Silver Power SP-S650M review

Great value and efficient, but the fan noise is off-putting
Written By
Published on 21 February 2013

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Silver Power SP-S650M
Silver Power SP-S650M efficiency
Our rating
Reviewed price £80 inc VAT

For the more powerful PC, a decent 650W power supply can be the way to go, balancing power, efficiency and cost neatly. There’s no denying the value of the Silver Power SP-S650M, which appears to be a bargain. There’s certainly no doubting the quality of the supply. Although it has 80 Plus Bronze specification, the SP-S650M managed to beat the official efficiency figures by at least one per cent at all loads. In our tests we measured efficiency at 83.48 per cent at 100 per cent load, 86.15 per cent 50 per cent load and 84.13 per cent at 20 per cent load. That’s impressive going for a Bronze power supply.

Silver Power SP-S650M efficiency
The SP-S650M is at least one per cent more efficient than its 80 Plus Bronze certificationWe’re pleased to say that the PSU also uses a modular design, so you only need to connect the cables that you want to use. The only captive cables are the motherboard and CPU cables, which you’ll need to use, and two 6+2 pin PCI Express cables. Through the modular system you can also add two more 6+2 pin PCI Express, 8 SATA and 5 Molex. In other words, for the vast majority of PC systems, there are plenty of cables.

Our one complaint is that the 120mm cooling fan is very loud, particularly under load. We found it one of the most distracting and noisy power supplies that we’ve tested. If you’re looking for a powerful modular power supply at a great price and can forgive the noise, the SP-S650M is a great choice, but most people will probably be better with the Be Quiet! Pure Power L8 530W.

Written by

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. 

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