ePower XScale 750 Watt Power Supply

ePower, also known as Topower has been a power supply manufacturer for a while now, often creating customized power supplies for other companies to put their logo on.  Their power supplies range from the most basic all the way to the latest 1000+ Watt  range of power supplies.  Today, we take a look at their XScale range of power supplies. The XScale series does not seem to offer modular connections. This particular model is the 750 Watt version. 

Upon opening the box, you will find the users manual, power cable, velcro style straps, zip ties, unused connector covers, and 4 screws.  This power supply is not modular, so those straps and zip ties will come in handy.

Here are some of the main features and specifications from the box:

The Power Supply:

The power supply features a graphite colored exterior with the qualities of a mirror, which looks great.  There is a potential for finger prints and smudges to show up very well on this surface and may require occasional cleaning to maintain its look.

Looking at the side of the power supply, there is an ePower label with their logo on it, the model number and a condensed specification list.  There appears to specifications for the entire line of XScale power supplies printed on this label! Note that there are four +12v rails, each supplying up to 20 Amps, which is good for peripherals requiring lots of power.  This power supply is manufactured by Topower.

The rear (outside of case) features an 80mm fan to cool off the power supply, an additional 80mm fan is on the other side.  There is an on/off switch, 'turbo' fan switch, 'turbo' fan indicator light, +12v rail split and combine switch, and an AC Power Input.  This power supply offers a full range power circuit and Active PFC, so there is no need for a 110v / 240v switch. 

The additional 80mm fan can be seen here, along with the component cables exiting the power supply.

The Cables:

-A large bundle of cables can be found exiting the power supply.  Some are not sleeved or shielded.  They are twisted to prevent tangles and to reduce clutter.

This power supply features the following cables:

-A 24-pin ATX power connector with removable 4 pin for backwards 20-pin compatibility.

-A 4-pin CPU ATX Power Connector

-An 8-pin EPS +12v connector

-4x  6-Pin PCI-Express Power Connectors.  Note that these are in pairs, when it comes to which rail they go to.  For example: Blue PCI-e #1 and White PCI-e #3 go to +12v3.

-6x Molex Power Connectors and 2x Floppy Power Connectors

-8x Serial ATA Power Connectors.

-2x 3-pin and 1x Molex fan speed controller connectors, which allow the power supply to control the speeds of these 3 fans.

Cooling:

Cooling is handled by two 80mm fans in this power supply, one on each side. During testing, the fans were on the verge of being loud, making a quite noticeable sound inside my computer case.   During idle / less intensive tasks, the power supply was quieter but still loud enough for its sound to overpower the cpu and system fans. What was silent engine for, if the power supply's own fans are not silent?  It turns out that Silent Engine is also for controlling case fans, reducing their voltage according to the power supply's internal temperature.  This feature did work, reducing the case fans speed to a 'silent' level. 

Inside the Power Supply:

* Taking this power supply apart will void the warranty.

Inside the power supply, there are two small sized heat sinks that cool off the voltage rectifiers.  There is a medium sized transformer that can be seen in the middle right of the picture.   There is also a Jenpo branded primary capacitor.

The fans inside are both Globe Fan branded, with a model number of B0802512HD, with a maximum draw of 0.23Amps.

Testing:

For this power supply, the test system consists of the following:

-Antec Nine Hundred Case

-Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 Dual Core Processor @ 3.4 GHz

-ZeroTherm BTF90 Heatsink

-eVGA nForce 680i LT SLi Motherboard

-2GB (1GB x 2) of Mushkin XP2-8500 DDRII-1066 Memory

-320GB x 4 Western Digital 16MB Cache Hard Drives

-2x nVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS Video Cards @ 625MHz Core / 1000 MHz Memory

-Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital Sound Card

-Sony 16x DVD-RAM / 18x Samsung DVD-RAM Drives

-4x 120MM fans, 1x 200mm fan

-2x CCFL Lights

(Multimeter Results)

*Voltages are at 'Max Load', running 3DMark06 CPU Test 1 and 2 / Deep Freeze HDR test, and read with a Multi-Meter.

*For additional / larger pictures of the ePower XScale 750 Watt, Click Here

The results are great for this power supply, the voltages shifted a little, but nothing significant. Everything ran fine during testing; the system was stable and performed the tests as expected.  During the tests, the fan speed did increase and was loud during the Deep Freeze test; it's sound overpowered the rest of the fans in my testing case, even with the case fans hooked up to the silent engine connectors.  Pressing the turbo fan switch made it worse, sounding like a hairdryer.

When the system is idle or doing simple tasks, the fan was not as loud, but still could be heard over the CPU / System fans.  I was not too impressed with the noise characteristics of this power supply during the testing. Installation of this power supply was easy.  Overall, the ePower XScale is a great power supply.   It is multi-gpu ready with a four 6-pin PCI-E power connectors.  Unfortunately, it does not come with the new 6 + 2 Pin PCI-Express connector, which means that it is not prepared, if your graphics card requires a 6 + 2 Pin connector.  It can be found online for about $180.

Pros +

-Great Power Delivery and Stability

-Four 6-pin PCI-Express Power Connectors

-Slient Engine is great for case fans

Cons -

-Loud fans, Silent Engine's purpose is defeated

Techaddicts.net would like to give this power supply a 8.5 out of 10 rating

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