HuntKey Jumper/R90 300W 80Plus Gold
by Martin Kaffei on March 5, 2011 12:00 AM ESTHuntKey 300W with 80 Plus Gold
We recently received a new power supply from HuntKey dubbed the R90, or Jumper 300G for the western markets. It uses the HK400-52PP layout, which means the PSU is capable of delivering 400W at lower temperatures; however, the 300W rating is for 45C operation. The 300G is also one of the smaller PSUs with an 80 Plus Gold rating, making it an interesting option for HTPCs and average computers. But what about the price?
We don't have an exact figure for the US market yet, but materials and parts should cost less than half of what the Seasonic X-400FL requires, which means final pricing could be around $80-$90. One advantage the Jumper 300G has over the X-400FL is that it uses a native 400W design, where Seasonic is building off an 850W design. Since the 300G comes with a fan, it will obviously generate more noise than the fanless X-400FL, but the temperatures should also be lower. This could very well be the actively cooled alternative to Seasonic's X-400FL.
Unlike Seasonic, this is a fixed cable PSU. The HK400 is similar to what many OEMs might use, only with a retail box around it. HuntKey is quite proud of their design and promises very good performance. While we may not have a firm price yet, we can certainly check the voltage quality and other performance characteristics.
Internally, the unit uses a resonant circuit with ZVS (Zero Voltage Switching), active rectifying, and of course active PFC. While HuntKey sells many cheap power supplies in China, this is an example of the sort of quality they can achieve when they're not chasing the lowest price; we'll see more evidence of this with the capacitors on page four. HuntKey is also one of the first manufacturers to offer an 80 Plus Platinum certified PSU, but that's a topic for another day. The Jumper 300G (or R90) has plenty of reserve capacity, and HuntKey makes use of this by including two PCIe connectors: one 6-pin and one 6/8-pin, both on a single cable. That's a first for the 300W PSU market, and with such features HuntKey hopes to expand their presence in the Asian market.
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Beenthere - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
...then I would not touch their products for many reliability and ethical reasons.Taft12 - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
A near 0% failure rate among hundreds of PCs in my organization. These are Optiplexes with 80Plus certified PSUs stipulated in our contract. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these Huntkeys are in these machines.It's a different universe on the Inspiron side which you sound familiar with. Like most things in life, you get what you pay for.
JarredWalton - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
Yeah, Dell isn't without their problem computers in the business world (I supported some old GX150 systems back in 2003-2006 that had a bit of problem in the memory subsystem that would make Photoshop crash the PC all the time), but by and large the Optiplex and Latitude line is very reliable compared to consumer systems.clarkn0va - Monday, March 7, 2011 - link
I don't know. We have a handful of Latitudes here and every single one of them have serious IO issues. The Windows logon sound is choppy, the mouse pointer freezes constantly then plays instant catch-up; typing is the same. We've turned off the page file (4GB RAM, W7x64), tuned the hdd settings, tried readyboost--nothing fixes this.But we could compare anecdotes all day. The OP also mention ethical reason, and the public record for Dell's underhanded dealings is long and detailed. I too will be steering clear of everything Dell for a long time to come.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled discussion of Huntkey.
ckryan - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
I suppose the main reason capacity is an issue is due to the efficiency curve of a PSU. With loads optimized for 20, 50, and 100 percent, a 35w idle system is more inefficient with a higher capacity PSU. But not all PSUs have problems at less than 10%; the Seasonic X-650 is 88% efficient at a 60w load. The flip side is 35w idle system won't waste much even at an abysmal 70%. So while I welcome more reasonable options in the >500w watt space, especially excellent units like the Huntkey, I'm not sure dramatically over powered units are as huge of an issue as it used to be. Still, I think it's ridiculous that there aren't more 350 to 500 watt units that are of a high level in terms of efficiency and quality. I would certainly pay a premium for a higher end unit, regardless of capacity.We need more units like the HuntKey.
Scour - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
Peripheral 3x SATA + 1x PATA 45-90cm3x PATA + 1x SATA 45-90cm
In addition there are two peripheral cables with four SATA and four Molex connectors.
So what, did it have 6 SATA and 2 4-Pin or 4/4?
Overall, nice review of a nice PSU :)
Concillian - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
Even though I would have bought something like this instead of what I bought recently, traditionally low wattage high quality units have a really difficult time gaining traction. Sales are usually really slow on these kinds of units.Like it or not most people don't read reviews or know (or care) that PSUs are low efficiency at low load, and see that they can get a 550-650W 80+ gold unit for only a few bucks more and go for double the power for the headroom.
Also doesn't help that video card MFRs put PSU requirements that are totally absurd (HD5770 "requires" a 450W PSU... yeah, don't tell that to mine hooked up to a 380W PSU and running fine.)
Ultimately, making an 80+ gold PSU costs money and the unit will be expensive.
This seems to have efficiency at low load that rivals the PicoPSUs and is a lot less hassle and more headroom if someone's using a case that can accommodate a full size PSU. Probably not too much different in price from a Pico either. From that standpoint it's an interesting PSU. Lets hope it sells enough to keep a couple units like this on the market for a while.
Operandi - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
I think you are 100% right, Seasonic used to make a 330 watt S12, the lowest version available now is 380 watts.Even if they know their system will only draw 200 - 250 watts max the average buyer would rather have a 500 watt PSU of mediocre quality than a high quality 300 - 350 watt PSU. And most users don't have any real idea of how much power they need or are just going my what is recommended on the box which is always some crazy inflated number when you are talking about graphics cards.
As to the unit itself I prefer the played down looks of the American version. And it dose look like an awesome PSU but $90 is a lot when I can get an 300 watt 80+ OEM Seasonic for $40.
Zoomer - Sunday, March 6, 2011 - link
It will not be $90. Look out what other parts cost in Japan and you'll see. I guesstimate $50 or so.7Enigma - Monday, March 7, 2011 - link
Hope this was a joke post, because there is no way this will be below $80.