Cougar CMX V2 700 W Power Supply Review

Introduction

Last year, we reviewed the Cougar CMX 700 W power supply, which failed our tests. Cougar released an updated version of this power supply in order to correct the issues we found. Let’s check it out.

Cougar is a brand that belongs to HEC/Compucase. The CMX V2 series is comprised of 80 Plus Bronze units with a modular cabling system, in 450 W, 550 W, 700 W, 850 W, 1,000 W, and 1,200 W versions. (The previous version of this series didn’t have 450 W and 850 W models.) The 850 W, 1,000 W and 1,200 W versions use a DC-DC design in their secondary, a feature not available in the other models. 

Figure 1: Cougar CMX V2 700 W power supply

Figure 2: Cougar CMX V2 700 W power supply

The Cougar CMX V2 700 W is 6.3” (160 mm) deep, using a 140 mm fan on its bottom (Power Logic PLA14025S12M). The fan sticker says that it has a hydro-dynamic bearing, however, the part number decodes to a sleeve bearing model. (See the letter “S.” Hydro-dynamic bearing fans would have the letter “H” there.)

Figure 3: Fan

This unit has a modular cabling system with six connectors, two red for video card power cables and four black for SATA and peripheral power cables. The unit comes with the main motherboard cable, an ATX12V/EPS12V cable, and a video card power cable permanently attached to it. They use nylon sleeves that come from inside the unit. This power supply comes with the following cables:

• Main motherboard cable with a 20/24-pin connector, 18.9” (48 cm) long, permanently attached to the power supply
• One cable with one EPS12V connector and two ATX12V connectors that together form an EPS12V connector, 23.6” (60 cm) to the first connector, 11.8” (30 cm) between connectors, permanently attached to the power supply
• One cable with one six/eight-pin connector and one six-pin connector for video cards, 19.7” (50 cm) to the first connector, 5.1” (13 cm) between connectors, permanently attached to the power supply
• One cable with one six/eight-pin connector and one six-pin connector for video cards, 19.7” (50 cm) to the first connector, 5.1” (13 cm) between connectors, modular cabling system
• Two cables, each with three SATA power connectors, 19.7” (50 cm) to the first connector, 5.9” (15 cm) between connectors, modular cabling system
• One cable with three SATA power connectors, 15.7” (40 cm) to the first connector, 5.9” (15 cm) between connectors, modular cabling system
• One cable with four standard peripheral power connectors, 15.7” (40 cm) to the first connector, 5.9” (15 cm) between connectors, modular cabling system

The main motherboard cable was upgraded to use thicker, 16 AWG wires, which is great to see. All other wires are 18 AWG, which is the correct gauge to be used.

The V2 series uses “flat” SATA and peripheral cables, whereas on the previous version, these cables had nylon sleeves painted in orange, white, and black. This is a quick way to correctly identify that you are looking at a V2 unit, since there is nothing written on the power supply case identifying it as a “V2” unit.

The cable configuration of the CMX V2 700 W is different from the one used with the CMX 700 W. The original CMX 700 W used four individual cables for the video card power connectors, while on the CMX V2 700 W, each of the two cables has two connectors attached. The number of SATA (eight on the CMX 700 W, nine on the CMX V2 700 W) and peripheral (six on the CMX 700 W, four on the CMX V2 700 W) connectors is different. The CMX 700 W carried an adapter to convert any peripheral power connector into a floppy disk drive power connector, which is not present on the CMX V2 700 W.

Figure 4: Cables

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