Cooler Master Real Power 450W PSU

Cases & PSU/Power Supplies by jmke @ 2004-07-26

Cooler Master making power supplies? We put their newest 450W creation through a series of tests on our fully equipped torture bench, does the Real Power survive? Read on to find out!

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Introduction

Yes you are reading this correctly, we are reviewing a brand new power supply, from Cooler Master. This company is no stranger to the hardware world; they have a great variety of products, going from high quality cases, to CPU cooling and flashy modding gear.

Competition is tough between power supply manufactures as they are all striving to earn the “hardware enthusiast’s favorite”- title. In order to stand out you need to offer great specifications, steady volt rails, good AND silent cooling, future proof and have good durability. And all this must not come at an unreasonable price.

So here’s the Real Power 450W from Cooler Master:

Madshrimps (c)


The unit is painted completely black which fits perfectly with about 99% of all cases out there, it features 1 big 120mm at the bottom, a very open “honey comb” area at the back and it comes with a nifty extra in the form of a real time Wattage meter.

Madshrimps (c)

Madshrimps (c)

Madshrimps (c)

Madshrimps (c)


The finger guard on the 120mm fan is sunk into the PSU, making installation very easy, speaking of easy, each of the 7 peripheral connectors come with a fast-removable mechanism! Another specialty is the addition of a 24-pin motherboard connector, it’s part of its ATX 2.0 compliancy. For those using an older motherboard you are forced to use this converter:

Madshrimps (c)


A quick look at all the connectors:

Madshrimps (c)


The display interface connects to the small breakout box of course, this gadget shows the current load on the power supply and you will see it fluctuate quite bit if you are doing intensive tasks on your PC. Do note that you need to sit right in front of the unit in order to read the correct values, as the small pointer shows incorrect ones when viewed at an angle.

Let’s take a look at the internals of the unit and see how its specifications stack up against popular brands ->
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