500W to 550W: 12 Power Supplies Compared
by Christoph Katzer on February 20, 2009 5:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Arctic Cooling Fusion 550R - Overview
Arctic Cooling is famous for their CPU coolers, which were very popular in the late 90s and early 2000s. With prices of around $20-$25 and very good performance, they sold a ton of these coolers. Eventually, Arctic Cooling started selling cases with power supplies made by Seasonic. That leads into today's review, with Arctic Cooling now selling power supplies under their own brand -- a potentially lucrative proposition, provided you have a product that can stand out from the competition.
The Fusion 550 is the first power supply from Arctic Cooling, and given their previous use of Seasonic power supplies in their cases, it should come as no surprise that the Fusion is manufactured by Seasonic. The difference is that Arctic Cooling uses their own fans, which are supposed to be nearly silent while still providing good performance. Arctic Cooling mounts one of these fans on the front of the PSU, with the fan actually located outside of the casing. This fan will funnel air into the PSU, and possibly do so with less acoustic noise than the competition.
In a case of interesting marketing, don't be fooled by the Eco 80 emblem on the top of the power supply. This sticker has nothing to do with the 80 Plus certification from 80Plus.org, despite some striking similarities. We will see later that the Fusion 550 does manage to achieve 80% or higher efficiency, but since this power supply did only come with 230VAC it was not able to be certified by the 80 Plus programme. Arctic Cooling does however have a multiple input version now that comes with the real certification.
When we open the casing, we find a standard Seasonic layout. Right in front of the fan is a large heatsink that will get plenty of airflow for cooling. A plastic shroud is also present to help channel airflow into the optimal locations, further helping control heat. A heatsink on the side won't get much airflow, but since there aren't many components attached to that heatsink it shouldn't be a problem. A Nippon Chemi-Con capacitor fills the primary role, with Ostor capacitors in the secondary. Ostor might be one of the cheaper capacitor options, but we didn't encounter any problems with these components.
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Mastakilla - Sunday, February 22, 2009 - link
thanks a lot for the tip, but after adding shipping costs, this is waaaaaaaaaay above my budget (68 euro)knowom - Friday, February 20, 2009 - link
The XClio STABLEPOWER 500W really should have been included it's a great PSU and very silent it's also relatively inexpensive for the quality especially if you can find one on sale.orionmgomg - Friday, February 20, 2009 - link
How many PSU reviews are you going to do?I know a good PSU is important, but the margins are so close - and for the most part the choice is very simple; OCZ, Cooler Master, Corsair, Ultra, Antec, etc, etc, etc...
Just give people a little list of what to look for, what’s new on the market and what your top 3 recommendations are.
Use the extra energy to dive further into the different i7 platforms, or give us some updates on TOP tier i7 systems with Uber Graphics solutions, we like to see and read about the over the top most powerful computer systems and gaming systems, not yet another review about mediocre low power PSUs...
As always, thanks for the info on the site, and for being one of my favorite tech update daily visits.
We want graphics reviews from YOU. (not the other guys...)
What i want to see is a i7 system OCed to hell running 3 GTX 285s, vs. quad sli (2xGTX295) vs. quad ATI (x24870x2)
Or other insight into the i7, or Geforce 9300/9400 or how much apple and the iphooled suck…
Snarks - Saturday, February 21, 2009 - link
i care, because most of us here can't afford a 3,000+ system, let alone be stupid enough to buy one.i am actually rather sick of these "uber" high platforms and never any midrange stuff like most of us use, what i would actually like to see is a e8400 with a 4870 or gtx260 compared to see what real world performance i will actually get, not some 1,000+ cpu with a 400+ graphics card.
orionmgomg - Saturday, February 21, 2009 - link
I see - your point is taken. There are other sites that have lots of reviews like this one, another site is fudzilla, guru3d, and toms hardware - but they dont have the same level of inteligence (for the most part) as Anandtech.I imagine if your looking for a mid range PSU, and your on a budget, some of these PSUs recommended here cost almost the same amount as 1000W PSUs... So - I am not sure what to say other than, if I am on a budget, I look for the CHEEPEST PSU that qualifies to my standards... - knowing the standards is more important than micro analizing 500/550 and 600 watt PSUs for their oh so slight differences, and when your on a budget, who really cares, as long as its a quility built and reputable company, bottom line is bottom line... and as I said, some of the "best" mid range PSUs go for the same or little less than quality 1000w PSUs... So - so.
On the other hand, insight as promissed into the i7 platform, more coverage of the multitude of systems as prommised would be nice, though I know its all very time consumming, and repetitive, because just when your done with one major review, an entire new platform is already on its way out! So, it kinda sucks, but thats why we come back and keep reading...
mindless1 - Friday, February 20, 2009 - link
With so many full ATX PSU to choose from and most systems not built for gaming using under 300W, it seems there is still a gap in what many of us need.Which mATX PSU can deliver, since their upper limits tend to be a lot closer to the peak load a system might place on it, and their construction often economized to their price-points not just the available space inside?
tynopik - Friday, February 20, 2009 - link
ok, so english might not be katzer's native language, but that's what editors are forComparison: PCI-E Cable Lengths - Arctic Cooling is only company to provide >>for<< PCI-E connectors.
> BFG LS-550 manages just 1.5% regulation - poor phrasing, sounds like that's a bad thing
> spend the fans faster -> spin
> which up to keep temperatures in check.
> which were some people is far and away
> pleased to present >>taken<< with our Bronze Editors' Choice award
Christoph Katzer - Friday, February 20, 2009 - link
Speech recognition software sometimes gets it wrong and since Jarred was up all night he just wanted to finish up at some point. We'll make sure to correct it all.JarredWalton - Friday, February 20, 2009 - link
Thanks - I think I got all of the typos (speechos) fixed now. It's pretty rough doing final edits at 3-4AM some times!AMDfreak - Friday, February 20, 2009 - link
Nicely done review. However I find it disappointing that an exhaustive PSU review leaves out such a major player as PC Power & Cooling. Yes, OCZ was represented and I know they now own, PCP&C, but the ModStream line is not from PCP&C. If the Silencer 500W had been included in your review, I think your awards would be very different.