Huntkey V-Power 550 W Power Supply Review
Load Tests
Contents
We conducted several tests with this power supply, as described in the article Hardware Secrets Power Supply Test Methodology.
First we tested this power supply with five different load patterns, trying to pull around 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% of its labeled maximum capacity (actual percentage used listed under “% Max Load”), watching how the reviewed unit behaved under each load. In the table below we list the load patterns we used and the results for each load.
If you add all the power listed for each test, you may find a different value than what is posted under “Total” below. Since each output can vary slightly (e.g., the +5 V output working at +5.10 V), the actual total amount of power being delivered is slightly different than the calculated value. On the “Total” row we are using the real amount of power being delivered, as measured by our load tester.
+12V1 and +12V2 are the two independent +12V inputs from our load tester and during out tests the +12V1 input was connected to the power supply +12V1 rail (main motherboard cable, peripheral power connectors and video card auxiliary power connector), while the +12V2 input was connected to the power supply +12V2 rail (EPS12V connector). Thus on this review+12V1 and +12V2 really represent the power supply rails with the same name.
Here we used the exact same configuration we used with Huntkey Green Star 550 W, where we pulled less power from the +12 V outputs during the 550 W test (test number five) than we’d like to just in case this power supply couldn’t handle too much power on its +12 V outputs. Usually what we do in our tests is if the unit survives this load configuration then we make a second full load test pulling more power from +12 V and less from +5 V and +3.3 V.
| Input | Test 1 | Test 2 | Test 3 | Test 4 | Test 5 |
| +12V1 | 4 A (48 W) | 8 A (96 W) | 12 A (144 W) | 16 A (192 W) | 16 A (192 W) |
| +12V2 | 4 A (48 W) | 8 A (96 W) | 12 A (144 W) | 16 A (192 W) | 18 A (216 W) |
| +5V | 1 A (5 W) | 2 A (10 W) | 4 A (20 W) | 5 A (25 W) | 15 A (75 W) |
| +3.3 V | 1 A (3.3 W) | 2 A (6.6 W) | 4 A (13.2 W) | 5 A (16.5 W) | 15 A (49.5 W) |
| +5VSB | 1 A (5 W) | 1 A (5 W) | 1 A (5 W) | 1.5 A (7.5 W) | 2 A (10 W) |
| -12 V | 0.5 A (6 W) | 0.5 A (6 W) | 0.5 A (6 W) | 0.5 A (6 W) | 0.8 A (9.6 W) |
| Total | 113.6 W | 215.8 W | 325.9 W | 427.3 W | 531.9 W |
| % Max Load | 20.8% | 39.6% | 59.9% | 78.9% | 96.7% |
| Room Temp. | 47.1° C | 47.9° C | 46.2° C | 46.0° C | 46.0° C |
| PSU Temp. | 45.9° C | 47.6° C | 46.6° C | 46.3° C | 46.3° C |
| Voltage Stability | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Fail |
| Ripple and Noise | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Fail |
| AC Power | 142.6 W | 266.5 W | 417.0 W | 578.0 W | Fail |
| Efficiency | 80.4% | 81.7% | 79.0% | 75.1% | Fail |
| AC Voltage | 113.5 V | 111.3 V | 111.1 V | 108.2 V | Fail |
| Power Factor | 0.600 | 0.653 | 0.695 | 0.715 | Fail |
| Final Result | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Fail |
This power supply burned when we tried to pull 550 W from it (test number five), just like it happened with Green Star 550 W. After all, they are the same power supply with different labels. This time there was no explosion, though. After 45 seconds on test five we heard a loud low-frequency hum and the fuses from our load tester blew. After disassembling the power supply we tested all components and the two switching transistors were burned, just like it happened with all other power supplies from Green Star series when we tried to pull its labeled power.
Efficiency was above 80% only when we pulled up to 40% from its labeled power (i.e., up to 220 W). During test four electrical noise on +12V1 rail was very high (105.6 mV), but still inside the 120 mV limit. All other outputs presented low noise level (54.2 mV on +12V2, 23.8 mV on +5 V and 17.6 mV on +3.3 V) during the same test.
Power factor was low since this unit does not have a power factor correction (PFC) circuit. Units with active PFC present a power factor of at least 0.98.