INTRODUCTION

   One of the things every single one of us likes about the computer industry in its entirety is that as time goes by once expensive enthusiast grade hardware eventually always becomes mainstream and I’m not only talking about old products. Take SSDs for example, 3-4 years ago only enthusiasts and professionals could afford them while now you can find incredibly fast models for as low as USD80/80Euros not to mention that most PC systems (desktop and notebook) come with at least one pre-installed. The same also applies for power supply units so although a while back you needed to invest quite a bit on a good model now you can find very good ones for a lot less. Cougar may not be one of the most well-known PSU manufacturers (still it’s a sister company to the very well-known HEC/Compucase brand) but in the somewhat short time they've been around their products have managed to secure many awards by media around the world and for good reason since they offer both performance and quality. Today’s review is about one of their latest PSUs to hit the market the CMX V.3 850W model.

   COUGAR is particularly targeting enthusiast gamers who not only demand state-of-the-art PC chassis and highly efficient power supplies, but also want to express their dynamic gaming life style with reliable quality products. COUGAR therefore wants to provide these enthusiasts with best-in-class innovative and cutting-edge gaming products. COUGAR was founded in 2007 by a group of enthusiastic and professional people in Germany who felt PC hardware had changed very little over the past 20 years, most cases and PSU models remaining rectangular boxes, having the same boring looks and an internal layout with endlessly uncreative cosmetic variations and poor quality. Therefore, COUGAR wanted to provide gamers more stylish product concepts meeting strictest quality requirements. Now, COUGAR has developed into a global brand manufacturer bringing innovative, high-performance and high-quality components to the PC gaming market. With utmost passion COUGAR is keen to provide most innovative solutions that 100% meet customer needs. Thinking differently and adopting new trends while constantly focusing on functionality and user-oriented product improvements, that is our foremost corporate culture. COUGAR is always striving to satisfy demanding gamers with innovative and technological leadership.

   The CMX V.3 850W power supply unit is primarily aimed towards gamers and for that you obviously don't need the best possible efficiency which is why Cougar chose to go with an 80 Plus Bronze certified model and not with something better and more expensive (those are obviously targeted towards enthusiasts, overclockers and professionals). The really unique design (looks like a sports car if you ask me) of the CMX V.3 range is also because of that but that aside Cougar also decided to give it a semi-modular cabling design, dual +12V rails, DC-DC converters, compatibility with the new Haswell processors, Japanese capacitors and an ultra-quiet 140mm cooling fan. Specification sheets however don't always agree with our conclusion so once again we are here to find out exactly how the product at hand performs in real world use.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Cougar has placed two product pictures at the front of the box along with the main product features, company logo, the 3 years warranty statement, the 80 Plus Bronze logo and a Haswell Ready logo.

The features list is also placed on both sides of the box in Spanish and Russian.

The rear of the box is filled with the features list, the electrical specifications table, available cables, efficiency and acoustic charts, a small picture of the 140mm fan grill and several certification logos.

I would like a little bit better protection but the sample arrived here in one piece so it seems to be sufficient.

The bundle is basic and consists of the modular cables, AC power cord, 6 cable ties, user's manual and 4 mounting screws.

THE CMX V.3 850W EXTERIOR

The CMX V.3 850W has a very nice orange/black color theme and measures 160mm in depth, 150mm in width and 86mm in height.

A 140mm 7 bladed intake fan is used to cool the interior of the unit.

The company logo and model name are placed on both sides.

Typically the sticker with the unit’s electrical specifications table is placed at the bottom.

The modular ports are different, color coded and tagged to avoid any unpleasant accidents.

At the rear we find the usual honeycomb perforation, a large on/off switch and the AC power port.

Cougar is using slim modular cables and although that's a good touch I’d like them to be just a tad easier to bend.

THE CMX V.3 850W INTERIOR

Cougar actually used a 135mm fan by Young Lin Tech Co capable of reaching speeds up to 2500RPM with 123.64CFM of airflow at 51.92dBA of noise.

The layout of this HEC/Compucase manufactured unit is very clean and gets divided into 3 sections via 3 large aluminum heatsinks.

The primary 330uF/400V capacitors used are manufactured by the Japanese Panasonic and are rated for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

Strangely enough for secondary capacitors Cougar has used several different ones by Nippon Chemi-Con, Teapo and CapXon also all of them made in Japan and rated for use up to 105 degrees Celsius.

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 inside 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

Rail stability is certainly not the best we've ever seen but it's quite good and solid.

POWER CONSUMPTION

We fell a bit short in managing to max out the unit but still almost 95% load is something not every system can do.

NOISE LEVELS (SPL)

The 135mm fan by Young Lin Tech Co hit 44.4dBA at almost 95% load so at 100% that number will probably go up even more.

CONCLUSION

   With quite good and solid rail stability, great looks, flat cables and an 80 Plus Bronze efficiency certification the latest CMX V.3 850W is certainly not the best power supply unit out there as we speak but for casual users and gamers it's actually a very good solution. The only problem we could find is the somewhat high noise levels coming from the 135mm intake fan by Young Li Tech Co. Certainly we are well aware that not many people will manage to push the unit up to 95% load and i even doubt that most people will even hit 70% but that doesn't change the fact that Cougar (HEC/Compucase) chose to use a relatively noisy fan model and with so many models in the market i just don't know why that is. I am not looking for perfection from a model aimed primarily towards gamers and i do realize that for most gamers high noise levels are of no concern especially since most graphics cards tend to be much louder than PSUs but our goal always is to present our findings and let you the end consumer decide.

   After checking out the usual online stores the Cougar CMX V.3 850W is nowhere to be seen but the current MSRP is set at USD129.99 inside the USA which is the second negative thing about this unit. Of course since the MSRP is set at USD129.99 i expect the unit to hit the stores at around USD110 (if not less) which is actually not bad at all but if that doesn't happen Cougar will have trouble convincing people to choose this unit over a few 80 Plus Silver certified ones available for slightly more. Regardless of the price however the CMX V.3 850W PSU is a good choice for gamers and casual users which is exactly what Cougar advertises it for. Had this been a PSU aimed towards enthusiasts, overclockers and professionals it wouldn't meet our expectations but since that's not the case it walks away with our Golden Award if only just barely.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Design
- Good Performance Levels
- 80 Plus Bronze Certified
- Flat Modular Cables
- Haswell Ready
- 3 Years Warranty 

CONS

- Current Availability
- Noise Levels (For Some)