BFG MX Series Power Supplies (550 Watt and 680 Watt Versions)

BFG Company Info: (Source: BFGTech.com)

"BFG Technologies is a privately held U.S. based supplier of premium power supplies and 3D video cards based on award-winning NVIDIA graphics technology. The employees of BFG Tech are dedicated to bringing the latest high quality, high-tech multimedia products to PC and gaming enthusiasts at competitive prices." and "BFG Technologies' brand of power supplies and NVIDIA-based 3D graphics accelerators are designed to appeal to the PC enthusiast and hardcore gaming consumer." 

BFG has been releasing products in the power supply market for a couple of years now, with each new product being improved from the last. Previously, we have taken a look at the BFG LS-680 and BFG ES-800, both were pretty good.  The MX series is very simular to the LS series, the only difference being that the MX series are modular.  Today, we are going to take a look at the MX series of power supplies from BFG.  We have both the 550 watt and the 680 watt models to look at.  Although they are not currently 80 Plus certified, both models feature efficiency above 80 percent.

Upon opening the box, you will find the manual, screws, power cable, modular cables, zip ties, and some Velcro straps.  Both models feature the same amount of accessories.

Here are some of the main features and specifications from BFG's Website:

The Power Supply:

The power supplies feature a matte black colored housing and a silver fan grill, which looks great.

A BFG Logo is imprinted on both sides of the power supply.

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*Note that since Ultra Products has patented the modular connection in power supplies, BFG has licensed the technology from them.  There are many power supply companies taking this step to offer its customers modular technology.

Looking at the top of the power supplies, there is a BFG label with their logo on it, the model number and a condensed specification list.  Note that there are four +12v rails supplying up to 20 Amps each, which is great for peripherals requiring more power such as a multi-core CPU's and/or multiple graphics cards.  The 3.3v supplies up to 24 Amps and the +5v supplies up to 30 Amps.  Both models have the same specifications.

There is an large grill on the back which allows the 120 mm fan to exhaust hot air, an on/off switch and AC Power Input.  This power supply does feature Active PFC, so there is no need for a  switch to select the input voltage.

Both power supplies features the same amount of modular connections

This power supply features the following cables:

This power supply is modular and features six black colored rectangular connectors for the SATA/Molex/Floppy power cables and two green colored rectangular PCI-e power cable connectors.

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

-An 8-pin +12v EPS Power Connector with 4-pin +12 CPU power connector compatibility.

MX-680 - 2x  6+2-Pin PCI-Express Power Connectors and 3x 6-Pin PCI-Express Power Connectors (only two can be used at the same time, it would be a maximum of 2x 8-pin (6+2) PCI-e and 2x 6-pin PCI-e connectors.

MX-550 - 1x  6+2-Pin PCI-Express Power Connector and 2x 6-Pin PCI-Express Power Connectors

-7x Molex Power Connectors

-8x Serial ATA Power Connectors

-2x Floppy Power Connectors

Cooling:

There is a 120mm fan on the bottom of this power supply, as well as an 80mm , which BFG calls the "helper fan".  It turns on when the power supply reaches a temperature of 50 degrees Celsius.  During testing, at idle loads, these fans are quiet.   The smaller fan never turned on during testing.  With loads, the larger fan sped up a little bit, making a whirring sound, but it was still acceptable.

Inside the Power Supply:

* Taking this power supply apart will void the warranty.

Inside the power supply,  both power supplies look about the same, except for the larger transformer in the MX-680 unit and an additional rectifier.  There are three sparsely finned heat sinks used to cool down the voltage rectifiers.  The transformers can be seen in the middle of each power supply.  Both power supplies use Panasonic primary capacitors, which is great.  The quality of assembly in each power supply is also good.  These power supplies are manufactured by Forepoint.

The primary capacitor is Panasonic branded

The secondary capacitors are JunFu branded.

The fans inside are Globe Fan branded.

Testing:

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

-Antec Nine Hundred Case

-Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor @ 3.4 GHz

-ZeroTherm Nirvana 120 Heatsink

-eVGA nForce 680i SLi Motherboard

-4GB (2GB x 2) of OCZ Platinum DDRII-1066 Memory

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

-2x nVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS (G92) Video Cards @ 715MHz 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)

*For additional / larger pictures of the BFG MX Series of power supplies, Click Here

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

Capacitor Brands:

Excellent / Good, Japanese manufactured primary capacitor.

Primary: Panasonic

Secondary: JunFu

Voltage Results:

+The results were great for these power supplies, well within range.  The voltages budged a little when transitioning from an idle state to a load state.

Stability Results:

+Everything ran fine during testing, the system was stable and performed the tests as expected. 

Fan Speed Impressions:

+During the tests, the fan speed did not vary much, making some whirring sounds one in a while.  I could not get the smaller exhaust fan to turn on.

Installation:

+Installation of this power supply went well.  No issues fitting inside the test system's case.  The zip ties and velcro straps helped a lot with keeping everything neat and is thoughtful of BFG to include.

Conclusion:

These power supplies would be ideal for anyone looking to build a multi-core system with two video cards.   At around $135 for the MX-680 and $115 for the MX-550, these power supplies are of an average price, with the MX-680 hovering around the same price range as Corsair's HX620W.  Overall, these are great power supplies and should be purchased by anyone looking for a modular power supply that offers plenty of connections, a trusted brand name and a five year warranty*. 

*Five year warranty requires product registration within 30 days of purchase or else a two year warranty will be applied.

Pros +

-Great power output

-Lots of power connectors

-Five Year Warranty upon registration

-Modular Design

Cons -

-May be a bit pricey

Techaddicts.net would like to give these power supplies the Recommended award!

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