Having a 600W or higher power supply doesn't mean
anything if the power provided isn't reliable. Most of the time,
the big numbers thrown at us are theoretical peak voltages, and
rarely do we see such performance in real-world situations. If
you browse user forums where people are struggling with getting
a piece of hardware to run reliably, in many cases, the power
supply is the culprit.
Let's make this clear, just because you have a generic
600W PSU does not mean you'll be able to get all that power. Unfortunently,
even the big companies who preach about getting beefier PSUs for
their hardware don't make it clear exactly how much peak, and
continuous power you really need.
Cooler Master are well known for their cases and
cooling accessories, but their power supplies are also a big part
of their portfolio, especially the Real Power series. Thus far
in 2007, we've seen more and more 1000W+ power supplies hit the
market, and although the Cooler Master Real Power Pro 650W (model
#RS-650-ACAA) doesn't reach that number, there are plenty of other
features that puts it up for potential contendership in your next
major PC upgrade.
Specifications
| Type
|
ATX
Form Factor 12V V2.2 / SSI standard EPS 12V V2.91 |
| Input
Voltage |
90
~ 264V (Auto Range) |
| Input
Current |
10A
@ 115Vac / 5A @ 230Vac |
| Input
Frequency Range |
47~63
Hz |
| Power
Good Signal |
100
~ 500 ms |
| Hold
Up Time |
>
17ms |
| Efficiency
|
>
80% Typical |
| Output
Capacity |
650
Watts Continuous, 780W Peak |
| MTBF
|
>
100,000 Hours |
| Dimension
|
Standard
ATX 150 x 140 x 86 (mm) |
Like many power supplies, at least those that
are of good quality that has passed through our labs, the Real
Power Pro is quite heavy, matching the weight of other comparatively
rated PSUs we have. While the PSU rule of weight does not always
hold true, the general consensus is that the heavier it is, the
better quality it is. In part, this is simply due to the better
quality heatsinks and capacitors in the unit.
The PSU is neatly packaged in a plastic bag, which
in turn is packed into a foam inner compartment. Inside, we have
the Real Power Pro 650W PSU, a power cable, manual, and installation
screws. The power connections, as well as the screws and power
cable rest in the smaller compartment next to the Real Power Pro.
The Real Power Pro 650W is an ATX power supply.
The dimensions are within ATX specifications and the PSU measures
150 mm x 140 mm x 86 mm. The drive is not modular, so everything
you need is already pre-wired to the PSU. There is a specifications
sticker on the left side (when facing the PSU from where the cables
exit) of the PSU.
At first glance, we can see that a total of 191
Watts are provided on the +3.3v and +5v rails, 540W on the +12v
rail, 9.6W on the negative rails, and 17.5W on the +5v rail (for
USB) giving us 650W total. The Real Power Pro is rated for a maximum
of 780W but under normal circumstances (that's equipped in a PC
that will max it out) it runs at 650W continuous. The Real Power
Pro also has triple +12v rails (peaks of 19A across the board).
Additional rails will aid in keeping a system stable as you can
separate devices based on power consumption into the rails of
your choosing. This is extremely important these days with water
cooling, and multiple video card setups.
Both SLI and CrossFire are fully supported. In
regards to power standards, the Real Power Pro complies with Intel's
ATX 12V v2.2 and SSI standard EPS 12V v2.91, as well as Energy
Star and Blue Angel requirements. The unit is a green power design,
and is rated at more than 80% efficiency under typical load.
The Real Power PSU features protection for Over-Temperature,
Over-Voltage, Under-Voltage, Over-Current, Short Circuit Protection,
and Over-Loading. If such an event occurs, the Power Failure Detector
on the rear of the PSU will light up to indicate a failure.
Cooler Master chose the "Honey Comb"
structure
for the rear of the unit. The perforations allows a fair amount
of air to be exhausted (via the 120mm fan) and is less obstructive
than traditional precut grill methods. No voltage switch is present
as the PSU auto regulates the power. Just above the power switch
is the indicator light mentioned earlier to warn the user of errors
in the voltage.
Exact CFM requirements will vary depending on
the load and environment, but 60 to 80 CFM is typical of the cooling
fan on the Real Power. The circuitry in the PSU senses the temperature
of the internal heatsink and/or ambient air and adjusts the fan
speed accordingly to keep the unit operating within specifications.
All of the cables are covered in a braided sheath
which serves to hide the multicolored wiring. All the cables are
very long and we had no problems running them through our Cooler
Master Stacker behemoth. For your connections, you have the following:
one 24 pin motherboard connection (P1), a 4 pin +12v CPU connection
(P2), an 8 pin +12V CPU connection (P3), two PCI-E connections
(P4 and P5), six SATA, five Molex, and one floppy connection.
Each Molex connection have push tabs that make removal easier
when you're swapping devices.
Testing
MSI 975X Diamond: Intel Pentium Extreme Edition
840 w/Zalman CNPS9500, 2GB Corsair DDR2 8000UL, 2 x Seagate
400GB, Seagate 120GB, Asus Radeon X1900 XTX, MSI 16X DL, AOpen
CDRW 52X.
To load up the system, we run Prime95 run for
60 minutes, with Folding @ Home running in the background, as
well as ripping a War of the Worlds DVD to the Seagate RAID
setup. We also ran a continuous loop of VirusScan and a looping
demo of 3DMark05. Voltages were monitored with ABRA DM-9700
multimeter. The comparison PSUs are the Cooler
Master iGreen 600W, Corsair HX620W, and
the Enermax Liberty EL620AWT. All the power supplies
were plugged into a Belkin UPS (separately for each test) for
the first set of tests.
Temperatures
Most PSUs have an ideal operating temperature
of about 40°C, so we disabled the case fans and taped shut
all the case openings other than the PSU exhaust. According
to MBM, the internal case temperature got to about ~42°C,
and a thermal probe attached a heatsink inside the PSUs read
46°C for the Enermax Liberty EL620AWT, 45°C on the iGreen
Power, Corsair HX620W and Cooler
Master Real Power 650W.
Idle
|
+3.3v
|
+5v
|
+12v
|
| CM Real Power Pro |
3.30
|
5.12
|
12.08
|
| Enermax EL620 |
3.31
|
5.12
|
12.07
|
| Corsair HX620W |
3.30
|
5.11
|
12.08
|
| CM iGreen Power |
3.27
|
5.08
|
12.09
|
Load
|
+3.3v
|
+5v
|
+12v
|
| CM Real Power Pro |
3.23
|
5.00
|
12.02
|
| Enermax EL620 |
3.22
|
5.01
|
12.01
|
| Corsair HX620W |
3.21
|
5.02
|
11.96
|
| CM iGreen Power |
3.22
|
5.00
|
12.01
|
While the Belkin regulated the power drawn from
the wall outlet, you'll still need a decent PSU to provide clean
and reliable power to your PC. All of the power supplies do
well here and there is little difference between the results.
Wall Socket Test
Living in a new home, most of our wires are in
pretty good shape. I did want to see how the PSUs would react
plugged into a wall socket though (no power bar or UPS) and
the other socket with a second PC equipped with a 21" CRT
yanked from storage drawing power from a power bar. I managed
to pack two additional 17" monitors to the power bar, as
well as a 4.1 Logitech speaker set. I turned on a second 19"
monitor plugged into another socket which shares the wiring
circuit and ended with these results.
Load
|
+3.3v
|
+5v
|
+12v
|
| CM Real Power Pro |
3.22
|
4.98
|
11.99
|
| Enermax EL620 |
3.20
|
5.00
|
12.01
|
| Corsair HX620W |
3.20
|
5.00
|
11.95
|
| CM iGreen Power |
3.21
|
4.99
|
11.98
|
All the PSUs lost a bit of power, but not enough
to cause any problems at all. The Enermax Liberty still holds
up a little better but none of the units suffered any instability.
Final
Words
Cooler Master's Real Power 650W is about as reliable as we would
expect from their Real Power series of power supplies. The system
never faltered during testing, though we only managed to draw
enough power to tax 75% of it's total rated power. That said,
we would feel comfortable recommending this power supply for any
high end system, short of a quad video card setup. Main reason
for this though is the shortage of PCIE connections.
Build quality is excellent, and the braided cables are a nice
touch. The quick release molex connections are not unique to Cooler
Master, but they work well and they do make removal much easier
than connections of the past. The length of cables is sufficient
for most scenarios, and we had no issues in our very large full
tower. We would have liked to have seen some sort of ring around
the cabling much like the one found on Enermax's high end PSUs
to reduce EMI, but the electrical noise was a non-issue today.
Speaking of noise, the Real Power 650W was near silent and only
became noticeable (and only when putting our ear next to the fan)
after a 90min MPEG-2 encode we were running. The temperature at
the time was 46°C, so the PSU did keep relatively cool.
In regards to our specific review model, we think it's suitable
for any performance mainstream PC. Anything with multiple CPUs
or more than 2 high-end video cards (you will need to use some
sort of molex-to-PCIE adapter) will probably steer your purchasing
choice to a power supply with a higher power rating. On that note,
Cooler Master does have 850W and 1000W versions of the Real Power
Pro should your needs require it.
Hit
us up in the Forums
if you have any questions.
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