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Hairong ATX-430WA
Hair Wrong eh? It looks like someone wasn’t wearing the right wig when they chose a company name. Bad jokes aside, I’m not the first one to test a Hairong unit. Oklahoma Wolf tested a Hairong ATX-480W unit over at JonnyGuru. The unit there was, well, what you’d expect from a cheap and nasty unit. The voltage regulation was poor, the efficiency was low, 289W was all he got out of it, and the label suggested that someone at Hairong failed miserably at mathematics. Will my unit do any better? Let’s find out.
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My unit has the same poor maths skills evident on the label. The ratings on the rails add up to only 304.5W, not 430W, although the 430 in the model name may not necessarily indicate a 430W rating. It’s a clever tactic some companies use to get away with over-rating their products. In any case, though, it will be treated as a 430W unit during the load testing.
Load Testing
Test 1 (118.96W Load – Cold)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V | 4.86A | 12.16V | 32.4mV |
| 5V | 5.12A | 5.12V | 23.2mV |
| 3.3V | 10.09A | 3.33V | 21.2mV |
| −12V | 0A | −12.09V | 10.2mV |
| 5Vsb | 0A | 5.12V | 7.0mV |
| AC Power | 149.76W | ||
| Efficiency | 79.43% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.6 | ||
Test 2 (203.11W Load – Cold)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V | 9.72A | 12.15V | 62.4mV |
| 5V | 10.16A | 5.08V | 33.0mV |
| 3.3V | 10.06A | 3.32V | 23.6mV |
| −12V | -0.1A | −12.21V | 30.4mV |
| 5Vsb | 1.01A | 5.06V | 12.4mV |
| AC Power | 260.38W | ||
| Efficiency | 78.00% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.58 | ||
Test 3 (258.22W Load – Cold)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V | 14.4A | 12.00V | 79.2mV |
| 5V | 10.2A | 5.1V | 39.4mV |
| 3.3V | 10.06A | 3.32V | 25.2mV |
| −12V | 0.1A | −12.41V | 41.2mV |
| 5Vsb | 1A | 5.05V | 11.6mV |
| AC Power | 334.34W | ||
| Efficiency | 77.23% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.58 | ||
Test 4 (314.25W Load – Cold)
| Rail | Load | Voltage | Ripple |
| 12V | 16.97A | 12.12V | 107.8mV |
| 5V | 15.06A | 5.02V | 48.0mV |
| 3.3V | 10.00A | 3.30V | 28.8mV |
| −12V | 0.11A | −12.86V | 62.2mV |
| 5Vsb | 1.01A | 5.04V | 12.0mV |
| AC Power | 424.57W | ||
| Efficiency | 74.02% | ||
| Power Factor | 0.58 | ||
Even if the maths on the label wasn’t much better than Oklahoma Wolf’s unit, the test results were. The voltages did actually stay well within spec throughout the testing. The efficiency was also better, but that’s to be expected here in Australia, although even here, the efficiency never reached 80 %, so it’s still poor. The ripple was in spec, but not by a large margin during Test 4. Several minutes into Test 4, the power draw suddenly skyrocketed. It hit about 460W (about 68% efficiency) and then the unit went kaboom.
| Rail | Test 3 (258.22W) | Test 4 (314.25W) |
| 12V |  |
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| 5V |  |
 |
| 3.3V |  |
 |
| −12V |  |
 |
| 5Vsb |  |
 |
A Look Inside
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I’ve seen worse, but I’ve seen better too. Like the previous unit in this roundup, the input filtering consists of two common-mode chokes, two X capacitors, three 2kV ceramic capacitors (one of which is after the rectifier) and two MOVs. The two primary capacitors are 470μF parts from Canicon, another company known for making unreliable parts. The two switching transistors are AUK semiconductors STD13007s. Note how the plastic insulation washers are melted. This would have allowed them to come away from the heat sink slightly, which is probably what caused them to explode. Again, we have the four diode treatment as opposed to a bridge rectifier, although they are 3A in this case.
On the secondary side, the rectifiers are all from Mospec. The 12V rail uses an F16C20C fast recovery rectifier rated at 16A, the 5V rail uses an S20C40C schottky rectifier rated at 20A, and the 3.3V rail uses an S16C40C schottky rectifier rated at 16A – which is insufficient for a rail which is supposed to be able to deliver 20A. The capacitors are a grab-bag of Seacon, CEC-ECAP, and Canicon. The 12V and 5V rails have no output filtering coils, which explains why their ripple was barely in spec.
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The fan is branded Master Electronic Corporation. It’s wired directly to the 12V output as this unit lacks a fan speed controller, and I can tell you, it was loud. The heat sinks are so small, though, that even if there was a fan controller, it would probably run the fan at close to maximum speed anyway. Note the burn mark near the switching transistors in the above right picture
Actual specifications
| Real Wattage | 260W |
| OEM | Megapax Electronics |
| PFC | None |
| Price | Unknown |
| ATX Connector type | 20+4 pin |
| Worst-case voltage regulation (12v, 5v, 3.3v) | 1.3%, 2.0%, 0.9% |
| Worst-case ripple (12v, 5v, 3.3v) | 107.8mV, 48.0mV, 28.8mV |
| Worst-case efficiency | 74.02% |
| Input filtering | Adequate |
| CPU Connector | ATX12v (4 pin) |
| PCIe Connectors | None |
| Molex (Peripheral) Connectors | 4 |
| FDD Power connectors | 2 |
| SATA Power connectors | None |
Conclusions
Pros: Good voltage regulation, adequate input filtering
Cons: Explodes at only 315W, not enough connectors, low quality capacitors and fan, noisy, low efficiency, small heat sinks, average ripple suppression
Bottom Line: The performance is average at best, it makes a lot of noise, has no SATA connectors, and uses low quality internal parts.
Score: 3.5/10
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