Mushkin XP-650AP 650 Watt Modular Power Supply Review

The XP-650AP is Mushkin's fourth and latest power supply in their lineup.  They are fairly new to the power supply market, but are constantly listening to what people want in their power supplies and then integrating it into their products.  The XP-650AP is modular and offers up to 650 Watts of power.  This power supply is almost identical to the XP-650, except for the 'AP' designation.  The 'AP' stands for Active PFC; this is the second Mushkin power supply to offer this feature (the other model is the HP-580AP).  It comes with a five year warranty, which is great.

Upon opening the box, there is the Manual, EMI Shielded Power Cable, zip ties, velcro style ties, and five screws to mount the power supply in the computer's case.  The manual is good, providing test information/capabilities and is detailed enough to inform computer users on how to remove an old power supply, and install this power supply in their case. 

The Power Supply:

Like all of Mushkin's power supplies, the XP-650AP has a mirror shine coating that looks great, but can attract fingerprints very easily.  There is also an imprinted 'Mushkin' logo on the side of the power supply.  This power supply is of average length. 

On the exterior, there is an 80mm green LED fan, power switch, ac input, and the Rail Fusion light.  The rail fusion light notifies the user that the +12v rails have been combined to provide more power.  This light only turns on if there is enough power demand.  During testing, I did not see this light come on.

On the back, there is a second 80mm fan, along with the modular connections.

• Rail Fusion - Responds to increased loads by automatically combining the +12v rails.
• QuadRail - Four +12v rails to distribute load evenly for maximum stability.
• Active PFC
• Enhanced Power Conditioning - Low ripple and superior power regulation.
• Advanced Thermal and Acoustic Design
• Modular Cables
• Over-voltage, Over-current, Over-heat, and Short Circuit Protection

On the top of the power supply, there is a sticker with Mushkin's logo and model, and a condensed specification list. This Power Supply offers four +12v rails, each offering up to 20 Amps. 

Cables:

The XP-650AP features modularized cables, which can help to clean up clutter within the computers chassis.  There are eight total modular connections on the back of the power supply.  The two blue connectors are reserved for PCI-Express and are only 6-pin compatible.

All of the cables have a mesh sleeve over it.

This power supply offers:

-A mesh sleeved 24-pin ATX cable, with the option to turn it into a 20-pin connector for backwards compatibility. 

-An 8-pin EPS +12v Cable that can convert into a 4-pin CPU power connector.

2x- 6-pin PCI-Express Power Connectors.  They are colored blue for easy recognition.  It should be noted that these cables have extra EMI shielding properties, which can help provide cleaner power to your video card(s).

6x- Molex Connectors and 2x Floppy Connectors

8x- Serial ATA Power Connectors

-A grounding connector.  This can be attached to one of the motherboard standoffs to provide better power conditioning (reduces noise and ripple).  It is not required to be connected, so a rubber cover is attached by default.

 Cooling:

The XP-650AP features two 80mm fans to cool off the components inside.  The rear (outside of the case) features a green LED fan, which looks great.  The fan on the other side is a standard fan, with no LED's.  During testing, these two fans created a low pitched whooshing sound, which can be annoying if all your other case components are quiet/silent.  It sounds like there is some sort of wind resistance.  If you have a couple of case fans, the power supply fans will not be as audible.  During testing, these fans did increase to higher speed and a louder whooshing can be heard.

Inside the Power Supply:

* Taking this power supply apart will void the warranty, as noted by a small sticker on top of a screw needed to fully open the power supply up.

Inside the power supply, there are black finned heat sink plates with fins to cool off the various voltage rectifiers.  In the middle, there is a single large main transformer. The PCB does not take up too much space inside the power supply.  There is also an average sized Jenpo branded primary capacitor.  The power filtering components are on the top left of the picture, while the Active PFC components are on a separate logic PCB attached to the main power board.  The Rail Fusion logic can be seen attached to the heat sink on the upper right of the picture.

The LED 80mm fan that cools this power supply is a Globe Fan RL4G S0802512HD.  It can run at a maximum of .31 Amps.

The non-LED fan is also a Globe Fan S0802512HD, without the 'RL4G'.

Testing:

The test system consists of the following:

-Antec Nine Hundred Case

-AMD Opteron 165 Dual Core Socket 939 CPU @ 2.9 GHz (1.60v)

-ThermalTake Blue Orb II Heat Sink

-DFI LANParty nF4 SLi-D

-2GB of Corsair XMS Platinum PC3200 Memory

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

-2x nVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS Video Cards

-Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital Sound Card

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

-2x 120MM fans

-2x CCFL Lights

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

For larger / additional pictures of this power supply, Click Here

The results were satisfactory, all of the voltages are operating within limits.  During testing, the power supply fan went to what I would call a medium speed during all the tests.  The test system remained completely stable and reliable through load testing and daily use. 

Overall, the Mushkin XP-650AP is another great addition to Mushkin's line up of power supplies.  It is like the popular XP-650 model, but with Active PFC. 

Despite not being SLI or Crossfire certified, it can handle my two 8800 GTS's fine. 

It also offers two 6-pin PCI-Express connectors, great EMI shielding and power conditioning features, a great looking chassis and modular cabling.  I was disappointed that Mushkin did not update this model to include a 8-pin PCI-Express connection; it is not ready for future video cards.  Also, the noise that this power supply makes when in idle is what I would consider a bit loud for a power supply of this wattage.  For around $170 in online shops, it is considered to be in the 'premium' price range of 650 Watt Power Supplies.

Pros +

-Power Delivery and Stability

-Great Power Conditioning and EMI shielding features

-Modular Cabling

-Professional Looks / Mirror Coating

-Green LED fan on the back

Cons -

-Louder than expected fans

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

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