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Product:
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Mute Power MP-500 Power Supply |
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Price:
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$52 (CDN) / $47 (U.S)
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Supplied By:
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NMediaPC
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Author:
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clsGrinder
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Date:
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September 14th, 2006
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Rating:
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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A close-up of the PSU label clearly describes the unit’s power specifications and safety certifications. Next, we observe
the connector spider. There is a very limited number of connectors that come with this PSU. I suppose this re-enforces
the MP-500’s target market as a HTPC PSU; a limited number of components that get the job done while dissipating a
limited amount of noise and heat. If your idea of a HTPC is something with a huge array’s of hard drives, DVD drives and
a mountain of peripherals, this PSU may not be the right one for you.
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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The inside of the MP-500 is neatly packaged. The lightly finned aluminum sinks are small and don’t dominate the inside
of the power supply. Wiring is equally un-intrusive, allowing the fan to push quiet air across the whole surface of the
PCB with little to no impedance. A quick look at the 140mm fan tells us the manufacturer is Yateloon Electronics. This
.7A fan is rated to push 47 CFM at less than 25 dBA.
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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Testing:
The unit was tested on my humble Athlon XP system, a rig worthy of a homebrew starter HTPC:
- AMD Athlon XP 3200+ Barton (1.65 VCore)
- nVidia GeForce 6600GT AGP
- DFI NF2 Infinity Ultra Motherboard w/SoundStorm
- 1 GB OCZ Dual Chan PC-2700 RAM
- Seagate 80GB SATA hard drive
- Hauppauge 250 PVR
The following measurements were taken with MBM5
The values shown here are all within 5% tolerance, with an actual of 1% variance on all levels. A strong showing for a
PSU that has been folding @ home all week.
Observations:
While sound measuring equipment is a tad expensive, I hope you can trust the perspective of this humble reviewer. The
MP-500 is by far the quietest PSU I have ever laid my ears on. As inner case temperature reached the high 30’s, the
spin of the Seagate hard drive and CPU fan was all that you could hear. When the MP-500 was cold-plugged at the ATX
connector and left to run all by itself, you truly could not tell it was running from 3 feet away.
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Conclusion:
In the world of quiet, actively cooled power supplies, NMediaPC edges out the competition; by 2cm to be exact. The 140mm
fan is no gimmick, pushing real air with real silence while putting out the juice expected from a quality power supply.
There are sides to be taken with the MP-500 however. Some HTPC builders might welcome a power supply with a limited
number of connectors cluttering up the inside of their computer cases. Other HTPC builders may prefer a beefier rig in
their living room, with SLI, loads of hard-drives and power consuming peripherals. Keep in mind, there are Molex to SATA
hard drive converter plugs available, but the MP-500 only offer’s two natively. If this isn’t a problem I would
recommend you place the MP-500 on your short list as a viable power-supply for your silent HTPC. Overall I was pleased
with this unit and award a final rating of 8 out of 10.
If you have any questions regarding this review be sure to visit the NMedia Systems Inc
website for more information or discuss them in our forums.
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Pros:
- Extremely quiet
- Solid voltages
- Limited number of connectors
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Cons:
- No modular cable design
- Limited number of connectors
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