You’ll also find the following items included with the PSU:

• Two adapters (1 Molex → 2 SATA connectors, 15+15cm)
• Four extension cables with Molex connectors (15cm)
• Molex → floppy mini-plug adapter, 15cm

Double connectors are put on all the adapters and extension cables where they are attached to the cables going from the PSU. They resemble the connectors that used to be widely employed with system fans at those times when they were usually connected directly to the PSU rather than to the mainboard.

So, you can connect the 15cm extension cable to the HDD power cable (with its own single Molex connector) to transform it into a cable with two Molex connectors. This offers the user much configuration flexibility. You can use only such cables as are necessary for your particular computer. The downside is that too many connectors reduce the overall reliability of the circuit, so I don’t recommend you to use the adapters and extensions without real need.

The cross-load characteristic resembles the previous model. It seems that the too-high +5V voltage is not an accident, but a family trait of the whole PSU series. The low stability of the +3.3V can be noted here, too.

At 550W load the high-frequency ripple on the PSU’s output was 45 millivolts on the +5V rail and 55 millivolts on the +12V rail, the allowable maximums being 50 and 120mV, respectively.

The speed of the 120mm fan is lower than the speed of the junior model’s fan, but now it is aided by an additional 80mm fan which works at a considerably higher speed (well, its speed remains acceptable even at the max load). When the PSU is shut down, the smaller fan still works for a while at the min speed. Both fans are highlighted in blue.

I should tell you that at loads higher than 300W the low noise of the fans was accompanied with a noticeable buzz of one of the coils inside.

The efficiency of this model is a little better and the power factor a little worse than those of the 480W model. The difference is negligible, though, amounting to about 1%.

So the 580W model differs from the 480W one mostly in having the detachable cables and the pretty plastic container. The circuit design and most parameters of these units are identical, while the difference in the max output power is not going to play any big role for a modern computer as it falls mostly on the less loaded +5V and +3.3V rails. So if you don’t need the detachable cables, there’s no sense in seeking after the senior model.