Hiper Type R 580W (HPU-4B580)

While the Type R 480W came to our test lab in an ordinary cardboard box, the packaging of the Type R 580W is probably the most original I ever saw. The PSU sells in a plastic container that has a handle and a locked lid. It looks like some tool box, especially as you will find a plastic tray with compartments for the PSU’s cables inside – various fasteners would lie there in a tool box. After you’ve taken out the tray, you gain access to the power supply proper.

The front view resembles the previous model, except that there is now an additional 80mm fan. The case is all perforated as well. The top and side panels are virtually “transparent” for the air stream, but I don’t quite grasp the technical point of this solution.

Here’s the main difference. The Type R 480W has standard non-detachable cables, but the 580W model has a non-detachable mainboard cable and six connectors (cables are connected to two of them in the snapshot above). These cylindrical connectors in metallic cases differ from the plastic connectors (like on other PC components) the manufacturers of such PSUs usually employ. The cables are fixed on the thread (the metal cap on the cable is put on the connector’s case) for both high reliability of the connection and easy unplugging.

The only design flaw, quite widespread among PSU manufacturers, is the use of male-type connectors which are always alive. Any metallic thing falling on them will result in a short circuit. It is usually recommended to use female connectors in such circuits or male connectors with separated pins so that two contacts could not be closed.

The connectors for different devices (for hard drive, processor, graphics card) have a different number of pins, so you can’t confuse them.

The internal design is fully analogous to the above-described 480W model (the active PFC card is taken out in this snapshot). The case is just a little larger to accommodate the output connectors.

The characteristics do not differ much from those of the junior model – the load capacity of the +12V rail, the crucial power channel for modern computer systems, is only 10W higher. So I can even say that there is no much practical use from the extra 100W of the PSU’s total power because the opportunity to put a higher load on the +5V and +3.3V rails doesn’t matter much in practice. I would also remind you once again that you should judge the +12V load capacity of an ATX12V 2.0 power supply by the combined load rather than by the currents on each of the +12V outputs since these currents are kind of virtual ones (they are artificially limited, so the manufacturer can specify 18A for each of them right away). In this case, it seems the current has got considerably higher (38A against 34A), but the wattage indicates that the allowable current has been increased by 1 ampere only.

The power supply is equipped with a 43cm mainboard cable with a 24-pin connector (a 4-pin part can be detached if necessary). The remaining, detachable cables include the following:

• CPU cable with a 4-pin ATX12V connector, 45cm
• Graphics card cable, 45cm
• Four cables with one Molex connector on each (25, 35, 45 and 55cm)