Cooler Master Helps with the Haswell Power Supply Mystery
There has been a lot of talk about PSU compatibility for Intel’s upcoming 4th Generation Core Processors (code named Haswell). We have observed a large amount of misinformation being spread. We would like to clarify the situation to calm and reassure our customers and partners that they will be able to upgrade safely. A full list of Cooler Master power supplies is listed here. Below are some quick facts that the public should be aware.
l Most power supplies don’t support Haswell – False
l I need a Haswell certified power supply to build a Haswell system – False
l Haswell only works with DC-DC Power Supplies – False
l Haswell only works with 80+ Gold and better Power Supplies – False
l Haswell requires a second 12V rail and doesn’t work with single rail Power Supplies – False
l On some older power supplies, Haswell consumes 5W more in idle mode – True
Among other improvements of Intels latest Core Processors, power consumption in idle mode has been greatly reduced from around 6W to less than 1W. This might cause some older power supplies to shut the system off when the CPU enters idle mode, or prevent the system from waking up out of sleep mode. To our knowledge all mainboard vendors will disable this advanced power saving mode by default, and no customer upgrading to Haswell should experience any issues whatsoever.
Should customers experience problems nevertheless, or would like to enable the advanced power saving mode on older power supplies that might not support it, there is a simple fix. Simply adding a single silent case fan to the system, connected to the power supply, should provide enough additional load to keep the system running in advanced power saving mode.
The only disadvantage would be that power savings in idle mode on such a system would only surmount to around 2-3W instead of ~5W.
Series |
Model |
Haswell-ready |
V Series |
V1000 |
yes |
V850 |
yes |
|
V700 |
yes |
|
Platinum Series |
Silent Pro Platinum 1000 |
yes |
Silent Pro Platinum 550 |
yes |
|
Gold Series |
Silent Pro Gold 1200 |
yes |
Silent Pro Gold 1000 |
yes |
|
Silent Pro Gold 800 |
yes |
|
Silent Pro Gold 700 * |
yes |
|
Silent Pro Gold 600 * |
yes |
|
Silent Pro Gold 550 |
yes |
|
Silent Pro Gold 450 |
yes |
|
Hybrid Series |
Silent Pro Hybrid 1300 |
yes |
Silent Pro Hybrid 1050 |
yes |
|
Silent Pro Hybrid 850 |
yes |
|
M2 Series |
Silent Pro M2 1500 |
yes |
Silent Pro M2 1000 |
yes |
|
Silent Pro M2 850 |
yes |
|
Silent Pro M2 720 |
yes |
|
Silent Pro M2 620 |
yes |
|
Silent Pro M2 520 * |
yes |
|
Silent Pro M2 420 * |
yes |
|
M series |
Silent Pro M 1000 |
yes |
Silent Pro M 850 |
yes |
|
Silent Pro M 700 |
yes |
|
Silent Pro M 600 |
yes |
|
Silent Pro M 500 * |
yes |
|
GX2 Series * |
GX2 750 * |
yes |
GX2 650 * |
yes |
|
GX2 550 * |
yes |
|
GX2 450 * |
yes |
|
GX Series |
GX 750 |
yes |
GX 650 |
yes |
|
GX 550 * |
yes |
|
GX 450 |
yes |
|
GX 400 * |
yes |
|
GX Lite * |
GXL 700 * |
yes |
GXL 600 * |
yes |
|
GXL 500 * |
yes |
|
I Series |
I700 |
yes |
I600 |
yes |
|
I500 |
yes |
|
G Series * |
G700 * |
yes |
G600 * |
yes |
|
G500 * |
yes |
|
Thunder M Series * |
Thunder M 620 * |
yes |
Thunder M 520 * |
yes |
|
Thunder M 420 * |
yes |
|
Thunder Series * |
Thunder 700 * |
yes |
Thunder 600 * |
yes |
|
Thunder 500 * |
yes |
|
Thunder 450 * |
yes |
|
B Series * |
B700 * |
yes |
B600 * |
yes |
|
B500 * |
yes |
|
Extreme2 Series |
EX2 725 |
yes |
EX2 625 |
yes |
|
EX2 525 |
yes |
|
EX2 475 |
yes |
|
Extreme |
EX 700 |
yes |
EX 650 * |
yes |
|
EX 600 |
yes |
|
EX 550 |
yes |
|
EX 500 |
yes |
|
EX 460 * |
yes |
|
EX 400 * |
yes |
|
EX 350 * |
yes |
|
Elite Series |
Elite 460 |
yes |
Elite 400 |
yes |
|
Elite 350 |
yes |
* indicates model only available in selected regions