Cooler Master is a familiar brand when one is talking about computers in general. That's a given as they have a full range of products such as PC chassis, accessories, fans etc. This time, we'll be looking at the Cooler Master G550M courtesy of Cooler Master Malaysia, an 80+ Bronze efficient power supply unit (PSU) retailing at RM289 SRP. The G-series Let's see what is in store for us shall we?
Before we unbox the G550M PSU, here are the specs from Cooler Master's official website:
Packaging
The G550M PSU comes in an overall white box with heatshrink plastic wrapped around it. from the front picture of the unit, you could see that this is a semi-modular PSU with 80+ Bronze efficiency rating.
At the back, details the cables that comes in the package (which we'll look at in a moment) and a small description in myriads of languages. As for those of you who deemed these necessary, Cooler Master included charts to demonstrate the fan curve and the efficiency curve here as well.
Unboxing
Opening up the box, the G550M is packed tightly with eco-friendly cardboard to shield the main unit from scratches and some degree of shock.
Emptying the box, you will find the PSU unit, an instruction manual, mounting screws, a power cord and three flat-modular cables which consist of Sata Power connectors (3 points x 2 cables) and a single 4-pin Molex/floppy connector (3 points molex, 1 foppy). I wonder how many of us still uses the floppy connector?
The G550M feels very light but it is build solid enough. The matte black finish looks great on the unit with minimalistic logo and model sticker at the side. Honeycomb perforated panels are present on the fan intake and the back of the unit to keep things running cool.
Here is a view of the G550M with the attached cables. The 24-pin ATX power, 8-pin EPS and a 6+2-pin PCI-e is of acceptable length for mid towers but I'd like to see the 6+2 pins being two separate cables instead two of them coming from of a single strand.
A closer look at the modular interface, you'll have 4 of these in which to plug in the flat modular cables... in which only 3 connectors comes in the package. Not too sure why it's like that but this would mean that there will always be a free slot even if you do plug in all of the provided cables, I would like it if Cooler Master have included a 4-pin molex and Sata power combi cable as some of us who uses a smaller chassis would benefit by having lesser cables to complete the build.
You could see the power output sticker at the top. At 42A on the a single 12V, the G550M delivers 500W on the 12V rail alone which is ideal for mid-tier gaming rigs. I had the G550M in my system for a week plus and also ran a stress / heat test with this unit on another article that has the Sapphire HD7850 2GB in the system and the G550M handled it without problems.
Overall, as far as PSU goes, the Cooler Master G550M works. It's hard to say about the longevity and efficiency of the unit as I only have limited time with it and also lack the appropriate tools to test the unit thoroughly. But I could detect no problems so far when the unit is in use.
Pros:
- Beefy 12V rail with 80+ Bronze efficiency rating
- Nice looking unit
- Use of flat modular cables
Cons:
- Supplies only 3 modular cables even though the G550M has 4 modular connectors
- 6+2-pin pcie is in a single strand
- No combination modular cables for small system build
The cooler Master G550M power supply unit gets a Silver award from us here in Tech-Critter.com
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