Cougar PowerX 550W PSU Review

Today we take a look at the Cougar PowerX 550W power supply. Never heard of Cougar? well they are a retail subset of parent company HEC. The PowerX 550W is a 80 Plus Bronze certified, compact, non modular design built into a brightly coloured chassis. We last looked at their CS 800W unit in January this year and while it didn't earn a really high award from us, it was a capable all round unit. Specifications: 80-PLUS® BRONZE CERTIFIED Up to 87% efficiency COMPATIBLE WITH LATEST PC-TECHNOLOGY Supports the newest specifications of ATX12V Created for usage with current and next-generation multi-core CPU platforms SUPPORT MULTI-GPU TECHNOLOGY Support PCI Express 2.0 next-generation graphic card with 8(6+2)pin PCI-E connector ACTIVE POWER FACTOR CORRECTION (ACTIVE PFC) PF value up to 99%, provides clean and reliable power ULTRA-QUIET & TEMPERATURE-CONTROLLED 120mm FAN- Temperature-controlled design adapts its rotating speed to the PSU temperature. Even on its highest rotating level the fan is still quiet enough to be barely noticeable INTEGRATED AIR INLET DESIGN Optimal air-dynamical design, lead to more silent operation JAPANESE CAPACITOR High durable Japanese capacitor provides uncompromised performance and reliability 5Vsb OVP DESIGN Provide full protection for your USB devices HIGH PERFORMANCE AT 40°C Non-stop high performance and full rated wattage at 40°C/104°F ambient temperature DYNAMIC Dual-12V Automatic dynamic load distribution on dual-12V line to provide power separately to the GPU and the CPU. If you are not using all output lines, the PSU automatically reroutes needed power from unused lines. This improves the performance of the 12V lines considerably for systems with high-end graphics cards in SLI® or CrossFire® mode. and provide high voltage stability to keep components safe Eco-friendly : ErP Lot6 2013 ready Power consumption < 0.45W in PC off-mode SUPPORTS THE ENERGY STAR 5.0 Compatible with Energy star 5.0 computer system FULL PROTECTIONS WITH OCP, SCP, OVP, UVP, OPP, OTP The Power X 550W is shipped in a colourful box featuring the brand name in large letters. Top right is mention of the 80 Plus Bronze certification and a 3 year warranty. I was a little surprised to see that Cougar hadn't protected the power supply inside thick foam padding, instead opting for a thin layer of bubblewrap. Alongside the power supply is a user manual, a couple of cable ties and a regional specific power cable. The cables are high grade sleeved 18AWG - not the more popular thin ribbon style which are easier to route. Cable Connectors MB 20+4 pin x1 (500mm) CPU 4+4 pin x1 (600mm) PCI E 8 pin (6 pin +2) x2 (500mm + 130mm) SATA / Molex x2 (400mm + 130mm) / x1 (+130mm) SATA SATA / Molex / FDD x3 (400mm + 130mm + 130mm) x1 (400mm) /x2 (+130mm) /x1 (+130mm) The unit includes a reasonable number of cables, especially when considering the output capacity. This is not an ideal power supply for a longer full tower chassis as the cables are rather short. The metallic finish is certainly eye catching and you will either love, or hate it. I can't say I am a big fan of the finish, but if you have a red or similar coloured case it would fit in well. The unit failed our 'screwdriver' stress test, which involves running a Philip’s head driver down the side of the chassis with weak to modest pressure. How often have you accidentally hit a power supply with some tools during a system build phase? On a more positive note, it is quite resilient to fingerprints. The large fan resides behind a grill, which is all part of the outer chassis. The Cougar badge is presented proudly in the center of the unit. We will take a closer look at the fan later in the review, when we crack it open. As this is a non modular power supply all the cables are hardwired into the chassis. The Cougar company name is embossed into the side panels. One side of the power supply is vented to help ensure adequate air flow. Next to this panel is a power connector and switch. Cougar PowerX 550W Power Supply DC Output +3.3V +5V +12V1 / +12V2 -12V +5Vsb Max Output 24A 20A 28A / 22A 0.3A 3A Total Power 120W 516W 3.6W 15W 550W We noticed the box (and Cougar website) said the +5V output was rated at 15A and the power supply sticker says 20A. The company clearly have some quality control issues to sort out. The fan has a Cougar logo on it, marked sleeve bearing with the product identification DFS122512M. This is actually a Young Lin Tech fan rated 12V, 0.23A, 2,000 rpm, 77.7CFM and with a maximum rated noise level of 32.95 dBa. The supply is made by Compucase/HEC as we would expect. It is a traditional design as the demands are not that high to achieve 80 Plus Bronze certification. The secondary side is using passive rectification and a group regulation system for rectification of the minor rails. Soldering quality isn't wonderful with some joints looking a little half finished. If you want to look at this closer - we recommend you visit the super high resolution gallery later in the review. A small PCB sits behind the AC receptable which contains some of the transient filtering components. There are two Y caps, an X cap, a CM choke and a discharge IC. The main PCB is home to the remainder of the transient filter including another two Y caps, a single X cap and a CM choke. The power supply is proudly presented as using Japanese capacitors, but most of them are from TEAPO. Not a brand I rate very highly at all. The primary capacitor is Japanese and is rated 85c 300uF and 400V. It is always disappointing not to see a 105C rated capacitor in this position. We have noticed in the past that sometimes Cougar seem to move between 105C and 85C rated capacitors in different batches within the same series. Hard to know what you are going to get at times from this company. On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. Additional technical assistance: Peter McFarland and Jeremy Price. Correctly testing power supplies is a complex procedure and KitGuru have configured a test bench which can deliver up to a 2,000 watt DC load. Due to public requests we have changed our temperature settings recently – previously we rated with ambient temperatures at 25C, we have increased ambient temperatures by 10c (to 35c) in our environment to greater reflect warmer internal chassis conditions. We use combinations of the following hardware: • SunMoon SM-268 • CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs) • CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4) • Extech Power Analyzer • Extech MultiMaster MM570 digital multimeter • SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) • Digital oscilloscope (20M S/s with 12 Bit ADC) • Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA We combine all +12V output for the results below. DC Output Load Regulation Combined DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V +5VSB A V A V A V A V 110W 1.18 3.32 1.18 5.06 8.02 12.04 0.50 5.02 220W 2.07 3.31 2.07 5.05 16.13 12.01 0.50 5.01 340W 3.04 3.30 3.05 5.03 25.12 11.98 1.00 4.99 445W 4.12 3.26 4.06 5.01 33.23 11.92 1.50 5.00 550W 5.13 3.24 5.03 4.98 41.03 11.83 2.50 4.96 Cougar PowerX 550W PSU Maximum Load 583W Load regulation is acceptable across the output range. The power supply delivered 583 watts of power before it would shut down, safely. Next we want to try Cross Loading. This basically means loads which are not balanced. If a PC for instance needs 500W on the +12V outputs but something like 30W via the combined 3.3V and +5V outputs then the voltage regulation can fluctuate badly. Cross Load Testing +3.3V +5V +12V -12V +5VSB A V A V A V A V A V 493W 1.0 3.32 1.0 5.03 40.5 11.79 0.2 -12.02 0.50 5.00 153W 15.0 3.20 15.0 4.87 2.0 12.04 0.2 -12.04 0.50 4.98 The 12V+ output dropped noticeably when hit with over 40A, to 11.79V. Similarly +5V and +3.3V dropped to 4.87V and 3.20V respectively when tasked with 15A. Not the greatest results we have seen in recent months. We then used an oscilloscope to measure AC ripple and noise present on the DC outputs. We set the oscilloscope time base to check for AC ripple at both high and low ends of the spectrum. ATX12V V2.2 specification for DC output ripple and noise is defined in the ATX 12V power supply design guide. ATX12V Ver 2.2 Noise/Ripple Tolerance Output Ripple (mV p-p) +3.3V 50 +5V 50 +12V1 120 +12V2 120 -12V 120 +5VSB 50 Obviously when measuring AC noise and ripple on the DC outputs the cleaner (less recorded) means we have a better end result. We measured this AC signal amplitude to see how closely the unit complied with the ATX standard. AC Ripple (mV p-p) DC Load +3.3V +5V +12V 5VSB 110W 10 10 10 10 220W 10 10 10 10 340W 10 10 15 15 445W 10 15 25 20 550W 15 20 30 20 Noise suppression is excellent, peaking at 30 mV at full load on the +12V output. All other rails held to 15mV-20mV when loaded. Efficiency (%) 110W 83.55 220W 85.71 340W 86.21 445W 84.97 550W 83.27 Efficiency is good for an 80 Plus Bronze certified unit, peaking over 86 percent at around 50 percent load. At full load this drops to just over 83 percent efficiency. We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635. Today to test the Power Supply we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) one meter away from the unit. We have no other fans running so we can effectively measure just the noise from the unit itself. That said, measuring lower than 28dBa proves very difficult, unless in strict laboratory conditions. As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels. KitGuru noise guide 10dBA - Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves 20-25dBA – Whisper 30dBA - High Quality Computer fan 40dBA - A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator 50dBA - Normal Conversation 60dBA - Laughter 70dBA - Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer 80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal 90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower 100dBA - MP3 Player at maximum output 110dBA - Orchestra 120dBA - Front row rock concert/Jet Engine 130dBA - Threshold of Pain 140dBA - Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range) 160dBA - Instant Perforation of eardrum Noise (dBA) 110W 28.0 220W 29.7 340W 32.3 445W 33.8 550W 35.7 The fan maintains a low level of noise, until around 350W of load when it becomes audible in a quiet room. This rises in the last 10% of power output, to a maximum of 35.7 percent. Temperature (c) Intake Exhaust 110W 36 39 220W 38 43 340W 41 49 445W 44 54 550W 46 58 Temperatures rise to a 12c above ambient intake at full load. Maximum load Efficiency 583W 82.9 Pushing the PSU above its rated limits generates an efficiency level of around 82.9%. This is not a viable ‘real world’ situation, but its interesting nonetheless. The Cougar PowerX 550W power supply will have a tough time competing against similarly priced units from market leaders such as Seasonic and Corsair. The power supply is shipped in a little box with inadequate protection, it is simply wrapped in a fine layer of bubble wrap, rather than encased between thick foam blocks. If the box received rough handling during transit it is quite possible the coloured finish could get damaged. The bundle won't get many people excited, there is simply a power cable and a couple of plastic cable ties, alongside a manual. The power supply itself looks quite attractive, although the paintwork did not pass our screwdriver stress test, marking quite easily. It did prove resistant against fingerprints however. Technically, the unit is a bit of a mixed bag. The crossloading test showed that there was some droop on the rails under extreme duress, although it never dropped to the point where I could say it could be problematic. Efficiency, noise levels and ripple suppression all rated highly however. The ripple suppression in particular deserves mention as the results are excellent. The power supply is non modular, so you have to deal with routing all the cables, regardless of your configuration. The cables are rather short, so it is only practical to buy for a small to medium sized chassis otherwise you could run into problems. Cougar have not opted for the flat ribbon style cables either, so it will take more work to hide them inside a case. The box artwork promises the adoption of high grade Japanese capacitors which is somewhat misleading. There is only one Japanese capacitor inside this power supply and we were disappointed to see it rated at 85c. It is worth pointing out that we have seen another sample of this power supply in the past and it was equipped with an identically specified Panasonic capacitor rated to 105C. Additionally, as mentioned earlier the box (and Cougar website) claim the +5V output is rated at 15A and the power supply sticker says 20A. The company clearly have some quality control issues to sort out. Right now you can pick this up from Amazon partners in the UK for £75.00 inc vat. Their UK distribution channel seems weak so they are fairly hard to find. It is worth pointing out that this is £10 more than the Corsair GS600 - available from Overclockers UK for £65.99 inc vat. You can also pick up the Seasonic G Series 550W (this is 80 Plus Gold, not Bronze) for only £5 extra - £79.99 inc vat from Overclockers UK. With such stiff competition we really do find it difficult to recommend the Cougar PowerX 550W in the UK right now. At £55 inc vat it would make more sense. Pros: Bright colour scheme. Good efficiency for bronze. superb ripple suppression capabilities. compact physical dimensions. Cons: non modular. 85C primary capacitor in this particular review sample. less than stellar cross loading performance. paint scratches easily. Most of the capacitors are NOT Japanese. soldering could be better. high price in the United Kingdom. Kitguru says: At the prices we found there is very little reason to recommend this unit. Competing models from market leaders Seasonic and Corsair are cheaper and better.