Review of the Raidmax Cobra RX-800AE 800W PSU. Budget gold / Overclockers.ua

In one of the previous articles, we got acquainted with the Raidmax power supply, whose products have long been known to enthusiasts and modders. Then we considered the “bronze kilowatt”, moreover, the most affordable on the market. Now it’s the turn of an equally affordable solution with a power of 800 W and, moreover, the 80 Plus Gold certificate. And if our last guest belonged to the line with the very loud name Scorpio, then the current one can “sting” competitors to no lesser extent – our ward is part of the Cobra series.

In total, there are four devices in the “snake family”, ranging from 500 to 800 watts. There are three more models of higher power, but they have a semi-modular design, when only part of the cables come unfastened, and Cobra is not included in this line. We will consider the older solution.

Raidmax Cobra 800W (RX-800AE)

On the packaging in which the power supply is supplied, a sand-colored reptile with an open mouth is depicted, hinting to the user that something sinister is inside. On the front there is also an 80 Plus Gold certificate badge and, as was the case with the previous Raidmax device, a label for the presence of Japanese capacitors. Whether they will be this time – we will find out a little later. On the reverse side you can find the specifications of all blocks of the Cobra series, and on one of the faces the number of certain connectors for each model is indicated.

The package is as spartan as in all available products, but with the “golden” solution, I would like to see a little more than a power cord and a set of mounting screws.

Power cables are non-removable:

• one to power the motherboard (50 cm);
• one with 8-pin (4+4) CPU power connectors (61 cm);
• two with two 8-pin (6+2) connectors for powering PCI-E video cards (51 cm);
• one with three power connectors for SATA devices, one IDE and one for FDD (51+15+15+15+15 cm);
• one with three power connectors for SATA devices and one IDE device (51+15+15+15 cm).

The number of connectors is small, but enough to assemble a powerful system with a couple of video cards and several drives. All wires are black, additionally enclosed in a nylon braid, which looks very solid.

But the manufacturer did not add any zest to the appearance of the RX-800AE. The now familiar black case with a wire grille, a fan of the same color, but together with the cables, the unit still looks organic. Apparently, this is what captivates.

In terms of its capabilities, the model under consideration is similar to modern devices: one + 12V line, capable of delivering almost the nominal power of the unit, and low-power low-voltage channels.

For the standby voltage, a current of 2.5 A is provided, which should be enough for the system in standby mode without any problems.

The power supply is equipped with protection against low and high voltage, against short circuit, overload of output lines, and there is also automatic fan speed control. There is an APFC module and the ability to work in a wide range of mains voltage.

Under the cover is a redesigned CWT platform with a synchronous rectifier and separate DC/DC converters for low voltage channels.

Despite the presentable appearance of the device, its budget performance is still felt.

The input filter is devoid of one coil and a varistor, I would like to see the soldering of wires in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe network connector a little more neat than it is.

Radiators with good fins are responsible for cooling the power elements, there is even a cooler near the diode bridge – there is no longer any savings here.

The block is controlled by the CM6800UX PWM controller located on the back of the board, the “duty room” is made on the A6069H chip. Two APW7073 microcircuits, soldered on separate scarves, are responsible for the formation of low-voltage voltages. The role of the supervisor is assigned to the ST9S313A chip.

Now we come to the most interesting – Japanese capacitors, which the packaging promised us. And they really are. True, only one, at the input, but produced by Nippon-Chemikon with a capacity of 390 microfarads and an operating voltage of 420 V. The rest are Teapo.

The quality of the installation is not perfect, there are traces of manual intervention, but in general everything is assembled soundly.

The unit is cooled by a 135mm PY-13525H12S fan from PowerYear, based on a sleeve and connected by a two-pin cable. As in the Scorpio solution, there is a grille on one side of the fan case, which should weaken the air flow in that place so that its bulk goes to the hotter part of the power supply.

When the system is idle or when running a game application, it rotates at speeds from 660 to 710 rpm, while running quietly, with a slight crackle. With an increase in load, the speed increases to 1395 rpm, and the maximum that was possible to fix was about 1525 rpm. The noise level was naturally high.

Test Methodology

It is difficult to carry out full testing without an appropriate stand, so the power supplies were tested using a conventional system assembled from the following components:

• processor: Intel Core i7-6700K (4.0@4.5 GHz);
• motherboard: ASUS Maximus VIII Formula (Intel Z170);
• Cooler: Prolimatech Megahalems;
• RAM: HyperX HX430C15PB3K2/16 (2×8 GB, DDR4-3000, 15-16-16-35-1T);
• video cards: Gigabyte GV-N770OC-2GD (GeForce GTX 770);
• drive: Kingston SSDNow UV400 240GB (240 GB, SATA 6Gb/s).

Testing was carried out in the Windows 10 x64 environment on an open stand. The Valley benchmark was used to create a game load on the system, and LinX 0.6.7 was launched in parallel for additional load.

Also, for maximum load, the following system was assembled:

• processor: Intel Core i7-975 (3.33@4.02 GHz, Bclk 175 MHz);
• motherboard: ASUS P6T7 WS SuperComputer (Intel X58);
• cooler: Noctua NH-D14;
• RAM: Kingston KHX2000C8D3T1K3/6GX (3×2 GB, DDR3-2000@1750, 8-8-8-24);
• video cards: ASUS ENGTX295/2DI/1792MD3/A and Inno3D GeForce GTX 295 Platinum Edition (GeForce GTX 295);
• hard disk: Samsung HD502HJ (500 GB, 7200 rpm, SATA-II).

Here testing was carried out in the Windows 7 x64 HP environment on an open stand. To create a load on the system, the OCCT 3.1.0 utility was used with a 30-minute power supply test using one video card, as well as while running the LinX 0.6.5 utility and the Tropics benchmark with activated anisotropic filtering at 16x with a pair of cards operating in the SLI.

To measure the total power consumption of the system, the Seasonic Power Angel was used, which can also measure the power factor, voltage and frequency in the network, the consumed current and the amount of energy spent per unit of time. Net power consumption calculated based on 80 Plus certification – i.e. possible efficiency of the device. Errors in such calculations can be 5%. The voltages were checked with a UNI-T UT70D digital multimeter.

In addition, we decided to slightly expand testing by taking temperature readings inside the power supply, fan speed and noise level under a particular load.

The temperature was measured using the Scythe Kaze Master Pro panel, the sensors of which were located on the radiators inside the block and at a distance of 1 cm in front of the fan (#1) and behind the outer wall (#2).

For fan speed results, a UNI-T UT372 non-contact tachometer was used. The maximum speed was fixed for each of the power supply testing modes.

It should be borne in mind that such a technique at this stage is far from ideal and will be supplemented and changed as it is used.

Test results

The obtained data are entered in the table. In brackets for voltage are percent deviations from the norm, for power consumption – the approximate net load on the power supply.

To be honest, I did not expect such an inexpensive power supply to be able to demonstrate good output voltage stability. No drawdowns and all indicators did not go beyond 2% limits. It is a pity that the model does not have any margin of safety, and it did not work out to overload the block.

conclusions

Raidmax power supplies are still one of the most affordable on the domestic market, offering a good price / quality ratio with a spectacular appearance. Spartan delivery set, a minimum of power cables and some bright feature that distinguishes the device from competitors – this is the hallmark of the American company’s products. The reviewed RX-800AE of the Cobra series turned out to be completely black, including all cables, which will allow, after assembling the system with a transparent side cover, to focus on more important details of the system. Good voltage regulation and moderate cooling fan noise under gaming load make the power supply a good choice for the budget-conscious enthusiast, considering it’s one of the most affordable 800W models, especially one with 80 Plus Gold certification.