Introduction

We would like to thank CaseKing.de for supplying the HM Series review sample.



It seems that many traditional memory manufacturers (and other companies) lately decided to follow Corsair’s and OCZ’s steps to enter the PSU market with interesting new products. This, of course, is a very good thing for all consumers out there because as the competition gets tougher prices drop quickly, performance and quality go up and the consumer has a larger choice of products.

ADATA chose wisely to pick Channel Well Technology (CWT) as the OEM of their HM series PSUs. CWT has huge experience and manufactured many high quality units for a variety of major companies (like Corsair for example). The HM series consists of five PSUs with capacities spanning from 550W to 1200W. Today we will test/torture an HM-650. This PSU, as you already figured out from its model number, has 650W capacity, features a semi-modular cabling system, is 80 PLUS Bronze certified and uses a special scratch resistant paint for its case. In addition it is equipped with a ball-bearing fan with LED lighting and all of its capacitors are Japan-made, something that ensures high reliability and increased life span.

Specifications

Five years warranty, LED lighting and ball bearing fan, full set of protections and a good price are very good ingredients for a successful product. If the performance is on par with the above then HM-650 will have no problem at all dealing with the tough competition in its category.


The PSU features a single +12V rail with 53A max, a power level very near to the total max power of the unit. This is a strong indication that DC-DC converters are utilized for the minor rails generation, something that has a positive affect on efficiency. Finally, the 5VSB rail is a little stronger than the average for this category, with 3A capacity.

Cables & Connectors, Power Distribution

All cables are long enough and the distance among the connectors is sufficient. The hardwired cables are only three, with all others being modular. Each PCIe connector uses a separate cable and on the modular panel there are four PCIe sockets, so if you buy two more modular cables then you will have four PCIe connectors in total. However the 650W capacity poses a limiting factor here for high-end VGAs. Regarding the SATA and peripheral connectors we would like to see two more in each category, meaning eight SATA and six peripheral connectors, since especially the SATA ones draw very little power each. Finally, the 24 pin ATX connector uses thicker 16 AWG wires while all other connectors use 18 AWG, which is the recommended wire size by ATX spec.

Since this PSU features a single +12V rail we do not have anything to comment about its power distribution.