Aywun Megapower Elite 550W Review

[c_hegge]

http://hardwareinsights.com/aywun-me ... ly-review/

[c_hegge]

A bit of research into 80plus's testing methodology releals that they may never have actually tested this power supply. This product is supposedly a re-badged one of these (a High Power HP550-G14S), but 80plus doesn't re-test re-branded products. Instead, they just modify the report of the original one. I suspect that this may not really be identical to the HP550-G14S.

[shovenose]

That's kind of a fail. So it is or is it not 80 plus certified?

[c_hegge]

It is certified by 80plus, but 80plus certified it without testing it.

[mAJORD]

I can tell you how it has 80+ Certification... Because they have lied to Ecova! Simple

Coincidently I was also looking at this supply recently, and found the same thing.

If you do a staticice search for this supply, you'll find (possibly due to a slipup from Aywun in their documentaiton to distributors), the product code " HPC-400-H14S " attached to this product

Same applies to the 650 and 750W models ( HPC-500 and 600 respectivly)

So basically, this is a rebadged 400W High Power unit. A model that's NOT 80Plus certified.

As you discovered though, Aywun are fraudlently claiming this unit to be a HP550-G14S. this is actually the same unit as the OCZ Fat1ality 550. However If you go check reviews of the OCZ, you'll see it's a completely different platform.

This IMO completley throws ECOVA's new testing system into doubt. and I would not be putting any confidence into supplies that havent been tested.

Incidently they also claim 80+ Certification for the Elite 450W. However it doesn't even have a listing at all on the 80+ site. When I emailed them about this, they told me they had just sent a unit for testing and it wasn't up yet.

This was a few months ago. and it's still not there.

Don't worry though, the response is most likely bullshit, and It wouldn't pass anyway... The 450W unit isn't even Foward switching, despite the claim on the box!

BTW these Elite's are 240V only, which I am assuming is why the input Capacitors , and primary switching FET(s) are so small, even for their lower-than-labelled rating. I would hazard a guess Aywun have requested this from Sirfa to save cost as their market is stictly 240v countries only.

[c_hegge]

I can tell you how it has 80+ Certification... Because they have lied to Ecova! Simple

Coincidently I was also looking at this supply recently, and found the same thing.

If you do a staticice search for this supply, you'll find (possibly due to a slipup from Aywun in their documentaiton to distributors), the product code " HPC-400-H14S " attached to this product

Same applies to the 650 and 750W models ( HPC-500 and 600 respectivly)

So basically, this is a rebadged 400W High Power unit. A model that's NOT 80Plus certified.

Thank you for the information. I had a feeling that this may have been the case. That model number only serves to confirm this.

This IMO completley throws ECOVA's new testing system into doubt. And I would not be putting any confidence into supplies that havent been tested.

I agree. I do feel that this is a serious loophole in their testing methodology. Even if they don't test them, they should at least have a peak inside them to confim that they really are identical to the model the manufacturer claims them to be.

Incidently they also claim 80+ Certification for the Elite 450W. However it doesn't even have a listing at all on the 80+ site. When I emailed them about this, they told me they had just sent a unit for testing and it wasn't up yet.

This was a few months ago. and it's still not there.

It seems to be there now (although I'm sure it's probably a similar story to the 550W)

http://www.plugloadsolutions.com/psu_re ... Report.pdf

BTW these Elite's are 240V only, which I am assuming is why the input Capacitors , and primary switching FET(s) are so small, even for their lower-than-labelled rating. I would hazard a guess Aywun have requested this from Sirfa to save cost as their market is stictly 240V countries only.

I know. Using 230-240V does allow for smaller PFC components, and so it didn't blow the PFC transistor, but it would prevent it from getting 80plus certification, because Ecova test them at 115V. This was another thing that made me suspicious about the 80plus certification.

[mAJORD]

Not sure how I missed the 450 on the site. Maybe it just appered

Anyway, yes, I would say the same story again. I'll post some pictures of it's internals later but you'll see it's an old half-bridge converter design. And I failed to mentioned before that during some brief testing it blew up while passing through 25A on the 12A rail. (Scared the shit out of me)

Again searching reveals Aywun have been refering to the OEM part no on this supply: HPC-300- N14S. A 300W unit, not 80+ certifed either.


Perhaps this evidence would remove doubt from Gabriel's Mind in this article (second last paragraph)

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/ ... tion/856/2

[c_hegge]

If you could get some shots of the internals, that would be excellent. I am considering reviewing a few more MegaPowers in the future. For obvious reasons, though, Aywun aren't going to supply review samples, so I will have to source them myself.

[c_hegge]

This information, as well as some higher res internal shots of the Awyun, has been passed on to Ecova, who, I believe, are looking into this. It turns out, that Gabriel (Hardware Secrets) has seen this kind of thing also, with a South American brand called C3Tech.

[mAJORD]

Great. Will be interesting to see what comes out of it.

Not the best pictures sorry, but all I had on the cam.

Aywun Elite "450W"

As you can probably see (especially if you trace the input) it's a half bridge topology.. just permantly