Bang For Your Buck: Four 500 W Power Supplies Reviewed

[Guest]

Enthusiasts often say that you can never have too much performance. However, a 500W power supply is perfectly ample for a majority of mid-range PCs. This is one of those cases where a solid ratio of performance to price is preferable to gross excess.

Bang For Your Buck: Four 500 W Power Supplies Reviewed : Read more

 

[haplo602]

the yes/no graphs are funny .... how about a table ?

anyway I did not notice voltage stability measurements and a "hot box" test.

 

[sabot00]

Editor FTW!

 

[SpadeM]

It might be just me but the ripple/noise test wasn't performed on these PSUs. Also, at what temperature did you guys test for the efficiency? I'm hoping u tested it over 30 degrees Celsius.
Other then that, it's a pretty quick analysis. Wish you'd open them up to actually see what components they used in their primary and secondary circuits.

 

[The Lady Slayer]

@SpadeM: there are other sites that dismantle power supplies, just google them

I'm happy that yet another site thinks highly of the CM Silent Pro series; I'm using the M600W currently.

 

[agnickolov]

For the last several years I've considered $50 the ceiling for a 500W PSU... To put it into perspective - this is the value choice. I did spend $80 on a 530W PSU 7 years ago, but that was then.

 

[raclimja]

why no seasonic?

according to most people that i know, seasonic is the very best brand that make quality psu for the money

newegg has a Seasonic S12ii Bronze 520w for just $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151094&cm_re=seasonic_s12ii_bronze-_-17-151-094-_-Product

and according to reviews it is the very best power supply in its price range(it even beat the Corsair HX 620w)
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2162&page=4

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

Ummm... just me or 4 rails @ 18A for the FSP and 3 rails @ 25A for the enermax seem really really really heaps for a 500W psu...?

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

Oh and how can you have a 115V 110% peak load test on the silverstone?? 😛
But yea very nice read, was expecting some more cheaper PSUs tbh though, the vantec ions seem to offer good price/performance, at least here in new zealand, dunno if you get them in america

 

[raclimja]

[citation][nom]P1n3apqlExpr3ss[/nom]Ummm... just me or 4 rails @ 18A for the FSP and 3 rails @ 25A for the enermax seem really really really heaps for a 500W psu...?[/citation]

in my opinion, if i am buying a 500w psu

my main concern will be efficiency

since i wont mind doing some crazy overclocking or tri-sli or quad fire over a 500w psu

also look at this very interesting result that i have found
a Core i7 920 + GTX 260 @stock under PRIME 95+ Furmark has only a maximum power consumption of 371w
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cases/display/system-wattage_7.html#sect0

and in real life usage i bet you wont even get close to that power consumption even when overclocked

 

[jhanschu]

I always enjoy reading about PSU's as I feel they are really the core to your system. Poor power means flaky system, and allow your electrical components to last longer.

With that aside, in my opinion finding a value PSU is about weighing price and quality. Although the Pro87+ was a monster when it came to efficiency, it was still said to be available for around $140. First, that's a bit much for a budget/midrange PSU and secondly, I couldn't find that particular PSU anywhere online. I found the 600W variant on newegg for around the same price...but it's not the same PSU.

Pretty much the same goes for the other PSU's. I couldn't find them at any reputable online dealers (newegg, tigerdirect, zipzoomfly, etc.). And I do realize that it takes much time to do a review like this, but it seems like some of the more popular brands have been left out. Even if they don't have an 80plus "Gold" PSU at or around the 500W level. At least then you'd have a baseline for a so called normal efficiency power supply.

I did a lot of research when I purchased mine a couple of years ago when I last built a ground up system. I settled on a corsair VX550 and have been thoroughly impressed with how it's handled my moderate gaming system. Now this is a personal preference, but I've been so pleased with it, I doubt if I will go to another PSU label. But anyway, that's my $0.02.

 

[jhanschu]

[citation][nom]jhanschu[/nom]Poor power means flaky system, and allow your electrical components to last longer.[/citation]

you probably figured out what I was trying to say...but meant a good PSU allows components to last longer. Sorry bout that.

 

[doron]

I'm with SpadeM - What about a noise test?

Very interesting article, thanks

 

[falchard]

I think the thing everyone looks for in PSUs above everything else is build quality. If the PSU fails, it could take everything else with it.

 

[JonnyDough]

[citation][nom]raclimja[/nom]why no seasonic?according to most people that i know, seasonic is the very best brand that make quality psu for the moneynewegg has a Seasonic S12ii Bronze 520w for just $69.99http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Productand according to reviews it is the very best power supply in its price range(it even beat the Corsair HX 620w)http://www.pcstats.com/articleview [...] 162&page=4[/citation]

The review you posted is from 2007...that power supply unit is old tech. Get with the times.

 

[marraco]

Thanks for testing in 230V

 

[jimishtar]

no corsair, no pcpower&cooling.... hmmmm

 

[zelog]

[citation][nom]Silverstone Strider[/nom] All cables... are modular...[/citation]
That's not what the picture says

 

[digiex]

be pa[citation][nom]haplo602[/nom]the yes/no graphs are funny .... how about a table ?anyway I did not notice voltage stability measurements and a "hot box" test.[/citation]

Be patient guys, this is the first time, right?

 

[dannyboy3210]

Typo in your Hold Up Time graph, you have:
SilverStone Strider SST-ST50F-230 (115v) N/A
followed by
SilverStone Strider SST-ST50F-230 (115v) 18.0
Other than that, this looks very useful.

 

[baracubra]

Its great that Tom's is finally reviewing PSU, and I hope that you guys do an enthusiast 800W-1000W review soon becuase thats what us enthusiasts really need. Btw Patrick, how would you comment that a rig running an i7 & GTX 280 draws about 380W under full load? Do we really need such big PSUs?

 

[Mark Heath]

I'm a bit surprised of the high $150 max price for a 500W PSU article.

 

[g00fysmiley]

good article, i liked hte layout and individual test results for individual powersupplies before lumpin gthem together in the charts.

I will look forward to seeing more article on powersupplies in the future and am curious to see how other psus rate comparitivley. however i am curious abotu the 150 range for a 500 watt supply seems a bit steep but then again i look at what most people on here call garbage but i prefer the term budget 😀

 

[michaelahess]

I've used plenty of 500-600w supplies with crossfire rigs, and high end amd and intel chips (no extreme's!). You don't need more than 500-600w if it's a very solid power supply.

I run a 700w OCZ StealthExtreme with a Phenom 2 945 3Ghz and dual 4850's, my wife has the exact same system except it's a Phenom 1 9950 with a 600w OCZ StealthExtreme. Neither system is even remotely taxed. These are not mid-range PC's, more like lower end high end

 

[Onus]

We don't know whether or not a full range of testing was actually done, but I'm sorry, as written up, too much is missing. Maybe that was intended, in an "overview," but this article did not begin to compare in quality to those done at HardwareSecrets or JonnyGuru. No stability testing, no noise and ripple; nice to see very thorough coverage of efficiency, but I wouldn't buy a PSU based on this type of guide alone.