Cougar CMX V3 850W Power Supply Overview
A Closer look continued
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Since the Cougar CMX V3 850W Power Supply is a semi-modular power supply, the manufacture has to pay special attention to cable lengths. They need to provide enough cable to install in some of the largest cases but not too much cable which would make cable management difficult in the smaller cases. I think Cougar did a good job with cable length balance. The 24 pin motherboard connector and the 8 pin CPU connector come in at just around 22 inches in length.
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However, for those users that have massive cases, Cougar has added 2 4 pin CPU power connector added to the end of the 8 pin power connector. For those keeping track, you have 34 inches of cable from the power supply to the end of the CPU power connector.
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The included SATA cables come in two different lengths. One cable is 32 inches in length and the other is 4 inches longer at 36 inches. Each SATA cable has 4 90° connectors. The 4 pin molex cable measures in at 28 inches and has 3 connectors.
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The two PCI-E cables are equal length at 21 inches. Each cable is a 6 +2 pin configuration. In addition to the two modular cables. The main power cable includes a PCI-E connector. This power supply should run a tri-SLI or triple Crossfire-X configuration with out any problems.
I’m not sure what point using a Dr. Power II, an uncalibrated, unqualified low-resolution device, and the built-in voltage monitor has to do with showing if the PSU is in spec.
– No basic multimeter to show voltage under various loads? Cost for a tool capable of this is ~$20-50.
– No basic oscilloscope to view ripple on the lines? Cost for a tool capable of this is ~$50-100.
I don’t expect you to have a good ammeter or dummy loads – this isn’t a professional review after all, more a basic product overview – but how does the statement “I believe I was able to put a load on the power supply of 20-30%” inspire confidence in test results? Especially when, on the last page, the author states “According to the load test results, the Cougar CMX V3 850W Power Supply was able to deliver consistent clean power at 100% load” – but where was this 100% load test? And how did you determine the power is clean? (No, the motherboard voltage monitor won’t tell you this.) And besides, I thought the PSU only had a “believed” 20-30% load? (And if you mean “system” load, perhaps you should have written this…but it still confuses matters even mentioning 100% load).
Even the cheapest PSUs today can look like this between 0% and 40% load. These tests show nothing useful.
Reviewing a power supply isn’t as simple as plugging it in and saying “yup, it works.” It takes time, test equipment, and skills to use said equipment. As for review vs overview, the test results push this into “review” territory, and the results are utterly pointless. Perhaps the tests are best left omitted. However, if the reviewer is wanting to test PSUs and needs guidelines on how to write a quality power supply review, he should look at jonnyguru or HardOCP PSU reviews…and actually read them, as the sites are mentioned in the article!
Thanks for the reply and we appreciate any feedback to see how we can approve our reviews. I can see that you are a fan of power supplies and reviews. I agree that other sites that have the ability to load test the units and do a great job with the reviews. I would point towards http://www.jonnyguru.com as the place to go, and btw I know both Jon and Tony (Tazz) who run the site. Tony is actually a founding member here at Modders-Inc.
I would like to point out one item that is we do state at the beginning of our psu reviews that…”Our power supply reviews are intended to only cover the features of the power supply, thus we call them a Power Supply Overview. This is due to the fact of not having the appropriate equipment to test them to our and your standards. Because of this you will not see any load or performance testing sections, but we will give you our best thoughts about the product. Thank you~ Modders-Inc”
Showing a few voltages and some OCCT screen shots in my option does not make this a full on testing review. Were as still trying to supply some information about the product and at least try to make it more interesting to the readers.
Your statement of “the author states “According to the load test results, the Cougar CMX V3 850W Power Supply was able to deliver consistent clean power at 100% load” – but where was this 100% load test? And how did you determine the power is clean?” The answer to this is listed in plan view. The author clearly states…”According to the load test results (@JonnyGuru), the Cougar CMX V3 850W Power Supply was able to deliver consistent clean power at 100% load and remain within ATX specification and in some cases was able to exceed the 80-plus bronze certification and break into the 80-plus silver arena.”
We are always looking to improve our reviews and your comments will be taken and talked about within the group to see if and how we can make changes.
Thank you, Dewayne