X-bit labs

ATX Power Supply Units Roundup. Part IV

Category: Other

by Oleg Artamonov

[ 04/10/2006 | 09:02 AM ]

We continue testing powerful power supply units available in the today’s market with power capacity ranging between 500W and 600W. Today we are going to introduce to you 7 new models from A.C.Ryan, CoolerMaster, Sunbeamtech, Ultra and Zippy.

Table of contents:

• A.C. Ryan Ryanpower2 CableFree ACR-PS2100 (550W)
  
• CoolerMaster RealPower RS-550-ACLY (550W)
  
• Sunbeamtech Nuuo Series SUNNU550-EUAP (550W)
  
• Ultra Products X-Finity ULT-XF500 (500W)
  
• Ultra Products X-Finity ULT-XF600 (600W)
  
• Zippy Emacs HP2-6500PE (500W)
  
• Zippy Emacs PSM-6600PE (600W)
  
• Conclusion
  
• Appendix
  

Like the last article in our series of PSU reviews, this one is about high-wattage models (500 to 600W) that are selling at retail apart of a system case (for details you can see our previous article called ATX Power Supply Units Roundup: 9 Powerful Models Tested ).

Three out of the five companies whose products I’m going to present to you take part in our tests for the first time. They are Sunbeamtech, Ultra Products and Zippy. The last name is especially thrilling as it belongs to a well-known company that has made a reputation making power supplies for server systems, but now also offers a home user-oriented series under the telling name of Gaming Power.

I want to answer a question from our reader first. It’s not a secret there are many more brands PC power supplies are selling under than actual manufacturers of power supplies, so why don’t I name the real manufacturer for every tested product? Well, I only do so if I am absolutely sure about the name. For example, there can be the manufacturer’s native marking on the power supply’s PCB, or the UL certificate is issued in the manufacturer’s name, or the PSU looks to me exactly like some model from a company which is known to be a PSU manufacturer (you can open up power supplies from Zalman and Nexus to see they are identical to certain models from FSP Group; and no one can have any doubt that FSP is the real manufacturer of its power supplies). But there may be no marking on the PCB; the UL certificate number is not always printed on the label; and I haven’t yet seen all the PSU models in this world – although I’m trying – as to be able to identify one PSU as identical to another. In this case I either do not touch upon the problem of the actual manufacturer of the particular power supply (and it may well be that the company whose brand the PSU comes out under is indeed its real manufacturer) or share with you my suspicions if the unit seems to me similar to a product from a well-known manufacturer. To cut it short, I consider the company whose brand is on the PSU’s label as the real manufacturer of the PSU unless there’s a proof of the opposite.

Now that we’ve cleared this matter out, let’s move on to the power supplies to be tested.