Enermax Gold: Modu87+ and Pro87+
by Christoph Katzer on January 19, 2010 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
External Appearance
The new series from Enermax surprised us as we had imagine something completely different (thinking back to Computex from last year). At that time both series were equipped with a 12mm Magma fan and had a very rough sandblasted paint scheme. Enermax has returned to a more traditional look and we think the change was only for the better. In an effort to reduce costs Enermax had to keep painting to a minimum which is why these units now only come with simple black paint. On the other hand, not all the changes were an effort to reduce costs; an expensive feature for example is the 139mm shiny golden fan. It fits quite well with the design aesthetic actually and makes this new design look better than the previous one with the red Magma fan. There is one little detail that doesn't quite fit, however: the Enermax logo in the middle of the fan guard looks a little odd with the square shape over a circular fan. As always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The Modu87+ power supplies have the cable management jacks at the front of the unit. There are five jacks with five pins and two with twelve. The jacks have the same size and shape as on other Enermax power supplies, and since the company offers separate cables in retail packages you can use old cables even if you want to switch to a new Enermax unit. Above the usual main switch and AC input you will find a small area with a note saying "Please put ENERMAX log sticker here." You can find the Enermax sticker in the package, but why bother? Enermax explained the reason for not attaching it in the factory is that the company doesn't know what direction the user is going to mount the power supply, since various cases have the PSU at the bottom and others have it at the top. If they pre-apply the sticker, it would be upside-down for some users. If you want your system to be "just so" after assembly, this might be an important consideration.
The CordGuard
Below the AC inlet and main switch you will find something new. These two hooks belong to the newly acquired patent from Zippy and now offered by Enermax called CordGuard.
The CordGuard is nothing more than a small wire-hook attached to the power supply. Once you connect the power cord you can lift the hook up to securely fasten the cable. This makes sense in households where you have the PC standing in an open space and someone could accidently pull out the cable. It might not be a critical feature for everyone, but it will undoubtedly come in handy for some users. Enermax will be modifying all of their PSUs to include the CordGuard function going forward, but we really don't think this is necessary.
Enermax posted this video on YouTube to show real life experiences and how they could be solved with CordGuard. We think it's dangerous to let kids play behind a PC in the first place, and let's just hope they don't notice the power switch….
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FaaR - Thursday, January 21, 2010 - link
You're too focused on price only. A PSU isn't something you buy every day. Better to get a great, efficient unit that has headroom to grow and will last you many years, even if it costs a little more.And yes, fifty bucks is a little more. Most people on Anandtech wouldn't whine if they have to pay $200 for a video card, and we all know how fast they go obsolete. Get some perspective here please.
The PSU is arguably THE most important piece of equipment in your whole PC. If it doesn't function well, nothing else will either. So there's nothing wrong with buying one of the best units out there, quite the opposite.
Kibbles - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
Actually this is more like a $600-700 videocard amongst PSUs. Most will be happy enough with a HD5870. Many PSUs in the $100 range, like the HX620, are damn good. However like any other computer component, those extra 5% costs just as much as the first 95%.Spacecomber - Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - link
I happy to see another P/S review on Anandtech. I don't think that there have been any in quite a while. While these Enermax models are very nice, the price probably makes them impractical for any builds that I can imagine.However, one thing that I really like about these power supplies is their very low noise output. As I move away from building game-centric computers to computers that are likely to be used more as media servers, keeping the noise down to being virtually inaudiable becomes more important to me (especially for a music server). For these kind of computers I don't need a huge amount of power, and therefore I'm not looking to invest a huge amount of money in the P/S. I'm really looking for a power supply that can give me the quietest experience for the least amount of money. (To get a really quiet P/S, I accept that I'll be spending more than one would expect to spend on most "budget" power supplies.)
Anyway, this is just a suggestion that perhaps others are also looking for something more like this for their living rooms, instead of a kilowatt P/S to drive an overclocked quad core monster with multiple video cards.
- Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - link
The first three graphs on p.11 look like they need more labeling. Looks like you need to show which PSU for efficiency.mariush - Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - link
On page 10, I somehow doubt the readings were made at 50C room temperature (see chart headers)JarredWalton - Thursday, January 21, 2010 - link
As mentioned below, the tested was done in a temperature controlled chamber, so the ambient temp was indeed 50C. I would update the graphs, but Christoph custom-made these charts so I'll leave that to him. :)JarredWalton - Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - link
Fixed... the same graph was initially inserted on all three as you may have noticed.markshin - Saturday, July 24, 2010 - link
i bought a Modu87+ 700W, because i needed a new psu to replace my 5-year old 70% efficient unit..I don't intend to run this at 100% load, that's sheer madness. 30-60% is the sweet spot for today's PSU's, that's where they are most efficient.
and also, they're selling for about US$150 (at least from where I'm located).
:-)
MasonStorm@AnandTech - Friday, October 1, 2010 - link
Hi Chris,Thanks for the great review. Any chance you can update the results to include the new, 800W and 900W models they've just released? I'd love to see if those also stay silent at all loads.