Conclusions
Contents
The Cooler Master GX 450 W is a good mainstream power supply, with high efficiency (between 81.3% and 86.4%), very good voltage regulation, and low noise and ripple levels.
It is very important to understand that the 450 W model uses a completely different internal design compared to the more powerful models from the GX series.
The fact that the over temperature protection kicked in during our full load test can be seen as a good thing or as a bad thing. On the good side, we know the unit has this protection and it is working. On the bad side, this probably means that the secondary heatsink is under-dimensioned and/or the over temperature protection is set to trigger at a value that is too low.
The fact that we couldn’t pull more than 450 W from is also a double-edged sword. Some users will like that the unit has its protections working at a tight configuration, while others would prefer that the unit had some margin for overloading.
At a suggested price of only USD 50 – with stores probably offering less than that – the Cooler Master GX 450 W comes with an excellent cost/benefit ratio for users that want an inexpensive yet safe power supply with high efficiency.