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The Test.Right, how do you test a PSU ? It's not that difficult actually. We always settle for real-world experiences. We took an ASUS A8R MVP mainboard and equipped it with an AMD 64 FX-57 processor, 1 GB of memory, then installed two X1800 XT 512 MB version in Crossfire mode and also inserted a DVD-Writer.  Now for the test we loop some gaming timedemo's for a while and monitor the behavior of the PSU. During that process, as we always do, we actually dared and burnt a DVD in the background. Sounds silly ? I guaran-friggin-tee you, we have passed the 475 Watts ...

When we look at BIOS results we notice that all voltage levels are really stable, and only very minor fluctuations could be seen in the order of .10 volts, which is perfectly fine.

The test setup in the batcage.

Sound - bizarre enough we have to include a quick stroll regarding noise levels these days. I've had cheap PSU's in this office that likely could have functioned as active rotating helicopter blades when they got a little hot. This PSU doesn't need much wording in this regard though, it simply is very silent. The heat on the inside of the PC is being sucked outside the PC creating airflow. The housing of the PSU is pierced everywhere as the bigger part has a mesh, so hot air traveling in an upwards direction will be partly ventilated towards the outside where colder air is due to ventilation. Really silent and since it's a 120mm fan, the airflow is more than sufficient to cool the PSU.

For gamers with SLI/Crossfire, the most power draw will be at the 12 volts rails. Tapping it with a mutli-meter will show stability in Watts. Here we see the 12 volts line when the system in idle.

Now here we see the 12 volts (1) rail when the Crossfire setup is 100% at work and peaking. This was the maximum variation shown in the test and is perfectly stable.

At one point we also burned a DVD in the background as that requires a stable power supply. Okay you get the idea already, stable as a rock and all that without any additional sound from a fan. Pretty "energetic" stuff.

LOW is the lowest measured value and HIGH of course the highest peak we measured. A 5% fluctuation is perfectly acceptable, so 12 Volts should remain between 11.4 - 12.6v

Here we took some of the voltages in both IDLE and LOAD (fully utilized) modes. We noted down the lowest and highest value we see and that is the fluctuation. If a PSU is unstable we'd see much fluctuation, differences and discrepancies which can result in system instability.

On each of the volateg rails, a 5% tolerance would be the accepted as normal, meaning the power-supplies actual voltages should stay somewhere in-between the values.

There's no such thing present for the Liberty though.

Now then, you've had a peek at the photo's, combined all factors, and now you should have a pretty broad idea of how this PSU would function for your current or future PC. Quite honestly, I did my best. In a 3D intensive test run with 100% utilization in an overclocked environment with at one point even DVD burning in the background. This little toddler is stable for sure, and remember this was tested on a ATI Crossfire system.