Xilence Performance A Series 730W Power Supply Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The Xilence Performance A Series 730W power supply has an MSRP of €52.90. In the UK it retails for £56.99 at eBuyer and £51.95 at Stuff UK. The Xilence Performance A Series 730W PSU comes with a 2 year warranty. This product is not currently sold in North America.

Conclusion

Before we dive into this conclusion it is worth just reiterating the price of this unit, €53 MSRP. In the UK we’re seeing elevated pricing due to imported stock from the continent but in mainland Europe this power supply is selling for around €50 at quite a few retailers: which is good value for money. I’m not sure how €50 translates into £55, but at that price its competitive edge is lost in the UK as SilverStone and Cooler Master both offer better all round power supplies for a similar price. On the continent it retains the competitive edge as something like Corsair’s CX750 fetches €80.

Overall we can see that some compromises have been made to keep the cost down, but let’s start with the positives. In terms of voltage regulation we saw very strong performance – especially on the 12v rail – although the 5 volt and 5 volt standby rails did droop a litte. The PFC performed well for such a budget unit so we can tell the active PFC implementation works a treat. The power supply was mainly quiet, which was assisted by the fact the fan’s maximum RPM is 1700. This unit finds itself rated for 80 Plus (White) but it was actually capable of slightly better than 80 Plus Bronze meaning Xilence are under-rating it. Finally, the ripple suppression on the 3.3 and 5 volt rails was solid: I’ve seen similar performance on 80 Plus Platinum rated units in the past and that says a lot.

There are a few things we didn’t like though. Firstly, the cabling is not great. Obviously this is how costs are saved so it is to be expected, but the non-modular design with no sleeving except on the 24 pin is still basic. The cables are also a little on the short side but Xilence clearly indicate cable lengths so it would be easy to check if the cables are long enough for your particular system. Secondly, the 12 volt ripple suppression is nothing special. The ATX specification allows for up to 150 mV, and we saw around 75mV which is high but still well within ATX spec. There’s no question you could probably halve that ripple by spending a bit more on a better quality power supply…but of course that means spending more and this power supply is all about cost. The main advantage of this unit is that you can get 730W of stable and reliable power for just €50. Okay the 12 volt ripple is on the high side but it isn’t anything catastrophic, especially as most people will probably only use this PSU with a system that pulls less than 500W and at those kind of wattages it does around 50-60mV which is a lot more acceptable. The way I see it; the Xilence Performance A Series 730W PSU offers a nice bridge between the cheap and nasty unbranded power supplies and the higher end power supplies from reputable brands. It is a bridge because it sits somewhere in the middle on pricing but makes bigger strides towards higher end power supplies in performance. While you won’t be getting the best quality power supply in the world, for the money you still get something that is solid and will actually deliver its rated wattage without blowing up, over-heating or damaging your components.

Pros

• Quiet operation
• Higher than rated efficiency
• Good PFC
• Strong voltage regulation
• Competitive EU pricing

Cons

• Mediocre 12v ripple suppression
• Poor UK pricing
• No cable sleeving

“The Performance A Series 730W is a strong offering from Xilence in the cheap power supply space: despite its low pricing the unit still offers strong and reliable power. If you’re in the market for a “no-frills attached” kind of PSU then this could be for you, providing you can get it at the right price.”

Thank you to Xilence for providing this review sample.