I came across this interesting story over at HardOCP – apparently Cooler Master had a video on Youtube (which has since been removed), attempting to explain the difference between “peak power” and “continuous” power, and that some PSU companies “hype” their products’ actual abilities.
Unfortunately for Cooler Master, they were caught red-handed by one of their competitors. Silverstone pointed out some of the “hyped” products being sold by Cooler Master – a 450W power supply given the model number “500″ which is featured prominently on labels:
Tony Ou from Silverstone went on to explain,
Sad to see they were uninformed about power supply label and sadder still that they were trying to teach their users with this. To add further insult to injury, the Cooler Master Xtreme Power Plus 500 model they used in the video as an example happens to be a typical over-labeling PSUs with clear tell-tale signs.
To obtain safety certificates, the specification table and associate rating numbers on the power supply label must be accurate. The manufacturers are free to name the power supply any way they like however, so in this case, Cooler Master placed “500″ next to the model name to suggest it as a 500W PSU (and sold as a 500W) as opposed to it being a 450W.
It’s a tough business competing in lower wattage range (500W & below) as every dollar counts so there are other types of over-labeling practices too. This is pretty bad for honest manufacturers that do not over-label on wattage and still have to compete on price. And to see Cooler Master trying to educate people with the wrong information, I just couldn’t stand it anymore.
I am currently putting together a PSU testing rig, with the appropriate hardware to be able to help our readers sort out the good from the bad.
For now, here is today’s batch of hardware reviews!
- G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3-1,866MHz RAM on Intel and AMD systems @ Hexus
- ASUS F1A75-V Pro (AMD A75) Motherboard Review @ Tweaktown
- Club3D Radeon HD 6870 X2 (dual-GPU) review @ Guru3D
- PNY Verto GeForce GT 520 @ PureOverclock
- AC Ryan PlayOn!HD2 @ techPowerUp
- Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate G2 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review @ Real World Labs
- Intel Core i3-2120 3.3GHz Sandy Bridge Processor Review @ Legit Reviews
- ASUS USB-N13 802.11n Network Adapter Review @ ThinkComputers
- NZXT H2 Classic case @ Rbmods and Bigbruin
- Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 Generation 2 (G2) – 32 GB @ Review the Tech
- Apacer TurboII AS602 120GB SSD Review @ Real World Labs
- Bit Fenix Windowed Mid-Tower @ PureOverclock
- PowerColor HD 6870 X2 2 GB @ techPowerUp
- Corsair CX430V2 430 Watt Power Supply Review @ tweaktown
- Seagate GoFlex Satellite 500GB Mobile Wireless Storage Review @ Bigbruin
