INTRODUCTION

   With many people already having purchased one of the latest GTX Titan graphics cards by NVIDIA (it was sold out after all) it really makes sense for us to focus on reviews about powerful and quite expensive 80Plus Platinum certified power supply units that can successfully feed that monster of a card with sufficient, clean and stable power (and we have). However since most people out there seem opt for either an GTX 660 or for one of the Radeon HD 7850 cards instead we also need to cater to their needs and so today we decided to bring you a review of one of the latest PSUs to hit the market, the reasonably priced 550W 80Plus Bronze Certified PowerX by Cougar.

          COUGAR products are designed by COUGAR GERMANY, a professional R&D engineering team and COUGAR is part of the “HEC/COMPUCASE” Group. The unique combination of the world-famous German skills of designing the best products worldwide and HEC/s power and long-time experience to produce the best high quality products created innovative masterpieces in PSU history. The PC upgrading and DIY market is changing rapidly and is growing more and more. Professional user are asking for more than only stable and silent PSU/s, they want efficient and energy saving products without compromises in quality. COUGAR GERMANY created such products! COUGAR GERMANY combines the features of innovation and evolution to create efficient, powerful and unique products like “COUGAR POWER”. The purpose of COUGAR GERMANY is the satisfaction of the customer, reaching it by creating most valuable, advanced products. COUGAR – YOUR POWER!

   The PowerX line of power supplies only has two members currently, the CGR B4-550 (550W) that we have here with us today and the CGR B4-700 (700W) which is also the one at the top. Obviously the PowerX line is aimed towards the mid-end segment of the market where massive power outputs are simply not needed, that's exactly why the highest wattage unit is just 700W and also why either of the two units is modular. Instead the PowerX comes packing several useful features such as Active PFC, dynamic dual 12v, OCP/SCP/OVP/UVP/OPP/OTP power protections, Energy Star 5.0 compliance, an 120mm silent fan and of course the 80Plus Bronze Efficiency Certification. As you will also see later on the features of the PowerX 550W are not the only thing that stands out, it’s also very good (for its price range always).

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The unit arrived inside a black box with a product picture at the front right beneath the Cougar, 3 years warranty and the 80Plus Bronze certified logos.

The features of the unit are placed on both sides of the box in Spanish and Russian.

Moving over at the rear we see the same features list in 3 languages, the unit’s electrical table, an efficiency chart and a temperature/noise chart.

We did expect slightly better package protection but this is sufficient too.

The bundle includes the PowerX 550W Power Supply, AC power cable, 4 mounting screws, and the user's manual.

 THE POWERX 550W EXTERIOR

The PowerX 550W comes in a nice red color and it's also very small measuring just 140mm in depth, 150mm in width and 86mm in Height.

The black 120mm 7 blades fan sure looks great behind the red grill with the Cougar logo in the middle.

The Cougar logo is engraved on the right side of the chassis.

Moving to the left side we find a large sticker with the unit's electrical table.

Since the PowerX line is not modular at the front we just see 7 exhaust holes.

The rear of the unit features the usual honeycomb perforation, the classic on/off switch and the AC power plug.

POWERX 550W INTERIOR

The 120mm sleeve bearing fan is actually made by Young Li electronics and can reach speeds of up to 2000RPM produce airflow up to 77.70CFM and output noise levels up to of 32.95dBA.

A very clean layout and two large aluminum heatsinks is what we see once we remove the cover.

The Primary capacitor is made by Panasonic Corporation and is rated for use of up to 105°C.

On the secondary side we see TEAPO branded capacitors also rated for use of up to 105°C.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

     Using a dedicated measurement instrument such as a Chroma or a SunMoon to test power supply units is without doubt the most ideal and accurate way (not to mention the fastest) to do that currently. However it's certainly not the only way there is and so pretty much anyone can test a power supply unit just by using a computer. Certainly limitations do apply and so you can't really test a 1000W power supply if your system only uses 500W at peak loads and that's why during the past 5 years i have saved certain hardware components for the purpose of building a dedicated PSU test rig. True it may not be as accurate as the above mentioned solutions but it comes really close and is in fact closer to real world usage. So as always we ran several games with maximum graphic options enabled at a resolution of 2560x1600 in order to stress every hardware component and increase the overall power demands of the system. The Passmark BurnIn Test was also used to overstress the components in an effort to provide the most accurate results possible. As a final test we also used the latest OCCT 4.4 software and its dedicated PSU testing suite since it can really bring a power supply to its knees after even just a few minutes.

       Rail stability was checked/measured with the CPUID Hardware monitor and a Metex multimeter which also recorded the system load in idle and in load. As always try to remember that the power consumption numbers listed in the graph are the highest (Peak) ones recorded during the entire duration of the tests and not the average ones. Noise levels coming from the fan were recorded using the high precision HD600 ExTech Sound dBA Meter from the rear of the unit and at a range of no more than 5-10cm. Readings under load are recorded the exact moment we manually switch the fans of all graphics cards from full speed to almost zero, that way the fan of the power supply does not have enough time to slow its RPM and so by doing this we get very accurate noise level readings. Needless to say in order to get 100% accurate readings you need to have a noise isolated room for that exact purpose, something which is quite impossible unless you are working inside a real lab (some people use very small noise insulated boxes but due to their size both heat and noise exceed normal levels and so the results can't really be considered to be 100% accurate). Also do take into account that since all noise measurements take place from just 5-10cm away the final noise levels to reach your ears will be far less.

TEST RESULTS

RAIL STABILITY

We rarely see such rail stability from small power supply units especially when overloaded.

POWER CONSUMPTION

We squeezed a total of 612W from the PowerX 550W which is roughly 12% over its rated output.

NOISE LEVELS (SPL)

44.6dBA from 5-10cm away is not really much (so Young Li may be right when measuring dBA from over a meter away) but we have seen lower numbers in the past.

CONCLUSION

   The PowerX 550W is certainly not enough to power SLI/CF configurations and I wouldn’t recommend it for such use but it does exactly what it’s supposed to do and that is to provide up to 550W of power with near excellent rail stability and rather low noise levels thanks to the silent 120mm fan. Quality-wise the PowerX 550W is very good and it even features Japanese Primary Capacitors made by Panasonic something which we hardly ever see with similar output units. Some people may not really like the fact that it doesn’t feature a modular design but as expected based on its power output it really comes with a limited amount of cables (although more than most similar output units) and so i really doubt anyone will have a problem with that.

   As we speak I was unable to locate the PowerX 550W inside the USA but I did locate the 700W at USD75.99 at Newegg which I consider as a very good price tag for that particular model. Moving to the EU you can currently purchase the PowerX 550W (CGR B4-550) at around 65Euros which again is not a bad price tag although the 700W is sold at the same price in the USA. Regardless however the PowerX 550W is more than enough for casual users who are fed up with using OEM units with their systems and this is partially where Cougar aims with the entire PowerX line (gamers also). I really can't find anything bad with the PowerX line no matter how hard i try, rail stability was almost excellent even at 112% of the units total power used, the fan was quite silent during use and the quality of the unit is very good. Bottom line for its target audience the PowerX line is a very good choice and that’s why the 550W variant gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Near Excellent Rail Stability
- Good Noise Levels (Even at 112%)
- Size
- 80Plus Bronze Certified
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Availability inside the USA