Arctic Cooling Fusion 550R PSU
2. Opening the box
The Arctic Fusion 550R PSU retails for about $79.95 (including VAT).
The main device as well as the other accessories are packed into a transparent plastic shell. The product has been certified by Nvidia and AMD/ATI for SLI and Crossfire configurations, according to the company. Arctic Cooling is offering a 3-year warranty for the PSU, although we would like to see a 5-year warranty as found in some other competitive PSUs.
The PSU is equipped with a single fan to keep the for cooling. At the same side and next to this fan you find the cables coming out from the device - an unusual design since the fan is typically placed at the bottom side of the device in majority of PSUs. Arctic Cooling claims that this design allows the fan to dissipate hot air more efficiently and its operation is less noisy.
The package includes a printed user manual, a power cord and four black mounting screws. The PSU has the typical dimensions for this category and should fit in any PC case, including small desktops or very basic tower designs.
The power supply has a matte black finish like most of the power supplies we have tested. The edges are rounded and the rear side has a honeycomb design keeping the internal temperature in low levels.
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The device has two +12V rails rated at 0-17Amps. The combined output is 408W.
The main power cable has 20+4 pins, meaning that the connectors are not bonded together. While this is handy for older motherboards, a single 24pin connector would offer easier installation . We would also like to see a 4+4 pin connector for the ATX, rather than the provided 4-pin connector.
The PSU is equipped with the Arctic Cooling F8 Pro 80mm fan, dynamically adjustable at 600~2000 RPM.
Below you can see all the available s connectors.
Connectors Included | # | Length (mm) |
---|---|---|
ATX 24 pin & 20 pin compatible |
x1 | 410 |
EPS/ATX12V 4 pin |
x1 | 410 |
PCI-E 6 pin |
x2 | 510 |
PCI-E 6+2 pin |
x2 | 580 |
SATA |
x6 | 880 |
4 pin Peripheral |
x3 | 580 |
Floppy |
x1 | 600 |
What we didn't like was the fact that both 20+4 and 4pin ATX cables are just 41cm long, making installation in high PC cases more difficult. We would also like to see more than the available three 4pin molex connectors. On the other hand, the sata cable is long enough and the available four PCI-e (2x 6-pin and 2x 6+2 pins) are enough to power the latest graphic setups.