The unfortunate part to doing siblings in a review is that once the first bit has been written, all that there was to be said has really and truly been said. Nevertheless, I’ll try to keep redundancy to a minimum, while pointing out all the differences therein. Firstly, the packaging is cast in a gunmetal grey and white scheme, rather than an apricot and banana scheme. Across the front of the packaging, the compatibility of this power supply with current BTX standards, as well as the presence of dual rails.

Enough of the small talk in terms of features – here’s a full listing for those who don’t really feel like clicking links and looking at vastly similar pictures.
150mm Blower Style Fan
Full Safety
Ultra Low Noise
High Efficiency
Nickel Plated Exterior
Overload Protection
EPS 12V/PCI Express
BTX Power Supply with Dual +12V Output

Once again, I’m met with a rather impressive listing of features, some of which, are disappointingly not pointed out on the rear of the box – such as the presence of EPS12V (8 Pin) and PCI-Express connectors. It will be the presence of these two features that sets the 500W unit apart from the 350W one, along with the tighter regulation and dual rails. Before I pop the hood to check out if there is actually if it is a “Quasi Split” or two separate 12V circuits, it’d more than fitting to take a look around the Unit’s casing. First and foremost, you’ll notice that while largely resembling the 350W units, a few improvements (both cosmetic and non) have been made. Firstly, the grille at the rear of the supply has been enlarged and replaced by a thin mesh, while the slit through which the blower fan breathes at the front of the unit has also been widened, allowing for more air to pass through the unit at a time. Apart from these two changes, the only other things of note are the illuminated power switch (great for if you’re forgetful and in the dark), the updated ratings sticker, and the aftermath of what appears to be an explosion in an Italian restaurant hanging out around the ATX connector.

With these things aside, it was high time to get inside the unit. Eight frustrating screws later, I had a clear view of the included blower fan, one manufactured by Just Cool (sounds familiar) with the model name of M1502512M [Which can likely be decoded to 150MM Blades, 25MM thickness, 12V input, Medium Speed]. For what it’s worth, thanks to the thermal throttling on this power supply, even when things got toasty, the noise levels stayed nice and low – definitely to my enjoyment. Of course, no view of the inside of a PSU is complete without being able to actually see the guts, so out the fan had to come, giving me a prime view of everything that was teasing from behind that grille. Immediately visible between the two large heatsinks is the lone 12V transformer, which unfortunately means the split rails are via another means, rather than being generated separately. Also visible are the bits of circuitry responsible for generating the rest of the voltages, as well as a few nice, beefy capacitors. Interestingly enough, it seems that our test unit didn’t have PFC functionality built in, even though there was a collection of bare traces on the PCB for such a feature, one which could only help to improve this power supply’s already “High Efficiency”. Perhaps the only gripe I actually have about the inside of this unit is how the somewhat lower gauge than desired wires make their way out of the supply, through an unprotected metal hole, leaving a possibility to slice into the wires and cause a short.

With the circuitry behind the mastermind covered, it made sense to take a closer look into things, and namely, what this power supply is capable and rated to put out. As provided by the sticker atop the unit, here is a table of the ratings:

Once again, I stand impressed by the standards with which LCG binds themselves. Rather than branding this as a 715 Watt PSU as many upstart companies would, these units were – as my contact inside of the company told me himself “Intended to be used with their True Ratings” – now call me naive, but that’s a good sign when a company is going to be honest about their products from the get go, rather than build a reputation on overworked power supplies that get lucky.

With so much current to pass around, I figured there had to be numerous places for it to jet out from – and what a better place to list off all the connectors, than right after how much can be fed to them
20/24 Pin ATX Connector
4 Pin P4/8 Pin EPS Power Connector
1 PCI-Express Power Connector
3 Thermally Regulated “Fan Only” Plugs
6 Molex (3x/Strand)
2 Mini Molex (1x/Strand)
1 SATA Connector

Overall, an excellent selection of output options, but unfortunately, ones burdened by a MAJOR issue. First and foremost, the biggest thing to get fixed here is the lack of any more than one SATA connector. Now, with the 500W market being comprised mainly of gamers, enthusiasts, and lightweight servers, one SATA connector isn’t going to go very far, especially in a world of motherboards that come with eight (or more!) SATA ports. Even for the enthusiast, who often runs fewer, but more powerful options, not having two SATA connectors limits potential for necessary things such as RAID – unfortunately, that’s just not cool. Secondly, something has to be done about the cables coming out of the power supply. Thanks to a wonderful job at the factory, everything is tangled with everything else, making it an absolute pain in the butt to divide and conquer when trying to route cables. This problem runs to a degree where tangles are found some four inches away from the PSU, making clean and tidy wiring near impossible. There is one easy way to fix this issue, though unfortunately it will add to the overhead, and time taken to make each unit. By fitting each strand off the PSU with quality, cotton (not the crappy, scratchy, easy to flay nylon stuff) sleeving, each wire on the PSU can be much more easily routed, and with the soft edges on cabling, any and all risks of damage are greatly reduced, which can help boost the longevity of the unit, for even the most bumbling of user. As such, with so few, simple things wrong, it’ hard not to see why I’m liking this PSU already. The question then on my mind, is this just a pointless interest, or can the 500W and 350W units survive the test to truly gain respect? Click next to get these boys rolling.