Conclusion And Recommendation
Once again we take a look at the initial question: can gaming-oriented power supplies live up to the promises made by marketing departments? The answer is: not always, but there is more to the story than that.
Some of the tested PSUs fail at one or more tests, such as specific energy efficiency requirements or the newly introduced ripple and noise measurements--and that simply must not happen. Sometimes-significant differences in the energy efficiency curves are also striking. Some PSUs live up to their 80 PLUS certifications, but show sharp efficiency drops at low loads. Others shine under low loads, but show weaknesses at full load.
All of the tested PSUs are intended for use in high-performance gaming computers. However, the manufacturers sometimes interpret the gaming theme very differently. Many of them try to gain the consumer's confidence by showing off certifications, such as 80 PLUS Gold or Nvidia SLI-ready, while others focus on a reasonable price/performance ratio. This is primarily achieved by getting a lower 80 PLUS classification and cutting some corners when it comes to equipment. Pointing out winners and losers in this roundup is hard, due to the large number of products. Depending on your individual needs and preferences, quite a lot of them could be a viable choice.
The NZXT HALE90-750M and Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 700 are two of the best PSUs tested in this roundup, while Antec's TP-750 and be quiet! Straight Power E8 have great price/performance ratios. However, there are a few power supplies that we can recommend regardless of their price, the intended application or personal preferences. The following products went through our testing suite without any glitches, which means that we can approve them from a technical standpoint:
- Hardware,
- gaming ,
- psu ,
- efficiency
Latest Power Supplies News
- 04/05 – 54 Million Enthusiast and Performance PC Gamers Globally
- 26/03 – Tom's Hardware Benchmark Charts and Database Updated
- 23/03 – Antec Announces High Current Pro Platinum 1000 Watt PSU
- 12/03 – Scientists at Sandia Create Self-Monitoring Smart Outlet
- 07/03 – Raidmax Introduces Efficient 600W PSU
Latest Power Supplies reviews
- 11/01 – Power Supply Reference: Consumption, Savings, And More
- 14/12 – Power Supply 101: A Reference Of Specifications
- 07/09 – Picking The Right Power Supply: What You Should Know
- 19/05 – 80 PLUS Gold: Four Efficient 700-850 W Power Supplies
- 13/05 – Who's Who In Power Supplies, 2011: Brands Vs. Manufacturers
"Same" power but big different in price (Almost in Spain). Antec keep rocking all them.
interesting to see NZXT on the same level as tagan and ocz with regards to power supplys.... i have the M59 chassis from NZXT and its a excellent allround gaming case.... and by the looks of their psu,s i may invest in one of theres ... the single +12v rail looks solid especially for my XFX GTS250
am i the only one that cares how load the PSU is?
Would be nice to see them properly stress tested and more explanation with the ripple and noise graphs!
Thats one big list of junk psu
What a well motivated and intelligent comment. Please let me know what PSU's aren't junk PSU's then. I can think of very few brands that make quality PSU's that were left out here. Silverstone maybe, but that's about it.
really dont buy a psu only if your 300 watts short i mean come on cpu and grafic card can still run on a 300 watts (even if it doesnt have a 6 pin connecter)!!!
Hi i bought a N440GT 1gbytes ddr3 Graphics card can it make the computer freeze or can it give the computer problems if the power supply watts is small like the requirements for the graphics is 450W 12V 38A power suply and my is 300W.