XFX XXX Edition 650W

Zitat: Pros: + Great DC voltage load regulation + Good DC quality + Four PCI-E connectors + Five year warranty + Modular Cons: - Failed to meet 80 Plus Bronze following the OCC testing methodolgy It is becoming increasingly difficult to rate high end power supplies by performance alone probably due to the fact that what you find under the hood is produced by the same small group of printed circuit board manufacturers. The power supply market is very competitive and if performance levels are all very similar then price and/or a unique appearance may very well be the deciding factor when it comes to choosing a power supply for the next build or upgrade. XFX power supplies certainly have a unique appearance with their industrial themed looks and lime green cooling fan and modular cable connectors, but how do they perform? The XFX XXX Edition 650W performed very well and gave good quality, well regulated DC across all the rails up to full load. What did let the power supply down was its failure to meet the required levels of efficiency for its claimed 80 Plus Bronze certification following the OCC power supply testing methodology and the fact that isn´t listed on the 80 Plus Org website at the time of writing this review. The XFX XXX Edition 650W power supply is certainly worthy of consideration for use in any high gaming system and will easily handle any single high-end graphics card gaming rig with plenty of room to overclock. There are a total of four PCI-E connectors available on this power supply so crossfire or SLI is definitely an option but keep an eye on power requirements especially with the more power hungry Nvidia offerings. The XFX XXX Edition 650W power supply performed very well and was only let down by its failure to meet the requirements of its claimed 80 Plus Bronze certification following the OCC power supply testing methodology. The efficiency levels are still pretty good and I have no hesitation in awarding the XFX XXX Edition 650W power supply a OCC Silver award.

Zitat: XFX 650 W XXX Edition is a very good power supply, being capable of delivering its labeled wattage at high temperatures, keeping high efficiency if you pull up to 80% of its labeled capacity (i.e. up to 520 W), a three percent voltage regulation (as opposed of 5% as defined on the ATX specification – translation: voltages closer to their nominal values than required), low noise and ripple levels, modular cabling system and a single-rail design. Another nice feature is the presence of four connectors for video cards, allowing you to install two video cards that require two power connectors each. Some 650 W power supplies from other manufacturers have only two of them, and some users only discover this when it is too late (i.e. after buying a second video card and trying to install it). It presents a good value for the average Joe, especially if you can get the USD 30 mail-in rebate being offered at Newegg.com, making this unit to cost only USD 100 (Newegg.com is also giving a discount of USD 55 or USD 60 if you buy this unit together with a Radeon HD 5870 or HD 5850 from XFX, respectively). And the five-year warranty certainly counts positive points towards this unit. When we opened this power supply and saw that the printed circuit board was from PC Power & Cooling Silencer EPS12V series, we thought that this unit could be a relabeled Silencer 610 with a modular cabling system added, but our suspicion didn’t hold true: this 650 W unit uses rectifiers with greater current limits on the secondary, plus more powerful transistors on the active PFC circuit.