350-450W Roundup: 11 Cheap PSUs
by Martin Kaffei on July 3, 2012 1:30 PM ESTFSP OEM 400W APN and GHN Measurements
Voltage Regulation
| +3.3V Regulation/Ripple and Noise APN/GHN | |
| Load | Voltage |
| 5% | 3.41V (7mV) / 3.38V (2mV) |
| 10% | 3.40V (9mV) / 3.38V (4mV) |
| 20% | 3.39V (14mV) / 3.36V (9mV) |
| 50% | 3.37V (19mV) / 3.34V (11mV) |
| 80% | 3.35V (24mV) / 3.32V (17mV) |
| 100% | 3.32V (28mV) / 3.32V (21mV) |
| 110% | 3.32V (30mV) / 3.31V (24mV) |
| Crossload +12V max. | +0.30% / -0.30% |
| Crossload +3.3V/+5V max. | -1.32% / -3.92 % |
| +5V Regulation/Ripple and Noise APN/GHN | |
| Load | Voltage |
| 5% | 5.10V (9mV) / 5.15V (13mV) |
| 10% | 5.10V (12mV) / 5.13V (15mV) |
| 20% | 4.99V (14mV) / 5.12V (19mV) |
| 50% | 4.97V (18mV) / 5.08V (23mV) |
| 80% | 4.96V (22mV) / 5.04V (28mV) |
| 100% | 4.95V (26mV) / 5.04V (34mV) |
| 110% | 4.92V (25mV) / 5.02V (37mV) |
| Crossload +12V max. | -0.40% / -2.60% |
| Crossload +3.3V/+5V max. | -3.00% / -4.60% |
| +12V Regulation (Worst Ouput)/Ripple and Noise (Worst Output) APN/GHN | |
| Load | Voltage |
| 5% | 12.01V (2mV) / 12.09V (7mV) |
| 10% | 11.98V (5mV) / 12.09V (12mV) |
| 20% | 11.98V (13mV) / 12.09V (21mV) |
| 50% | 11.95V (20mV) / 12.07V (29mV) |
| 80% | 11.92V (25mV) / 12.05V (36mV) |
| 100% | 11.89V (32mV) / 12.05V (42mV) |
| 110% | 11.88V (41mV) / 12.03V (58mV) |
| Crossload +12V max. | -3.16% / -2,75% |
| Crossload +3.3V/+5V max. | +3.75% / -2.42% |
Noise Levels
| Sound Pressure Level (Ambient: 16dBA, 1m distance) and Temperatures (Δϑ to 25.7 °C ambient temperature) APN/GHN | |
| Load | Opinion |
| 5% | 20 dBA (3.7°C) / 18 dBA (1.5°C) |
| 10% | 20 dBA (4.4 °C) / 18 dBA (2.1°C) |
| 20% | 20 dBA (5.8 °C) / 19 dBA (4.7°C) |
| 50% | 23 dBA (7.7 °C) / 19 dBA (5.6°C) |
| 80% | 25 dBA (11.1 °C) / 22 dBA (8.7°C) |
| 100% | 28 dBA (11.5 °C) / 24 dBA (10.0°C) |
| 110% | 29 dBA (12.3 °C) / 27 dBA (10.5°C) |
Efficiency and PFC
| Efficiency and Power Factor 115 VAC GHN | ||
| Load | Efficiency | PFC |
| 5% | 70.03% | 0.882 |
| 10% | 76.56% | 0.921 |
| 20% | 83.71% | 0.956 |
| 50% | 85.92% | 0.968 |
| 80% | 85.15% | 0.976 |
| 100% | 84.39% | 0.982 |
| 110% | 83.97% | 0.987 |
| Efficiency and Power Factor 230 VAC APN/GHN | ||
| Load | Efficiency | PFC |
| 5% | 69.62% / 71.12% | 0.810 / 0.852 |
| 10% | 77.37% / 79.10% | 0.911 / 0.899 |
| 20% | 82.93% / 84.34% | 0.937 / 0.913 |
| 50% | 84.64% / 86.76% | 0.971 / 0.945 |
| 80% | 83.71% / 86.65% | 0.984 / 0.967 |
| 100% | 83.27% / 85.75% | 0.988 / 0.977 |
| 110% | 82.77% / 84.39% | 0.990 / 0.980 |
The voltage stability of both PSUs is close to most retail units. The 3.3V rail had the highest voltage. The 5V rails stayed above 4.92V throughout our load testing. All 12V rails stayed well within specs as well. All of the different voltages delivered low ripple and noise results, staying well within specs. Only crossload performance could be much better. The GHN is certified as an 80Plus Bronze power supply, and our efficiency results confirmed that rating.
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67 Comments
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Scootiep7 - Thursday, July 5, 2012 - link
What, no Cooler Master GX 450W Bronze? I CALL SHENANIGANS SIRS! A recount must be done.nubie - Friday, July 6, 2012 - link
I still love my PC Power and Cooling Silencer 470, from before they were bought up by (forget right now).Of course at over $100 it really needs to be worth it, but I have seen some on the 'Bay for $30 or so.
Too bad that PC Power didn't have a lower power supply in this test, I would have liked to see how they measure up.
betam4x - Saturday, July 7, 2012 - link
I would even go so far as to say 1 KW power supplies aren't needed for most configurations. Running a Core i7 2600k, 16 GB RAM, 6 Hard Drives/SSDs (2x2TB WD Blacks, 2x1TB WD blacks, 1x1 TB Seagate, and 1xSSD 256 GB Force GT) as well as a radeon 6970. under load i pull 400 watts from a 650 watt PS. A bit more than the review mentions, but most people would swear they need a 1 KW ps for this setup.veri745 - Monday, July 9, 2012 - link
I, for one, would really appreciate some more comparison charts with all of the PSU's stacked up against eachother. You don't need every data point but a summary of at least idle and load, like maybe 50W and 400W, or 20% and 100%, would be much appreciated.Something so I don't have to flip through 9 pages to compare ripple, efficiency, noise, and PFC
Pappnaas - Tuesday, July 10, 2012 - link
Again a review by Mr. Kaffei.And again you didn't give any information about the size of your reviewed psu's.
In my view you did not do your homework. You omitted basic facts by not listing the physical dimensions of your reviewed objects. Anandtech tries to keep up a nearly scientific approach to their other reviews.
Would you omit the measures if reviewing a computer case? A smartphone? A NAS-Box? A car? A TV?
I brought this point up in several comments, alas to no avail.
I think you're shooting yourself in the knee.
Switch to german:
Wenn grundlegende Dinge wie Maße fehlen, wie vertrauenswürdig ist das ganze Werk? Wissenschaftliche Arbeit fängt bei der Beschreibung der Testobjekte an.
Wenn also die Grundlagen wissenschaftlicher Methodik verletzt werden, dann stelle ich fest, dass Anandtech die sich selbst auferlegte "professionelle Arbeitsweise" nicht einhält. Sicher ist das ein wenig Haarspalterei, werden einige sagen. Meine Einstellung: Macht es richtig oder gar nicht. Sonst droht Euer Niveau auf das der PC-Welt zurück zu fallen.
Bambooz - Sunday, May 5, 2013 - link
Dein Niveau (wenn man das noch so nennen kann) ist wohl schon auf unter PC-Welt gerutscht. So richtung Computerbild..zoblace - Tuesday, November 24, 2015 - link
http://www.plugloadsolutions.com/psu_reports/THERM.......on that page they tested Thermaltake Smart 430 and it acheived 80+ Bronze eff. no problem....
after that could we trust online tests at all....