Chieftec APS-650C review

Gallery

Verdict:

A stable, modular power supply, but it's let down by poor efficiency.

Review Date: 23 Mar 2010

Price when reviewed: £74

Supplier: http://www.ebuyer.com

Reviewed By: Jim Martin

Our Rating 2 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

Chieftec's APS-650C is rated at 650W and has modular cables - a definite plus point in our books. There are two 12V rails, each rated to supply 25A with a total combined output of 46A.

On closer inspection we found that each rail powers one of two rows of modular cables at the rear of the power supply. We recommend spreading the load by connecting a PCI-E modular cable to one row, and the disk drive modular cables to the other row.

There were no issues as far as stability was concerned, but efficiency was average, managing only 84 per cent at full load. This is a far cry from the Seasonic X-650's 90 per cent efficiency. Making matters worse, it was only 80 per cent efficient at 50 per cent load. This means it draws an extra 40W compared to a power supply that's 90 per cent efficient.

If you can live with captive cables, SilverPower's 650W SP-SS650 costs £13 less and is more efficient. If you can't, Antec's TP-650 costs only a few pounds more.

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