Power supplies are something that we just have to have, and sometimes the cheapie OEMs just don't cut it for the things we need to do. The trend lately is bigger, and bigger for power supplies, sure that's nice thing but what if you don't need that much power? What if you're looking for something that can handle a basic system with no problems and still allow for a bit of upgrading headroom as well? Today for review I have a 560watt supply from our friends at High Power, during my testing I found it absolutely stable, and well within tolerances. One nice and interesting feature is that High Power has included an LED display on the back that lets you know just how much power your system is consuming at any given time…
High Power 560watt PSU with LED Power Meter
Reviewed by: Kristofer Brozio AkA Dracos
Sponsor: High Power
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
Model: HPC-560-A88S
Features:
-ACTIVE PFC for reduced harmonic distortion
-Full range AC input with automatic AC input voltage selection
-Intel ATX 12V V2.2
-Triple +12V Output Rails – Three independent + 12V output rails ensure safe and stable operation
under heavy operation.
-Support Xeon, Pentium D, and AMD 64 X2 Processor Based System
-NVIDIA SLI Certified
Comprehensive support for ATX, BTX, and EPS12V form factors
– electrically and mechanically
Dual 8cm ball bearing fans (front and rear) with internal electronic components migrated to flush surface mount (SMT) parts for improved air flow — maximum cooling capability for both power supply and system !
Built-in wattage meter (Patented): System power consumption at one glance !
Advanced Double Forward circuit design and double-layer PCB manufacturing with flush mount SMT components. The result is a high efficiency (over 80%) power supply with improved reliability, reduced heat-dissipation, more energy-efficient, and longer-lasting. — Ideal for critical 24/7 data center server application where 40%* of the operational spending is on power.
All new complete 6 Star protection system:
-Over Voltage Protection
-Under Voltage Protection
-Over Current Protection
-Over Temperature Protection
-Short Circuit Protection
-Over Power Protection
All cables come pre-sleeved
Gold coated terminal connectors
Patented EZ-Extract (squeeze-and-pull) Peripheral Power
Optimal air flow design ensures consistent power performance.
Dual high quality ball bearing fans are designed to be operated 24/7 with redundancy
Dimensions:
Width: 150mm (5 7/8 inches)
Height: 86mm (3 3/8 inches)
Depth: 165mm (6 1/2 inches)
Connectors:
2x Case Fan
2x 4-pin Floppy
1x 20/24 pin ATX power
8x 4-pin peripheral Molex
4x SATA
1x 4/8 pin 12v power
2x PCIE
A Better Look at Things
:
The box for the High Power 560Watt PSU is rather small, but they pack as much information as possible all over it. It is very colorful and informative, highlighting the important features of course on the front and the back. The side of the box have the specs and connectors listed on either side. Overall it is a very nice and colorful presentation, it is kind of attractive actually…
Opening up the box we are greeted with the user manual, with the power supply itself under it wrapped in plastic and sitting in a formed 'bed' of styrofoam for protection during transport. There is also an accessory box off to the side of the PSU.
Getting everything unpacked we find the PSU itself, the user manual and inside the box is the power cable and mounting screws.
The PSU itself is solid black with a semi-gloss finish, nicely done actually.
As with any good power supply, on one side you will find a label with the actual electrical specs of the unit.
The High Power 560Watt PSU features two 80mm cooling fans, one of them is located on the rear and acts as an exhaust fan. Next to that fan is where we find the 'Power Watcher' LED indicator, it will display the wattage being used by your system when powered on. Under that is the main power connector, notice that there is something missing, oddly there is no I/O rocker switch on this power supply.. Why I don't quite know, I think every PSU needs to have one, it eliminates the need to 'pull the plug' when you want to do something internally.
The other 80mm fan is an intake fan and it is located on the PSU that would be inside of your case, the fan itself is centered to provide adequate cooling and optimal airflow.
A Better Look at Things
Continued:
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Ok, let's check out the connections and pop it open to see inside…
Connectors:
2x Case Fan
2x 4-pin Floppy
1x 20/24 pin ATX power
8x 4-pin peripheral Molex
4x SATA
1x 4/8 pin 12v power
2x PCIE
Now that we know that the cables are all nice and sleeved, let's pop the top and see inside this PSU. We've got some nice industrial sized components in there, and a fairly large heatsink that goes from the front to the back actually (hard to see in pics), and across the top. I like how they have one fan centered and the other off centered, this allows the air to blow across all the components and usually eliminates any possible dead spots in the PSU.
Installation, Testing and Comparison
Installation is easy, it is a standard size PSU, so I had no problems fitting in my case. Which is a Coolermaster Centurion RC532. The cables are nice and long and length should not be a problem for most sized cases.
When plugged powered on the LED display on the back lights up with the wattage being used by the system, I took a couple pics to show the meter in use and according to the Power Watcher my system only consumes 198Watts under load. Load was running 3dMark06 on my system, I used that because it would stress my video card and CPU the most at pretty much the same time at some instances of the benchmark. I also tried Prime95 as well, running two instances, one on each core.
My test system consisted of:
Asus p5wd2-e Premium motherboard
Intel P4X 955 CPU (review HERE)
2 gigs Crucial 10th Anniversary ram (review HERE)
BFG 7900GT OC
hard drive and dvd/rw
I had the High Power PSU in my system for almost two weeks and ran the system under load numerous times during each day, and ran Prime95x2 as well for several hours each day, it worked out well because I was also testing the Akasa CPU cooler as well for an upcoming review. So, I got out my trusty multimeter and took some reading at idle and at load on the 5v and 12v lines, this is what I got:
Idle:
5v = 5.15v
12v = 12.07v – 12.08v
Load:
5v = 5.16v
12v = 12.02v
You can see there was a slight fluctuation at idle, but nothing major, I was very surprised at the solid 12.02v that I got while under load, of course it fluctuated a bit during the start of the tests but stabilized at 12.02v for the duration until I stopped the testing. I checked numerous times and the results were the same while under load, the 12v line didn't move. Yes it dropped to 12.02v, any PSU will drop under load usually, but that is still above 12v and well within tolerances.
As for sound coming from the PSU fans, I didn't notice any real difference in the noise level at load or at idle. Overall it is a fairly quiet power supply, it isn't completely silent, but it isn't the loudest I've heard either.
The included fan connectors will make the fans connected to them run at full speed, so if you don't have a silent fan to begin with that will add noise to your system. I personally had a rather noisy 120MM in there, normally I have it connected to a controller or voltage reducer to quiet it down, when hooked to the High Power PSUs fan cables it was unbearably loud. That's no fault of the PSU though, but just something to keep in mind about those cables, they are nice to have as you won't loose a Molex to power your fans with.
As a side note:
Doing a quick bit of searching at JohnnyGuru I found that this PSU is actually made by Sirtec. Sirtec also makes power supplies for Thermaltake, Coolmax, Jeantech, Lian-li and Yesico. Thanks to JohnnyGuru for creating a very useful and informative system for identifying the makers of power supplies. If you ever wondered who made your power supply stop by his site and check out the chart he has to help you figure it out.
And another note, the rep from High Power shot me a quick email reminder about this PSU and it's ratings:
“I want to remind you that the power consumption meter displays the total DC output wattage being consumed, not the total AC wattage that comes from the wall.
Naturally, our 560w True-Wattage Rating is defined on DC output wattage, not maximum AC input wattage — an odd rating claim practice that some people use.”
Anyway, I'm happy with it, it's a nice stable PSU, that will be great for any system that doesn't need all that power of some of the systems out there today. It's a nice replacement or even an upgrade for an existing system.
Summary:
The High Power PSU surprised me truly at just how stable the 12v rail was under load, now only if every power supply was like that we'd all be set. It is relatively quiet, and seems to keep cool under long load times. The only drawback I can see is the lack of a main power switch, why there isn't one there is a mystery, but I think the switch is something that pertains to enthusiasts and users like myself, most people will plug it in and that's that. Overall it's a great little power supply that I think will make anyone happy who needs one of this wattage.
DragonSteelMods gives the High Power 560watt PSU with LED Power Meter a 4.5 out of 5 score and our Recommended Award as well.
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Pros:
-Stable
-Quiet
-Solid build
-Additional power just for fans
-Features real time power consumption monitor
Cons:
-No I/O switch…
-Fans hooked to connectors run full speed, loudly
I would like to thank High Power for the chance to review their 560Watt power supply and for their support of DSM.