Aerocool E80-600 Power Supply Review

Introduction

Let’s see if this 600 W entry-level power supply from Aerocool is a good buy.

Like other power supplies from Aerocool, the E80-600 is manufactured by HEC (Compucase), being in reality the model HEC-600TE-2WX from this manufacturer. The Thermaltake PurePower 600 W (W0318RU) is based on the same power supply, meaning that the Aerocool E80-600 and the Thermaltake PurePower 600 W are internally identical (the Thermaltake model has more connectors).

The HEC-600TE-2WX has the standard 80 Plus certification, but, despite the name of the series (“80+”), Aerocool decided not to certify their E80-600. So, even though this power supply is in theory 80 Plus-certified, Aerocool didn’t pay the license to allow them to print the 80 Plus logo on this unit.

Figure 1: Aerocool E80-600 power supply

Figure 2: Aerocool E80-600 power supply

The Aerocool E80-600 is 5.5” (140 mm) deep and comes with a 120 mm sleeve bearing fan on its bottom (Aerocool DFS122512L).

The reviewed product doesn’t have a modular cabling system, but all cables are protected with nylon sleeves. It comes with the following cables:

• Main motherboard cable with a 20/24-pin connector, 18.5 ” (47 cm) long
• One cable with two ATX12V connectors each that together form an EPS12V connector, 18.5” (47 cm) long
• One cable with one six/eight-pin connector for video cards, 18.9” (48 cm) long
• One cable with four SATA power connectors, 18.9” (48 cm) to the first connector, 5.5” (14 cm) between connectors
• One cable with four standard peripheral power connectors and one floppy disk drive power connector, 18.5” (47 cm) to the first connector, 5.5” (14 cm) between connectors

The SATA and peripheral cables use 20 AWG wires, which are thinner than the minimum recommended (18 AWG). All other wires are 18 AWG.

The number of connectors is not good for a 600 W product. It should have come with at least one additional cable for video cards. If you have a video card that requires two power connectors, you will need to use an adapter to convert a peripheral power plug into a PEG connector, which definitely is not the best solution.

The reduced number of connectors and the thinner wires clearly show that we are facing an entry-level power supply.

Figure 3: Cables

Let’s now take an in-depth look inside this power supply.