be reasonably priced, according to their characteristics, or, better yet, acquire characteristics that would match their price.

Another name on my no-go list is OCZ, yet another memory module manufacturer that has taken to producing power supplies. Alas, its new PSUs (actually manufactured by FSP Group) have disappointed me with their noisiness and not very stable voltages. As I had already seen in my tests of the FSP Epsilon series, power supplies based on that platform can be very quiet at work.

And the last brand to be criticized here is Zippy. Once again this company has offered a prettily packaged server-oriented PSU as a home/games-oriented one. I have nothing against pretty-looking packages, but I do think that the level of noise typical of a server room is unacceptably high for a home environment. Zippy is opposed by Silverstone whose power supplies have comparable characteristics and price but are much quieter. Of course, I have to declare Silverstone’s products the best in the top-end PSU class.

I haven’t quite cleared things out with the Antec Neo HE 550. I’ve found two serious defects in it, but I tested revision A3.1 and cannot say if revision A4 has the same problems. Probably not, because users who reported poor compatibility with mainboards mentioned the earlier revision of that PSU model. So, don’t forget to check the revision number if you want to purchase this PSU.

The Antec TruePower 2.0 proved to be a very reasonable version of a midrange power supply, with good parameters and quiet operation, although the manufacturer doesn’t tout it as loudly as the Neo HE.

As for my favorites, they are Antec Phantom 500, Corsair CMPSU-620HX, Seasonic S-12 SS-500HT and Zalman ZM460B-APS. These four models all boast excellent operating parameters and are also very quiet (I’d even say silent if the Corsair model was not on the list).

The CoolerMaster iGreen Power might have joined that company, but its developers didn’t manage to cool it quietly despite its very high efficiency. Its fan speed is high at high loads. The High Power HPC-560-A12S has the same problem, too. Of course, it’s not difficult for an enthusiast to replace a fan with a quieter one, but I can’t call a product good if it requires you to make any improvements with your own hands.

And finally, the power supply from Hiper has proved to be good at work, but the company should think about modernizing its circuit design. Its efficiency of 75% is very mediocre by today’s standards.