Completely silent and very efficient, but this PSU is very expensive
Written By
Published on 18 February 2013
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1 / 2
Our rating
Reviewed price £147 inc VAT
If noise (or lack of) is your number one priority when building a new PC, the Aurum Xilenser 500W could well be the model for you. With no fan at all, it’s completely passively cooled. There’s just a trace of coil noise in use, but you’d have to listen very carefully for it and you’re unlikely to hear this in day-to-day use.
Impressively, this power supply is also 80 Plus Gold certified, which means efficiencies of at least 88 per cent at all loads. In our tests, we managed 89.61 per cent at 100 per cent load, 92.29 per cent at 50 per cent load and 89.40 per cent at 20 per cent load. That’s very impressive and means that this supply will be comparatively cheap to run.80 Plus Gold certification means that this power supply is incredibly efficient at all loadsThe good news continues with the modular design, bar the captive 24-pin motherboard connector, which is required for your PC. With four Molex, five SATA and four 6+2 pin PCI Express connectors, there’s plenty here for even the most fully-loaded PC. To top it all off, there’s a generous five-year warranty, giving you plenty of peace of mind.
Our only problem with this power supply is that it’s so expensive. Even though it’s Gold certified, it would take years and years to make up the cost in lower electricity bills. If you want to build a silent computer, then this truly is a great supply, but for considerably less you can buy the excellent Seasonic X-Series 660W. If you just want a great budget power supply, the Be Quiet! Pure Power L8 530W is a great choice.
Written by
David Ludlow
David has been fascinated by technology since he first set eyes on the ZX Spectrum 48K. A fan of smartphones, tablets and home automation, he also specialises in home networking. David has worked in tech publishing for more than 20years, working on PCW, Computer Shopper and launching Expert Reviews in 2010.
