Jou Jye's Dual Link Power Supply Feature Examined

We take a good look at Jou Jye's built-in dual PSU feature to see if it's a viable option.

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: Jou Jye Computer
3 minutes & 44 seconds read time

Introduction, Compatible PSU's and Hardware Required

Introduction

Jou Jye's Dual Link Power Supply Feature Examined 01

Our last PSU review took an in depth look at the performance of the Jou Jye BW-B620JL power supply. Many of our readers probably wanted to learn a bit more about the linking feature that allows multiple Jou Jye PSU's to be linked together.

Jou Jye claims that a user is able to link two of these out of the box and then able to link a total of seven power supplies with some additional hardware offered by the company. Today we are going to take a deeper look at this feature and see if it is really all that it is cracked up to be.

Compatible PSU's and Additional Hardware

Jou Jye currently has three power supplies available that can be linked together. These are the BW-B430JL, BW-B520JL and BW-B620JL. When linked in a pair, this gives you a maximum total wattage of 1240W. This isn't too impressive considering there are single PSU solutions that are readily available and deliver more power than this. Factor in the approximate cost of two BW-B620JL PSU's and they are around the same price as well ($250).

Jou Jye's Dual Link Power Supply Feature Examined 02

Linking the two power supplies is achieved via the included Multi-Link Cable (MLC). Jou Jye includes one of these with each of their power supplies.

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Jou Jye includes a special connector on the 20+4 pin main connector. The MLC goes in line with this connector when you want to use multiple PSU's to power a single system and joins the second power supply in the same manner.

Jou Jye's Dual Link Power Supply Feature Examined 04

The real purpose of Jou Jye's linked PSU technology is to achieve a total wattage output of more than 1500W which is roughly the current limitation of a single PSU. In order to do this, Jou Jye has the BW-MLD. This stands for the Multi-Link Driver Board and must be purchased separately.

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In order to use the BW-MLD, you are also required to have one PLC-3P Multi-Function Cable (MFC) for each power supply. These are not included with each power supply and must be purchased separately as well.

Limitations, Installation and Setup & Final Thoughts

Limitations

Just as you would expect, there are some limitations to using multiple power supplies. The one thing that most think about when they find out that you can put multiple PSU's in a single system is to have them power on and off with a single switch on the case. This isn't possible due to how the PSU is turned off and the complications it would cause with both systems. Simply put, you will have a 20+4 pin connector just hanging loose in the system with no use. It is too bad that these power supplies are not fully modular so that you could alleviate this problem.

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Another limitation that you are going to find is something we mentioned in our review on the single BW-B620JL PSU. Even with dual 620W power supplies, you are still only going to have enough power connectors for dual GPU's. This is yet another reason that modular connectors would be nice as you could pick and choose what cables you'd like on the system.

The chart above shows a list of what connectors are available when using two 620W PSU's.

Installation and Setup

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We decided to use the Cooler Master ATCS 840 chassis for testing out our dual PSU setup as it was designed for this out of the box. Installing the dual power supplies was easy as could be and within minutes we had one installed at the bottom of the tower and one at the top.

Jou Jye's Dual Link Power Supply Feature Examined 08

Linking the two power supplies was just as easy as you'd expect. One end of the MLC cable goes in line with the first PSU and the other end of it goes in line with the second PSU. That's all there is to it and you're ready to go.

We had no issues using our second power supply to power a second GPU and our drives while using the first to power the first GPU and motherboard. We did however have a ton of extra cables and connectors to hide, just as we expected.

Final Thoughts

The concept of utilizing multiple power supplies isn't new, especially to enthusiasts. One of the reasons that there are such high wattage power supplies on the market is to alleviate the need for DIY solutions for additional power in a single system. This still isn't enough for some and it is nice to see a manufacturer supported (and built-in) solution for this. It is something that many have wanted to see for many years and it is quite apparent that the solution is incredibly simple and easy.

While we give Jou Jye big props for bringing this solution to the market, it seems that they should have put a lot more thought into what PSU's they utilized it on and the specific features of these PSU's. As it stands, their dual PSU solution just isn't viable. It is too cost prohibitive when there are already better single PSU solutions available for the same price with better efficiency and better connector availability.

Hopefully Jou Jye expands their line of PSU's relatively soon and this could easily change. Add an 800W and 1000W PSU with full modular cables to the line and you've got a much better solution for a wider audience. Until then, Jou Jye's dual PSU solution is little more than overpriced bling, albeit functional.

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