Bonus Track: FSP ATX350F-C

When I was beginning this test session I had five boxed In-Win PSUs at my disposal, but then I wanted to see how the PSUs differed from those they installed into system cases. So I took a few system cases that differed in the declared PSU wattage. In one of them I found an IP-P300AJ2-0 which didn’t differ much from the boxed IP-P350AJ2-0. Another system case contained an IW-P430J2-0 which didn’t differ at all from the boxed version. The third system case turned to have a power supply from FSP Group. Although it doesn’t fit too well into this review, I still want to test it. After all, it is installed in an In-Win system case, the IW-V523TA micro-ATX model.

The PSU has a plain gray case and an 80mm fan. The punched-out fan grid is fastened on only two screws, making the PSU look what it is, a regular entry-level model.

The steel of the case is thin, but the manufacturer took care that it didn’t rattle. The parts of the case are fastened together not only with four screws at the top, but also with three screws at the bottom. This makes the whole arrangement very rigid.

Inside I found a familiar platform that FSPxxx-60THN/THA and ATX-xxx60PN/PA series units are based on. These were the first power supplies from FSP to comply with the ATX12V 2.0 standard, but this platform has moved into the entry-level sector by now, leaving place to newer products. By the way, FSP has already developed two generations of ATX12V 2.0 power supplies whereas In-Win has released such units only recently.

The PSU has small heatsinks to one of which a fan speed controller card is fastened. The input capacitors have small capacitance, two by 470µF. Besides these, I can find no traces of the manufacturer’s trying to cheapen the cost of this product. The PSU is equipped with passive PFC and offers the following cables and connectors:

• Mainboard cable with a 20+4 connector (33cm long)
• CPU cable with a 4-pin connector (34cm long)
• Cable with two Molex connectors and one floppy mini-plug (30cm+15cm+15cm)
• Cable with two Molex connectors (29cm+15cm)
• Cable with one SATA connector (33cm)

The cables are short, but it’s normal because the system case it is installed in is microATX rather than full-size ATX. Still, they might have made two SATA power plugs, I think.

The PSU seems to be intended to sell with a system case and doesn’t come to shops on its own. That’s logical from a marketing point of view. FSP is offering several good models in the entry-level sector (priced at $20-30), so there is no sense in undermining their sales with yet another model.