Riotoro Onyx 750W Semi-Modular Power Supply Review

A Closer Look

Riotoro clearly have that strong brand mentality of red and black colouring. As such, the packaging clearly follows this remit. The front of the packaging is nice and bold with all the key information necessary nicely on display. They make a particular highlight of the Gold Efficiency rating as well as the 3-year guarantee. Two important factors that give you a lot of confidence with PSUs.

The information on the back is equally good. The language is predominantly English with just a small section in alternatives and even then it only offering basic information. As such, for the English language, the information provided is nice, clear and readable.

It’s a credit to Riotoro that they have included the information in a nice clear manner, particularly given that the box itself is rather small. In addition, we must also commend them for displaying their own efficiency and fan speed testing charts. Very few brands have the courage to put this information directly on the box and it certainly speaks of at least their confidence in this PSU.

In terms of information, the only other item of interest is the side of the box which has been used to present a fantastic diagram of the cables. Given that this includes their number and pictures, it really makes it clear exactly what you should expect from this PSU right off the box.

The Power Supply

In regards to the power supply, it this has a nice small design, but also a reassuring bit of weight to it. Based on the dimensions it would suit almost any system chassis design. In terms of the PSU itself, there isn’t a massive amount of speak of in terms of the overall presentation. What branding it has is nice and reasonably understated all of which falling within the usual remit from Riotoro.

The vents to the rear of the power supply have a honeycomb design to them. It’s nice to see that they have utilised a good amount of space here to make the air flow as positive as possible. In addition to this, the vent holes themselves are a good size that should prevent, as much as possible, any ingress of dust or similar unwanted visitors.

The top of the power supply is fairly standard. It is, of course, hard to ignore that Riotoro branding to the centre, but overall there is very little in terms of design to distinguish this power supply.

Interior

Upon gaining access to the interior of the Riotoro Onyx 750w power supply, everything at a glance looks nice. The cables are well organised. The componants seem nicely spaced and the heatsinks have a good, reasonably centred, positioning. For just a basic overview, things are looking good!

The more eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed in the image above rather a lot of white. That is (basically) glue. Put simply, internally, this power supply has a lot of it. While it is a fairly common thing to see in a power supply, in this particular instance, it hasn’t been applied very well. Not in terms of holding things in place, but from the standpoint that it is notable and excessive.

The amount of glue does detract a little from the overall design. Not, of course, aesthetically from the outside, but when you see this much glue applied this sloppily, it is a little worrying in terms of long-term durability. That being said though, don’t forget that Riotoro offers a 3-year guarantee with this power supply. At the very least, they seem quite positive about it, so perhaps we shouldn’t worry either!

As you can see in the picture below, however, the amount of glue present even did not allow me to detach the fan.

We should note that this product does not have Japanese capacitors. At least, none that we could find. That isn’t a criticism as Riotoro do not advertise it as such. Unfortunately, due to the location of the 2 main capacitors, we were unable to establish a brand from them. You can, however, see that they are rated to 105C and in terms of capacitor design, that is very encouraging.

You do, however, again see a rather liberal application of glue at the base. These capacitors are going no where!

The fan with this power supply is a fairly standard design. At no criticism of Riotoro, we have seen it used in various manufacturers products. There is very little to say about it in terms of power or presentation, it is, again, a standard fan. If it does get used this much by so many though, it clearly must be a reliable worker. That can’t be a bad thing.

Important – Please Read

To understand the results on the new few pages, please take the time to read our detailed testing methodology page. The next page of this review will help you understand what the results of our testing mean, and educate you on the various qualities we look for in a good PSU.