80Plus-Gold power supplies in the test: Efficient power supplies up to 100 euros in comparison

– A power supply with high efficiency according to 80Plus Gold and fully modular cable management does not necessarily have to be expensive. The 60-euro class already combines both without neglecting quality criteria. Premium brands charge a higher price, but at the same time offer more in the test.

80Plus Gold optionally fully modular from 60 euros

Power supplies with an efficiency according to 80Plus Gold become cheaper on the one hand and, on the other, higher quality. This can be seen quite clearly with sales prices from 60 euros for the Kolink Enclave 500W and the SilentiumPC Supremo L2 Gold 550W. In turn, higher quality is promised in the higher price segment Corsair RM650, Phanteks AMP P550G and Super Flower Leadex III Gold 550W.

Compared to the last 80Plus-Gold power supply roundup, a higher equipment variant with fully modular cabling is now being offered in the lower price range, as the Enclave 500W is offering for the first time.

Newcomers meet top dogs

Phanteks and SilentiumPC are relatively new to the power supply market. The first-mentioned manufacturer sees the AMP P550G as a cheaper alternative to a second Revolt-Pro power supply if a redundant power supply is required, such as that made possible by the Revolt-Pro-Link interface. So far, SilentiumPC has focused on the Polish home market, but now there is also availability in Germany. The power supply portfolio is currently limited to the entry-level and mid-range, with the Supremo L2 Gold 550W being assigned to the latter. After a bit of delay, Kolink sends its Enclave 500W onto the market – Corsair and Super Flower, on the other hand, maintain their range with successor products.

The details of the test methodology, the test station used, the electrical measurements and the sound pressure level measurements can also be read separately in this case in the article "Power supply unit tests: methodology, structure and equipment". The power supply ranking with the best list offers a constantly updated overview of recommended power supplies.

Comparison of key technical data

Of the five power supplies, the variant of the series with the lowest output power appears, which is 550 watts for Corsair 650, Kolink 500 and Phanteks, SilentiumPC and Super Flower. Except for Phanteks with 140 mm, the housing depth of all power supplies is 160 mm. However, only Corsair with the RM650 takes advantage of a larger 140 mm fan, otherwise the next smaller 120 mm standard is used. Only the Leadex III Gold 550W uses a very unusual frame width of 128 mm.

Only Corsair and Super Flower can offer a full scope of protection. The protective circuits of the Phantek are also complete on paper, however, no switch-off threshold for overheating protection (OTP) could be determined in the practical measurements, whereby the series distribution of the switch-off device can be responsible for the faulty triggering. Kolink dispenses with the OTP, the SilentiumPC Supremo L2 Gold 550W also lacks overcurrent protection on the output rails.

Guarantee conditions

In the event of damage, end customers can contact the manufacturer directly, whose named guarantee extends beyond the legally prescribed 24-month guarantee period to the dealer. With offices in the USA at Corsair and Phanteks, Hungary at Kolink, Poland at SilentiumPC and Taiwan at Super Flower, German distributors usually handle the return processing. Corsair is the exception, as it has its own German-language support and returns do not have to leave Germany. While Phanteks has a branch in the Netherlands, Caseking acts as a distributor and contact for the Kolink and Super Flower brands. SilentiumPC only includes warranty conditions for the power supply in Polish and there is no English or German translation on the website.

Guarantee period of three to ten years

There are also differences in the length of the guarantee. This is ten years for Corsair and Phanteks, five years for SilentiumPC and Super Flower and three years for Kolink.

Scope of delivery and exterior

In the scope of delivery there are drastic differences between the models. Kolink completely dispenses with any additions. The four competitors are more generous in this regard and equip the power supplies with IEC cables, screws, cable ties and a manual. At least the packaging material of the Enclave 500W was designed for better protection against transport damage, since it is surrounded by foam, while the Supremo L2 Gold 550W is only protected by an air pocket.

Corsair knows how to please the most with regard to the processing quality of the metal housing, since the deep black powder coating is of high quality and is also coordinated with the fan color. Edges also draw uniform lines. For the other models, the case essentially fulfills the functional character, whereby apart from Super Flower, every manufacturer has made the additional effort for an optimized fan grill. The Enclave 500W is again minimalistic when it comes to the labeling of the connection panel, which is not available and has instead been replaced by a clear hardware coding for the connector.

Cable equipment

As the only power supply in the test field, the cables of the Supremo L2 Gold 550W cannot be removed. The four competitors rely on fully modular cable management. There are further differences in the equipment with regard to the connector range. According to this, RM650 and AMP P550G can also supply very mature processors such as an AMD Threadripper or Intel Core i9 thanks to two 8-pin EPS connections. Furthermore, Corsair offers the most connection variety compared to the competition due to the four PCIe connectors. SilentiumPC and Super Flower are the worst equipped in this regard because the two PCIe connectors have to share a cable harness, which is why a secure and reliable supply of graphics cards with very high power consumption can be classified as uncertain. The up to twelve SATA connectors of the AMP P550G in the delivery state enable use for systems with a particularly large number of drives. Although the Enclave 500W is the bottom of the list with only five connections, most of them can also be used effectively thanks to the asymmetrical distribution of the IDE and SATA connectors over three cable harnesses.

Typical values ​​for ATX power supplies are achieved with the cable lengths provided. Corsair, Phanteks, Kolink and Super Flower also paid attention to a sufficient dimensioning of the EPS cable, so that a cable routing behind the mainboard tray is possible. Depending on the case, the 61 centimeters of the Supremo L2 Gold 550W may be too short for this.

There are different approaches to cable sheathing. Kolink and SilentiumPC dispense with these completely and only offer the flat ribbon variant. For the 24-pin ATX cable, a jacket ensures a more orderly implementation, which was chosen for the RM650, AMP P550G and Leadex III Gold 550W. Super Flower also sheaths the cable strands of the EPS and PCIe cables in order to hide capacitors for better filtering of the ripple. Regarding the quality of the cables, SilentiumPC also falls behind because the insulation thickness is relatively thin. The core strength is 18 AWG throughout, whereby Kolink uses somewhat thinner 20 AWG cores for the peripheral cables.

Kolink test sample with incorrect pin assignment

With a prioritized dispatch of the test sample, the Enclave 500W was enclosed with a cable with the wrong pin assignment during packaging in the factory. When packaging the complete first batch, the error should already have been corrected. When switching on the power supply unit with incorrect pin assignment, the short-circuit protection intervened immediately.

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