KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
We were very impressed with the PowerColor Extreme Series 1000W PSU, but the Gaming 600W unit hasn't excited us quite as much.
The appearance of the product is stunning, we like the fact that Powercolor are opting for bold, red and yellow fans – obviously to catch the eye of the enthusiast gaming audience. The Gaming 600W product is very appealing as the yellow fan gives it an almost ‘sportscar' like appearance.
For a standard 80 Plus certified power supply the overall performance is actually very solid with decent levels of efficiency. That said, we noticed a fair amount of ripple on the 5V+ and 12V+ lines … nothing to cause concern, but a little higher than we would normally measure with our equipment. Good result for a low priced mainstream unit however.
Internally, it is good to see that the unit is implementing 105c rated capacitors which are sure to last a long time, particularly as these units could receive high levels of continual load from the gaming audience. We also like the fact that Powercolor have opted for fully sleeved extra length cables which will make routing a much easier process.
Unfortunately PowerColor are up against some serious competition in this specific sector and we cannot really recommend this product as a ‘must have'. If you can find it at a good price then it is certainly worth a look, but we have not received confirmed UK pricing yet and have only found it for sale on a Canadian store (NCIX) for $84.99. A quick currency calculation shows that this should be selling in the UK at a later date for around £50-55 inc vat, which is a reasonable asking price.
KitGuru says: A solid enough product, but excluding the appearance it does little to stand out in the crowded marketplace. Worth Considering if you find it at a good price locally however.
