Huntkey Balance King 5000 500 W Power Supply Review

Conclusions

Differently from its 450 W sister, Huntkey Balance King 5000 could deliver its labeled wattage without exploding. In fact we could pull up to 588 W from it. Nice.

This happened because it uses a different internal project. Interesting enough the rectifiers used on the +5 V and +3.3 V outputs of the reviewed unit are “weaker” than the ones used on the 450 W model, but on the other hand the +12 V rectifiers are “stronger.” This change in our opinion was beneficial, as it better reflects the usage of a modern PC, where we pull more power/current from the +12 V outputs (since the CPU and the video cards are fed with +12 V).

Another thing Huntkey improved was the addition of the power supply real wattage on the power supply label, saying that this unit was labeled at 25° C and presenting the de-rating factor (1.2 W per Celsius degree). It should put this information on the box and on their website as well.

Voltage regulation was outstanding, with all voltages within 3% from their nominal values (except -12 V output during test one) – i.e., values closer to their “face value” than required, as the ATX12V specification allows voltages to be within 5% from their nominal values (10% for -12 V).

Noise and ripple levels were always very low.

The problem with this unit? Efficiency. It could achieve efficiency above 80% only while we pulled between 200 W and 300 W from it and therefore we can’t recommend it. But at least this model doesn’t offer any risk of use: if you bought one you don’t need to be afraid of this power supply being overloading components.