Simbadda SB-380W Power Supply Review

First Look

Simbadda is an Indonesian brand, whose products are normally only available on the south-east Asian market. None of us here at Hardware Insights have had any experience with this brand before, and prior to being asked to review this power supply, I had never heard of them. I couldn’t find this company’s website or any reviews or other information about their products, so I really have no idea whether this will end in a Gold award, Fail award, or somewhere in between.

The Box

Box-Top_Box-Front

The same set of features is repeated on the front, top and back of the box.

  • Intel/AMD Support (I sure hope so. Every other power supply supports both Intel and AMD)
  • Gamers Support (It better have PCIe connectors, then)
  • Office Support (Again, how many power supplies don’t support office PCs?)
  • 20+4 pin (Just as well. All modern motherboards have 24 pin ATX Connectors)
  • 4x SATA (That’s enough for a lower wattage PSU like this, but an extra one or two wouldn’t hurt)

Box-Left_Box-Right

The sides repeat the same set of features we saw on the top. The load table on the right hand side tells us that we have 30A on the 5V rail and only 14A on the 12V rail. This design hasn’t been practical since the days of Socket A because all newer PCs have the power-hungry devices like the CPU and graphics powered by the 12V rail. It’s also incompatible with the cable configuration. If your PC is new enough to use SATA drives, it’s new enough to need more current on the 12V rail.

Box-Open

Upon opening the box, we can see that there is no foam or bubble wrap. Just a plastic bag. There are no accessories included either – not even a power cable.

The PSU

Simbadda-label_

The label confirms what the box tells us about the power distribution. The 5V rail is rated for over double the current of the 12V rail. The power supply’s casing has a grainy and unfinished look to it, which is about as ugly as it gets. This is an indication that this is an entry level product.

Cables

The connectors consist of a 20+4 pin ATX connector, a 4 pin ATX12V CPU connector, four SATA power connectors (like the box said four times), and two molex/peripheral connectors. There’s not a floppy drive connector to be seen. To be fair, though, few PCs have floppy drives these days, so this won’t worry most users. There are also no PCIe connectors. That comes as a bit of a shock, given that “Gamers Support” feature on the box. The wires are all a size thinner than the minimum recommended thickness. Even if you don’t draw enough current to melt them, this is another indication of a very low end product.

Front_Back

The front vent isn’t too bad in terms of it’s structure, but it doesn’t cover the whole front of the power supply like it does in most high end products with rear mounted fans. The rear grill, on the other hand is bad. It isn’t open enough to allow for really good airflow, and will somewhat reduce the fan’s performance. A wire grill should have been used here, as it would have allowed for considerably better airflow.

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