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CoolerMaster 600, OCZ 600 and Zalman 660W PSU roundup

Cases & PSU/Power Supplies by geoffrey @ 2009-07-14

Looking for a 600~700W pc power supply but haven´t decided yet what to get? We at Madshrimps have tested three popular products from major brands like Coolermaster, Zalman and OCZ. We compared features, performance and efficiency. Which one to get? Read on to find out!

OCZ ModXstream-pro 600W pics & results

OCZ ModXstream-pro 600W box unpacked

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Box unpacked, inside we found:

OCZ ModXstream-pro 600W power supply

Sleeved cables

AC power cord

Manual

4 x PSU Installation Screws

Cable bag

One of the smaller boxes wears the OCZ trademark, inside there's all the things you need to get your PSU installed and ready for usage. As extra OCZ added a black cable bag which always comes in handy when you have not used all of your cables, like me there'll probable be many people who have them PC cables hanging around everywhere you can think off, now with this cool OCZ bag these days are history, at least for your PSU cables...

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Cables explored

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The PSU comes with the 20+4-Pin ATX power cable, the 4-Pin P4 cable and the 8-Pin EPS cable already connected, aside of that we also found following modular power cables:

1 x PCI-E 6pin Cable

1 x PCI-E 6+2pin Cable

2 x ODD/HDD/FDD Cables

2 x S-ATA Cables

All you need, it's there, though those in need of many power cables might get in trouble as there aren't to many delivered. Another point I would like to highlight is the fact that only one of the two PCIe cables is 8-pins, why didn't OCZ add two of these 6+2pins PCIe cables instead of one, it's not like it would cost a whole lot more.

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More pictures

The OCZ ModXstream is a rather small PSU with little cables added and thus not too many modular connectors are needed either. The back comes with ventilation holes where on the bottom of the PSU we found a large 135mm fan made by Globe Fan. Under product name RL4Z S1352512H this fan with sleeve bearing produces 106,86 CFM at 12V 1500rpm, noise is at 29,2dBA not that low, but we're talking full speed here.

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From today’s contestants OCZ comes with the least amount of cooling, I bet they've thoroughly tested the thermal dissipation but just in case, we won't skip our own thermal tests. Notice the plastic cover underneath the fan which forces the air to take a certain new routes, an easy and low cost trick to increase airflow at the back of the PSU at corners where air would otherwise not get that easy.

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OCZ ModXstream-pro 600W results

How to read the table underneath? Well, we tried 3 different load settings: 100%, 50% and 20% of the total power rating. In the left green field on the right side of the table you can read the output power of the PSU, i.e. the load we set, it's calculated by measuring the live voltage per rail, and by measuring the flowing current per volt rail. You can also see what numbers we've measured inside the CM labs, and how many power is consumed by multiplying U (Volts) with I (Ampéres). In the red field on the left side represents the input power of the PSU, i.e. how many in total is being drawn from the wall plug. The second green value on the right side is the efficiency of the power supply, or output power divided by input power, in percent that is.

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With numbers all well above eighty the 80plus certificate is certainly well deserved, overall the volts remain quite stable, at heavy load the 3.3 and 5V do fall slightly underneath their target value. Some more test results we would like to share:

Inrush current: 55 Ampére

Power Factor: 0,93~0,98

Standby power consumption: 0,9 Watt

12V shortcut protection: OK

5V shortcut protection: OK

We also tried overpowering the PSU, in this case we started increasing the 12V line load until the PSU shut down, these numbers are experimental and should not be analyzed too much as long as you plan on using the PSU within its specs. In case of the OCZ ModXstream 600 we did notice though that the PSU stops at 635 Watt already. Now that's not too many headroom so pay attention to what you'll be demanding from the PSU, though if you're close to these amounts of power consumption you'll probable be better off with a higher rather PSU anyway.

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