New PC power supplies compete with air conditioners

NO THANKS are due to the ever-higher demands by the new CPUs, graphics cards and other componentry, but today's PCs are starting to compete with air conditioners and heavy ovens in the power consumption department.

On top of that, you need to take care of multiple output voltages and cable types, handling the resulting internal cable mess in an user-friendly way without disrupting the airflow, and making the whole think install and run reliably over a few years at least.

Features like modular power cable sets with connectors at the PSU itself, that can be plugged or unplugges from the PS as needed, or UV lighted interior to lit the cables if opening the box in the dark (what for?) are seen often now.

Here we have three interesting new-generation power supplies from three well known vendors: CoolerMaster RealPower 550, OCZ ModStream 520, and MGE Vortec 600. Wattage-wise, all are powerful enough to handle most of the current high-end configurations, and each has its own set of 'unique' features.

We tested all the units in the excellent CoolerMaster Praetorian 730 casing, a new silver unit with pull-out mainboard compartment and easy-to-use large-head screws that can be handled by hand, without screwdriver. Its fashionable front door could have some extra holes in the lower portion to let more air to the lower intake fan, though. The Intel 955X-based board system with Pentium XE dual-core 3.2 GHz CPU was the 'turn-on' platform inside the Praetorian.

CoolerMaster RealPower 550
As it fits an enthusiasts-oriented vendor, the Real Power is a fancy-looking shiny black unit with the currently in-fashion Blue LED fan (giving that UV light-like ghastly appearance when running it in a dark room). The honeycomb rear portion panel helps increase the airflow without an extra fan, so not to add to the 23 dB of the in-built main fan's low noise.

A 550W-rated unit (650 W peak power) , RealPower 550 has both ATX and EPS 2.1 compliance, wirh 24 + 8 pin connector combo (like the one for Xeon / Opteron workstations or Dual-Core Pentium 955X boards) supported natively. The forest of connectors provided also of course includes the 6-pin PCI-E graphics card connector.

CoolerMaster has added an external analog VU-meter-like power consumption scale display unit that fits into a 3.5-inch drive bay. Funnily, even with the Intel system fully on with 2 GB RAM, HIS IceQ II 850XT PE card and two 250 GB SATA drives, it never showed more than 350W actually used, so I can't confirm its accuracy.

OCZ ModStream 520
OCZ is also a brand among the high-end enthusiasts, so their 520 W entry had to live up to the name - the titanium-plated, EMI-isolated casing with OCZ PowerShield input current stabilisation with noise filtering does look unique, with all the cables being modular. The connectors are on the power supply case itself, so you only attach the cables you really need are used, while the rest stays in the separate box provided in the OCZ package.

Like the CoolerMaster, the OCZ unit has a silent main fan with Blue LED lights, and interestingly, in the dark, the power supply cables glow in the dark when exposed to the UV light from the power supply - so you can see them clearly even with the lights off. It did really work. Also, like CoolerMaster, the ModStream 520 also supports short peak load of 100W above the rater power, i.e. 620 Watts. One point: the ModStream does not have the 8-pin EPS connector - but does have an interesting modular 20/24 pin connector, where you slide the extra 4 pins on the main 20 pins if you need them on a particular board, without need for adapters.

The main advantage of this unit are definitely the swappable modular power cables - removing almost half the cables that are unused helps the air flow, and lets the case look neater as well. Even though its power rating is the lowest among the three, it fed the fully-populated Intel dual-core power guzzler without a hitch.

MGE Vortec 600
The most powerful of them all, Vortec 600 is also the visually most unique - semi-transparent blue power switches combined with red-light LEDs on both rear and inner fans, as well as radiator-cooling like black case texture with curved edges. MGE has done a good visual appeal job in this design, where you feel kind of guilty that the power supply is not fully visible from the outside. Just like OCZ or CoolerMaster, all cables are in nylon sleeves - in this case, all fiery red. It must be there is preference for red lingerie by some members of the team there.

The MGE unit also has a fan speed control knob on the behind, a useful thingie if you're running the power supply below its maximum, and prefer some extra quiet to listen to the MP3's or whatever. Another unique plus is the ability to fit both ATX and BTX cases (with a converter).

Keep in mind this unit only comes with 20 + 4 pin main supply connectors to the board natively, so you need to use the supplied adapter for the 24-pin + 4 pin boards. There is no 8-pin EPS connector here, either. Just like OCZ, though, it did not affect the smooth operation on Intel's dual-core Pentium 955X EPS board.

Conclusion
Well, all three units are good power supplies in their own way, and each has its own pros & cons. Which one fits where better? Well, for a hint from my point of view, let's see what was their allocation upon the initial review completion, for further reliability tests on other platforms.

The CoolerMaster unit is now powering the big dual-core Pentium XE with Intel 955X board in the CoolerMaster Praetorian 730 casing - the only one with all the connectors perfectly matching the EPS-based 955X platform. The OCZ ModStream is feeding another dual-core monster: the Abit LG-81 mainboard with Intel Pentium D in there, liquid-cooled to 3+ GHz using the old, sturdy Corsair HydroCool 200 box - the 520W rating is just nice knowing I've added another ATI X600 card in there.

And the MGE? Well, right now I'm using it on my working Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.2 GHz PC with the old (not so sturdy, though) MSI 875P Neo board and HIS IceQ II 850XT PE AGP card - and typing its story. The power reserve of this 600W unit makes me, well, feel comfortable using it on the main work system - and, after all, its 20 + 4 native mainboard power connector is just the fit for 875-based boards...