Xigmatek Centauro 600W PSU Review

Xigmatek Centauro Power Supply Review

Technical data …

The basic weight of the Xigmatek Centauro 600W is approx. 1.8 kg (shipping weight approx. 2.7 kg) and the overall size is about 160x150x86mm.

The technical data of the 600 Watt power supply can be checked at any time on the attached label. The Xigmatek Centauro 600W XTK-CB-0600M Mod. HPC-600-B14C provides following voltage levels and amperages: +3.3V 22A ; +5V 22A ; +12V 42A -12V 0.3A ; +5VSB 3A

All voltages could be tested on different loads also with external measurements very well and pointed to a good technical conversion of the switched power supply. The combined total output values should not exceed the following ratings: At +3.3V and +5.0V up to 130 Watt, +12V up to 504 Watt and the total consumption of all power lines should not exceed 600 Watt.

These are manufacturer values, which one should not exceed, to avoid overloading and too high heat development. Apropos overloading – of course the PSU offers also all kinds of short-circuit-, overcurrent-, output- and input power protection, (SCP, OVP, OPP, UVP, OTP, OCP) which was tested successfully in the test attempt. Nevertheless one should avoid any installation failures, because under certain conditions it is possible to destroy the PSU, or other parts of the PC (up to a fire by e.g. cable fire with loose or wrong connections).

Furthermore, the power supply has an engery efficent active PFC (Power Factor Correction) for reduction of the reactive power, the EMV noise and improvement of the efficiency. Meanwhile at least the more inexpensive less efficient and bigger passive PFC (upstream throttle) is legally prescribed. So also here the company Xigmatek saved by no means and offers a power pack with 80PLUS BRONCE certification, which has a .90 PFC value (up to 0.99).

Own measurements of the test system with ASRock 890GX Extreme3 motherboard, AMD Phenom II 710 X3 CPU, 4GB DDR3-1333 memory, hard disk and ATI Radeon HD4870 PCI-E 2.0 video card resulted in an idle value of 139 Watt and a maximum value with full system load of 235 Watt. Switched off in S5 mode, the test system with the Centauro power supply needed max. 3-4 Watts. Above all the idle value of 139W with small load is thereby lower than the value of previously tested Cooler Master GX 650 Bronze power supply of approx. 161 Watt Idle and 238 Watt load with 650W total power and the tested Cooler Master Silent Pro Hybrid 1050W power supply with an consumption in idle of approx. 122 Watt and 212 Watt with load in spite of higher 1050W total power. More power supply reviews will published here.

You can calculate the current consumption and cost of electricity easily:
Interactive power consumption calculator

The MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) of the power supply is according to the manufacturer with 25°C about 100,000 hours, which distinguishes finally the reliability of the power supply, this time between 2 possible errors is relatively high, even if they advertise it with 25°C and not with 40°C.

The 135mm (Xigmatek call it 140mm) Globe Fan RL4Z S1352512H DC 12V fan with 0.33A reached thanks to temperature control a good adjustment of the volume for necessary cooling and the fan is calm with medium PSU load. Unfortunately not only high-quality 105°C capacitors are inside of this power supply used, but also some 85°C capacitors like this Bulk-Cap with a Hold-Up time of approx. 16ms on full load.

Layout, Design and Features of the Xigmatek 600 Watt Bronze power supply unit …