Enermax Modu87 Plus 600 Watt PSU review - Power Efficiency

Power Efficiency

A rather big thing about the Modu87+ series power supplies is that they carry a 80+ gold certification, which relates to maximum achievable power efficiency.

High efficiency is good -- low efficiency is bad -- as simple as that. When power is drawn from your wall socket and travels into your power supply, not all of it is transformed into electricity that your computer consumes. A rather large part of that current will get lost as heat that is dissipating in the capacitors, or as leakage in circuits and other insufficiencies.

That inefficiency drives up power consumption. Say; if your computer (inner parts) typically requires 350 Watts of power, a power supply will draw more than 350W from your wall socket. Here's an example:

We can make a formula here. If you have a very half assed generic power supply with an average 70% efficiency, a 350W power draw inside the PC (350/70x100) load would mean it is drawing 500 Watts (!) of power from your wall socket. Interesting eh?

Let's do that math again with the Modu87+ series, yet this time with a 90% power efficiency (80+ Gold certification) in mind: 350/90x100= 389 Watts. So we just saved 111 Watts over a 70% efficient product. If you have your PC powered on a lot, think about this theory and what it can save you in the long term. The higher the efficiency of your power supply, the less power leaks, the less money you have to pay. And it's mighty good for mother nature as well.

So the Modu87+ series power supply has the best rated '80 Plus Gold' certification and that means roughly an efficiency of 90% minimum at typical load (350W in the case of the reviewed 600W model) and 87% at light (140W in the case of the reviewed 600W model).

This PSU therefore comes with an efficiency in-between 87%~92%

So how does the Modu87+ achieve that maximum efficiency?

DHT, Dynamic Hybrid Transformer Topology according to Enermax
To improve the efficiency, all manufacturers concentrated on the DC stage up to now. But the technology used in the DC stage (during and after conversion of AC to DC) has arrived at the maximum potential, and achieving 87+ efficiency is the very limit of this approach. To achieve 87+ or even higher efficiency with good performance needs additional innovations on the AC stage. Enermax invented three innovations bundled into what they call their 'DHT-Topology':

The discovery centers around the adoption of dynamic frequencies, voltages and conversion instead of traditional static ones. The dynamic optimization design not only pushes the efficiency up to a whopping 92%, but also improves stability and performance to new heights without sacrificing any safety or regulation.

Moreover, the incorporation of a 13.9cm magnetic bearing fan with the SpeedGuard fan control bring PRO87+ and MODU87+ power supplies to silence even at a temperature of 50 degrees C.

So next to being a really capable and efficient PSU, what does this PSU have to offer?

You will notice that all supplied connectors are nicely wrapped in a colored foil and are detachable (modular) with seven connectors, with three cables permanently attached to the power supply. That is looking good for sure for any tidy look and feel. It has advanced cable management and gives you the option to only use the required cables. As stated, this is a high-end series power supply which is ready for SLI and Crossfire with its three 12 volt rails, high amperage, active PFC, silent fan and sure, it's multi-core CPU ready as well.

We already stipulated that the design is completely modular, here's an overview of the cables included:

• 1x motherboard cable with a 24-pin connector (note: no 20-pin option). The cable is nice end lengthy at 61 cm / 24".
• 1x cable with two ATX12V connectors which combined form one EPS12V connector also  61 cm / 24" and non-modular.
• 2x cables with two six/eight-pin auxiliary power connectors for video cards totaling up towards four available six/eight-pin auxiliary power connectors (modular).
• 1x SATA power cable with four SATA power connectors (modular).
• 1x peripheral power cable with four standard Molex connectors and one floppy disk drive power connector (modular).
• 2x cables with two SATA power connectors and two standard Molex power connectors (modular).

In terms of size the Enermax MODU87+ 600W has a fairly standard ATX size at 6 19/64” (16 cm) deep, and uses a new 140-mm magnetic fan on its bottom and active PFC circuit. The new fan used is great, not only does the gold color add some flavah flav, it's incredibly silent as well. Even under load you will not be able to hear it, while it creates really decent airflow.

Warranty
You'll notice it straight from looking at the box if you purchase it, the PSU has a 5 year warranty, which is really good.