Closer Look at FSP BlueStorm AX500-A

FSP’s BlueStorm series includes units for retail with wattage ranging from 350 to 460W. The junior models are identical to the well-known THN series that is distributed among OEMs. The senior model, AX500-A, with a wattage of 460W doesn’t have a direct analog among OEM products.

The power supply is shipped in a deep-blue cardboard box.

The same deep-blue or even violet color scheme is applied to the unit at large as well as to its elements: the Power On/Off button is highlighted with blue at work, the fan is also blue (but of a lighter hue than the case), and even the cables are put into plaited pipes of a blue color. The case has a matte coating.

The internals of this PSU have the typical look of FSP Group’s products. We’ve got the same PCB as with other THN series units and the same components, too. So, even though the AX500-A doesn’t have “THN” in its model name, we can regard it as belonging to this series all the same.

The PSU is equipped with a passive PFC device (you can see this coil in the upper left corner of the snapshot). The high-voltage rectifier’s capacitors have a 1000µF rating. The line filter is complete. The ribs of the heatsinks aren’t tall, but their foundation is thick enough, about 5 millimeters.

The unit offers the following cables:

• A 52cm cable with a 24-pin ATX connector. An adapter for a 20-pin connector is included for compatibility with older mainboards
• A 52cm cable with a 4-pin ATX12V connector
• A 53cm cable with a 6-pin additional power connector
• A cable with two Molex connectors and one floppy mini-plug (46cm from the PSU to the first connector and then 20cm more to each next connector)
• A cable with two SATA power connectors and one floppy connector (50cm to the first connector and 20cm more to each next one)
• Two cables with three Molex connectors (45cm+20cm+20cm)