Cougar VTE 500w Power Supply Review

How Much Does It Cost?

At the time of writing, I couldn’t find any supplier who specifically stocked the 500-watt variant of the Cougar VTE 500. Based on the price of the 600w version, however, I’d expect this to retail for something in the region of £30-£35.

Yes, for a power supply, particularly one with bronze-rated efficiency coming from a recognisable manufacturer, this is obscenely inexpensive!

Performance

While some of our test results were a little excitable in areas, on the whole, I’m amazed to see a power supply at this price point perform so well. Usually, the inexpensive end of the power supply market sends our tester into crisis, but the Cougar VTE did its job perfectly with no fuss, drama or concerns.

Practicality & Functionality

Being a fairly standard looking power supply, the Cougar VTE takes a no thrills approach in its design, but still manages, where possible, to add a few little touches.

I must admit, I think the cables could afford to be a little longer and, in addition, I maintain that I don’t like the aesthetics of the orange and yellow. On the whole, however, it does exactly what you would want from any power supply which is to provide nice clean power in an efficient and quiet manner.

Should I Buy One?

In my opinion, getting a good power supply is one of the most important (and overlooked) aspects of a PC build. When it comes to inexpensive power supplies, however, I have seen a lot of designs that deserved to be in a bin rather than within a PC case.

The Cougar VTE though, is one of the best-exceptions to the rule I’ve seen in years! It provides an amazingly good level of performance I would usually associate with power supplies costing at least twice as much! Is it perfect? No. It isn’t designed to be perfect though, it’s designed to give you the best level of performance achievable on a wallet-friendly budget!

Put simply, if you’re in need of a solid and reliable power supply, then the Cougar VTE is one of the best examples I can think of that’s currently available on the market. If this cost £40-£50, I wouldn’t bat an eye-lid. At the same time though, if it did cost that much it would probably just blend in with all of the other mid-tier power supplies.

The Cougar is amazingly inexpensive and yes, certain aspects of the design do reflect that. Taking this from the business end of a power supply doing its job, however, it’s only January, but this may be one of the best overall power supplies I get to see this year!