500W to 550W: 12 Power Supplies Compared
by Christoph Katzer on February 20, 2009 5:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Akasa Green Power AK-PT050FG - Overview
We had quite a few requests from readers in the past asking us to look at some Akasa power supplies. Like Arctic Cooling, Akasa was famous for its coolers at the beginning of this millennium, but they lost business over time to increased competition. Today, the Taiwanese company has a subsidiary in England that's responsible for the European market. We asked Akasa to send us some review samples, and the first model we received is the 500W Green Power. This PSU is manufactured by Enhance, and it's supposed to be a very solid and stable unit. Rest assured, this is not the last Enhance PSU will be looking at today.
Like most power supplies these days, the Green Power has a black exterior. The front of the PSU has some small vertical perforations, which is a little odd as this could cause increased temperatures inside your system. Most of the airflow should still vent through the rear of the PSU, however.
Most of the Enhance units we've seen to date have a large heatsink attached to the rectifier bridge (upper right side of the above image), which sort of resembles an old TV antenna. The rest of the design is pretty basic but contains all of the components we would expect from a higher and power supply. Akasa uses a Nippon Chemi-Con capacitor for the primary, with Su'scon capacitors for the secondary.
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just4U - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link
Excellent!! I am curious as to how those solutions compare to standalone "standouts". I think the days where we see some no name powersupply that isn't very good in systems (as a general rule) are gone. That's been replaced (in North America) now with seeing solutions by Antec, Fsp, ect as the standard. So the comparison's are of interest.vailr - Saturday, February 21, 2009 - link
Any idea when any "Gold certified" ~500W PSU's will be available (on Newegg, or another online vendor)?Such as:
Thermaltake W0338 TP-500AH3NCG 500W
Seasonic SS-550LT 550W
Channel Well PUK500V-G 500W
Discussed here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...
Christoph Katzer - Saturday, February 21, 2009 - link
I think we will see first units in summer.Mastakilla - Saturday, February 21, 2009 - link
I'm looking for a cheap 450W - 550W Powersupply (cheap but still a bit decent, around 50 euro), so I was really interested in this article...Unfortunatly the only PSU in pricerange, the Artic Cooling, is unfindable in the Benelux (EU). Also the next in price (Tagan Superrock), which actually is too expensive already, is unfindable here...
so I still don't know what to get
Kiijibari - Sunday, February 22, 2009 - link
Buy an Enermax 525W, they were tested earlier here on anandtech and are very good PSU.They should be available easily in Europe :)
cheers
Kiiji
Mastakilla - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link
Thanks for the tip, but those enermaxes are again waaaaaaaay above budget (89+ euro!!)The Corsair CX400 is 43 euro
That Artic Cooling 550W is 68 euro (shipped from DE)
I'm looking for something in between... (around 50-55 euro)
like a decent 450-500W Powersupply...
MadMan007 - Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - link
Corsair VX450 or HX450 (we unfortunately do not get the HX450 in the States :( Sad because it's 80+ Bronze)Kiijibari - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link
Sounds like you are looking for a (very) good *and* cheap PSU.That is imo impossible. You either get cheap China crackers or good, expensive ones.
Do you *really* need ~500W ?
If not then try the Enermax 425W. That is my last idea, otherwise I would suggest to raise your budget :)
cheers
Kiiji
Mastakilla - Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - link
no, you're wrong...the Corsair CX400 apparently isn't that bad and is VERY cheap...
I'm willing to pay a little more for a little better, but it seems like paying a little more will only get me worse :(
Paying A LOT more does get better though, but then I'm over my budget for the pc i'm composing...
Christoph Katzer - Saturday, February 21, 2009 - link
Try Caseking.dehttp://www.caseking.de/shop/catalog/Netzteile/Arct...">http://www.caseking.de/shop/catalog/Net...0R-80Plu...