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- Date:
- Wednesday, November 11, 2009
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Enermax ECO80+ 620W Power Supply Review
Enermax produces some of the best computer power supplies in the world and has a great reputation for doing just that. We take a look at what Enermax does when it gets green and drops the price point for those of us on an enthusiast system building budget with the ECO80+ at 620 watts.
Build Quality
As we already know from the product images and packaging the ECO80+ 620W features a single 120mm fan design that has come to be the preferred standard for quiet cooling environments due to the ability to move a larger volume of air at slower speeds than a smaller diameter fan. While great for quiet computing environments the key criteria in our evaluation is whether or not the cooling solution is sufficient, not necessary it’s sound level or form factor. Our previous experience Enermax power supplies have yielded relatively quiet units so the Revolution has some potential to be quiet if Enermax can execute as well this time as they did last few times especially since this unit is advertised as having a very good fan controller.
External Build Quality
The external build quality of the ECO80+ is almost identical to the Liberty Eco (except for having fixed cables) which was just about identical to the MODU82+. This unit comes trimmed out in a flat textured black once more just like the Liberty Eco but differs in the orange "batwing" fan used to cool this unit. The front of the unit is, of course, a bit different from the Liberty Eco as there is no modular interface but really overall this housing looks like the Liberty Eco just with fixed cables.
The ECO80+ 620W comes in at a trim 5 1/2 inches while the cables provide a serviceable length of ~18 inches to the first or only connector, which is certainly long enough for most applications. The sheathing on the cables is just like we have seen in previous Enermax units in that it is multicolored without being gaudy.
Internal Build Quality
Once the screws securing the fan housing are removed we are once more left looking at a very standard power supply design that seems almost identical to the Liberty Eco, with the exception of the cables being fixed. As such, at this point I think we can just go with calling this a fixed cable version of the Liberty Eco which you can read about here. The biggest difference we see here is that the ECO80+ 620W is using the new "batwing style" fan that Enermax has been extensively advertising with this product. This design is used in order to increase the cooling capacity of the unit without increasing the diameter of the fan used. Once more the fan is registered to Enermax at the UL and is rated at 0.3a at 12v.
Over on the primary side of the unit, we see the same layout as the Liberty Eco 620W. The components and arrangement are all the same as is the topology used here (double forward). There really are no significant differences we can see here today. Indeed, the only real difference is the pair of primary capacitors differ some as they are provided by nippon Chemi-con versus Matsushita but they are the same rating 220uF 400v 85c even though the unit features APFC. Lastly, we see a small golden colored heatsink once more attached to the bridge rectifier. All in all, this primary side design looks identical to that of the liberty ECO80+ and the MODU82+ before that.
As we move over to the secondary we unsurprisingly see a fixed cable version of the Liberty Eco 620W and MODU82+'s secondary. The fan controller and output protection circuitry are all being housed on the unit’s main PCB once more and the capacitors in this unit are once more CEC International Holdings Limited capacitors as we have seen on some previous Enermax offerings including the Liberty Eco. The wiring is well tended and neat with all of the cables being sleeved back into the housing and then protected by a wire guard.
Build Quality Summary
Overall the build quality of the ECO80+ 620W identical in all important ways to the Liberty Eco 620W as this unit is simply a fixed cable version of that power supply. The exterior of the unit is identical to the Liberty Eco with the exception of lacking the modular interface and the orange fan we see through the grill. The primary differs from the Liberty Eco only in the source of the primary capacitors as these are from Nippon Chemi-con rather than Matsushita. On the secondary, Enermax has continued to use CEC International Holdings Limited capacitors as we saw with the Liberty Eco which is fine as we have never seen a real problem with these capacitors over the years even if they are just a bit off the beaten path. Overall, this unit looks just as clean, tidy, and well built as the Liberty Eco but with fixed cables. Once more that means we are looking at a unit being pitched as a value unit that looks very much like what Enermax was pitching as an enthusiast unit 18 months ago. Let's move on now and see how this unit performs compared to those other units with which it shares, well, almost everything.