![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Sunday , December 13, 2009
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Google +1
Nexus RX-6300 630W Power Supply Review
The RX-6300 represents the first time we have reviewed a power supply from Nexus and one of the few times we have seen an ATNG based unit. In the past, ATNG units have been very much mediocre in our testing but hardly what we would call bad units. Nexus on the other hand has a history of producing a range of high quality quiet cooling products.
Overview
The first thing we are going to look at with the Nexus RX-6300 is its packaging, accessories, and documentation. While normally none of these items is a make or break item for a power supply the packaging quite often contains a lot of information about the product we are purchasing. The inclusion of an owner’s manual that provides actual information about our product is also of great help. Accessories are almost unnecessary with a power supply as the unit is self contained, unless it is modular, but there are cases where a manufacturer can include useful accessories to make installation, routing, and use more efficient.
The tri-colored Nexus RX-6300 packaging comes with a few notable points on it. Among those are the power table (reproduced below), the cable count (also reproduced below), an efficiency graph, a fan noise graph, and a number of marketing points. The majority of those marketing points tie directly into the two graphs we find on the packaging. The efficiency curve depicted for the RX-6300 is one of the more interesting we have seen as it isn't so much a curve as a tilde. This is certainly interesting, but in all of the units oscillations it is advertised as maintaining at least 82% efficiency and peaking as high as 85%. With this in mind it was interesting to see that the unit is not currently listed on the 80Plus website as being 80Plus ceritifed for any level of Climate Savers. ATNG, however, has 3 630W units certified for various levels of Climate Savers and this unit is likely going to be 80Plus worthy as well given it is an A(x)L-780 based model as well. The next points of interest we see are the noise claims on the unit. The Nexus box, marketing, and webpage all go into great detail about just how quiet these units are. Included in this advertising is the informaton about their ISO certified testing environment, and the fact that the RX-6300 never gets above 30dBA. Certainly we have seen a lot of claims about noise levels from units that were flat out false, but Nexus has built their company on the basis of quiet cooling. As such, we have high hopes that the RX-6300 will indeed be very quiet. Coming down to the wire we find that not included anywhere on the packaging is the units warranty information. When we turn to the US Nexus webpage we find out that the RX-6300 is covered by a limited 2 year warranty as explained here, and reproduced below:
Limited Warranty
For a period of two years form the date of original purchase, Nexus Technology USA will replace or repair any hardware product that we've sold to you that has been proven to be defective in workmanship or materials. New or refurbished, repair or replacement parts, will be provided by Nexus Technology USA on an exchange basis only.
The customer is responsible for freight charges to return the defective product to us via an insured and trackable carrier (such as UPS or Fed Ex). This warranty does not cover any damage to products. Damage to product includes, but is not limited to, damage that results from the improper or incorrect installation, misuse, accident, abuse, incompatibility, disaster, or any unauthorized disassembly, repair or modification.
2 years? Quite frankly that warranty sucks, and from a company of Nexus's caliber that is nothing short of atrocious. Hopefully Nexus will kick it up a notch and really stand behind these units moving forward.
The power label and connector counts for the RX-6300 are in keeping with what have been seeing from more modern 12v oriented power supplies of late. The 12v rail is capable of supplying up to 50A, or ~95% of the units total output, if needed. This is paired with one 6 pin PCI-Express connector, one modified 8 pin PCI-Express connector, and 12 peripheral connectors (split evenly between Molex and SATA connectors). For a 630W unit this is just about right, and should power most systems that you could physically connect this unit to well. All in all, we find nothing of real concern here as this unit looks to be appropriately sized and speced for a mid-range build with a single highend graphics card and a decent RAID array.
Once we open the packaging of the RX-6300 we find the power supply itself, power cord, the modular cables, and some silica. That is it. No mounting screws, and no manual at all. PC Power & Cooling has traditionally gone this OEM autopart route and they have at times rebranded some of the best power supplies available. Perhaps then, Nexus is trying to imitate PC Power & Cooling down to the very minor details by excluding....well everything except the power supply. Certainly this aspect of this retail unit is bad beyond measure. Hopefully, in the future, we will see something better from Nexus as there is not even a warranty card here or a packing slip and I at least got that with my last starter I bought from Autozone.