Tech Review - NorthQ Black Magic Flex Power Supplies

Tech Review - NorthQ Black Magic Flex Power Supplies Hello again, my name is Rodney Reynolds and welcome to another video review. Today I'm looking at the NorthQ Black Magic Flex 650W and 850W Power Supply. Normally, a power cord screws and manual are included with most power supplies but that’s not the case here. There is nothing but the power supply in the box. I asked NorthQ about this and they said it’s a fairly common practice in Europe. Let face it, every case includes screws so that’s not a big deal and most power supply manuals are never read. But, I would have like have to seen at least the power cord included. As you can see, both of these of these power supplies are identical except for specifications and connections. The 650 watt model is geared towards mid to high and rigs and the 850 watt model is best suited for high-end to hardcore computer systems. So how is this wattage determined? Well to understand that, you need to know what rails are. Rails are basically well regulated transformers which convert domestic current into the voltages that your computer system can use and there essentially two different rail, the 3.3/5 volt rail and the 12 volt. For the 650W Power Supply, the approximate maximum peak output of the 3.3/5 volt rail is 250 watts and the 12 volt is 480 watts. For the 850W Power Supply the approximate maximum peak output of the 3.3/5 volt rail is 250 watts and the 12 volt is 600 watts. The 3.3/5 volt rail is responsible for the motherboard, memory, PCI cards and so on while the 12 volt rail is responsible for the hard drives, optical drives, fans, CPU, video cards, etcetera. Also some might be interested to know the peak amps on each rail. For both the 650 watt power supply and the 850 watt power supply, the plus 3.3 volt is 30 amps and the plus 5 volt is also 30 amps. The 650 watt only has two 20 amp plus 12 volt rails but the 850 watt power supply has four 25 amp plus 12 volt rails. There are a couple of important things to remember when selecting a power supply. The first is wattage, determine how much wattage you are going to require by the amount of hardware you will be installing. Generally speaking, a medium to high-end gaming rate would require a 500 to 700 watt power supply. If however you're going hardcore and have a multiple video card set up with lots of other hardware, select the power supply that’s above 800 watts. Second, it should be at or above 80% efficient at typical load. The efficiency of these power supplies are above 80%. Third it should meet the latest ATX and other current standards, environmental directives, over voltage, under voltage and the other protections. These power supplies meet all current standards. Fourth I recommend choosing a power supply that has APFC. APFC or Active Power Factor Correction is something that also assists the power supply in being more efficient and therefore stable under load. APFC basically reduces total harmonics, corrects input voltage and it allows for full and for voltage range. Thankfully, these power supplies have APFC. Finally get a power supply that has enough leads for your set up Let's have a closer look at this power supplies I'll be looking at once since they are identical. They are both very compact and will fit in any ATX case on the market including home theater PC and small form factor cases. The housing is steel and they include a very quite 135 millimeter fan which insures maximum cooling so the power supply will remain cool in almost any environment. Here's the power cable connection and the power switch. These power supplies have lots of leads but the main motherboard lads are hardwired into the power supply but the rest are modular, sleep looking, flex cables. As a name suggests, these cables are super flexible which allows them to bend around almost anything. They are perfect for hiding cables behind the motherboard tray or neatly tuck in them out of sight. This design also increases airflow inside the case by amount 30% over standard power supply cables. The modular design makes the connecting and disconnecting lead’s snap that also means that you only need to use the leads required for your particular set up. Finally, have a listen to the 135 millimeter fan. This power supply offer clean, efficient power. It come with a very quiet 135 millimeter fan are supper compact so they will fit in just about any ATX case on the market and they have those super duper fantastic flex cables. I really, really love those things because you can bend them around just about anything inside the case. They're extremely handy to have. Overall these products are kick ass. Until the next time, take care.