The Riotoro Onyx Power Supply Review: 650W & 750W Tested

Conclusion

In this review we examined two of Riotoro’s first power supply units, the Onyx 650W and the Onyx 750W. The company’s approach is simple, attempting to deliver quality but also a reasonably priced unit for home PCs and casual gaming systems. It was never their goal to market PSUs with astounding performance figures or fancy designs - Riotoro wanted PSUs that would appeal to the bulk of the market, which largely consists of regular users and casual gamers.

Perhaps the strongest selling point of the Riotoro Onyx PSUs is their build quality. Great Wall may not be a well-known OEM in the North American and European markets, but they are an old and experienced manufacturer. Riotoro made good components choices as well, especially with the all-Japanese capacitors, which is a very rare sight into products that are designed to mainly compete in terms of pricing. Our only concern lies with the sleeve bearing Yate-Loon fan, which is the weakest link of the whole unit - anecdotally these fan models tend to fail after some years. However the fan should easily outlive the unit’s three-year warranty and beyond, but we would still rather find better quality fans into these units.

The overall performance of the Onyx PSUs is very good. Both units displayed high-efficiency readings at light and heavy loads, as well as proper filtering and regulation on all of their voltage lines. They also maintain low noise levels when they are operating in good environmental conditions or heavily loaded for prolonged periods of time. However, due to the high internal temperatures that occur with the units heavily loaded when operating under harsh environmental conditions, we would not recommend using the Onyx for systems that maintain heavy loads for prolonged periods of time with perhaps limited cooling (e.g. cryptocurrency miners), as the stress will certainly have a serious impact on the longevity of the units.

The MSRP prices of the Onyx 650W and Onyx 750W PSUs are $80 and $90 respectively, but we already see both units selling for $10 less each depending on the retailer. The company currently also has a running campaign that gives customers an extra 10% off and free shipping for units preordered via their website. These are reasonable prices considering the quality and performance of the units and so we believe that Riotoro has fully attained their goal to design a competitive PSU for today’s PC market. After the company’s campaign expires, the success of the Onyx series will depend on its availability and Riotoro’s ability to survive the price war that their competitors will undoubtedly silently declare.

Suggested Reading

• The SilverStone SX700-LPT SFX 700W PSU Review
• The SilverStone ST60F-TI Strider Titanium 600W PSU Review
• The Raidmax RX-700AT 700W 80Plus Titanium Power Supply Review
• Best PC Power Supplies: Holiday 2016