Enermax NAXN ADV 650-Watt 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply Review

Enermax's latest entry level power supply provides a decent power for those just starting out, but may not provide the best value if you're on a tight budget.

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Manufacturer: Enermax
7 minutes & 37 seconds read time

Introduction, Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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Enermax has always produced solid results for us and we've always been eager to test out anything new they've had to offer. Up until now, we've focused on most of their higher end products such as the Revolution87+, Platimax, and MaxREVO power supplies. This is due the massive amounts of power that have been required by enthusiasts since about 2005. Around that time we saw a massive shift in the power required by both CPU's and GPU's, and multi-GPU configurations were just starting to make their second debut after being lost with the Voodoo 2. This increased power requirements even more.

The last several years have brought those power requirements back down to a more respectable level and those should drop even more when Haswell comes along. My personal gaming rig currently consists of a Core-i7 3770K, Radeon 7970 and 16GB of RAM with a single SSD and a single platter drive for storage. Even under full load, I don't peak beyond 400W and I feel it is safe to bet that most single-GPU gamers don't either so long as the system was built in the last couple of years.

These reduced power requirements give gamers and entry level enthusiasts the ability to consider lower wattage power supplies like the new Enermax unit we've got on the bench today. The new NAXN ADV 650W power supply should more than fulfill the requirements of anyone utilizing a single GPU and as long as you're not using high-end GPUs, it should be able to handle a pair of them, too.

Let's move on to what it's made of on paper and take a deeper look in this unit from Enermax.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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The new Enermax NAXN ADV 650W power supply features a single 12V rail. It is rated for 50A of 600W of power. Both the 3.3V and 5V rails are rated for 20A each with maximum combined output of 120W. The 5VSB rail is rated for 2.5A or 12.5W, which is a bit lower than we are used to seeing, but should still be okay. Maximum combined output for the power supply is 650W.

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Moving on to the features list, we see that a few things are missing. This is to be expected with entry level units and what is lacking here is to be expected. The NAXN ADV 650W features SCP, OVP, OCP and OPP, but lacks OTP. The power supply features all native cables and none of them are sleeved. The upside to this is that ALL of the cables including the 20+4 pin Main are of the flat ribbon type and should be easily routed within the case. Enermax does not rate the NAXN ADV 650W for 100% continuous output at 50C, but does rate it at 40C instead. Again, this is to be expected with a more entry level unit. Finally, the power supple is rated for 80 PLUS Bronze efficiency.

Enermax lists the NAXN ADV 650W with an MSRP $99.99. This definitely puts the price higher than a large majority of the competition, especially for 80 PLUS Bronze rated units. Enermax says that the unit is available now, but we couldn't track down a unit for sale. I would expect that once a few places get it in stock that the price would be a bit lower than that thus adding some value to the unit and making it a bit more competitively priced, but that is pure speculation at this point. As far as the warranty for the NAXN ADV 650W is concerned, Enermax backs the unit by a three year warranty. This is generally a sign that we are going to see capacitors on the inside that we don't like to see, but we won't know until we crack the unit open.

Packaging

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The front of the packaging gives us little information other than the 80 PLUS rating and wattage of the unit.

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Moving to the back of the box, we find a list of features on the left side. Note that it only specifies the main capacitor is Japanese. This almost certainly confirms that we are going to find some Chinese or Taiwanese caps on the secondary side of the unit.

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Sliding over, we find that all of the cables are of the flat ribbon type. Also pictured is a Nippon Chemi-Con cap to illustrate the point even further that the main cap is Japanese.

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This side of the box gives us a decent list of connectors available with the three models of the NAXN ADV lineup, but doesn't give us cable quantities or length.

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The other side provides us with all of the I/O specifications for the NAXN ADV power supplies.

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Both the top and bottom of the unit lack any useful information.

Inside the Box

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Cracking open the box, we can see the packaging of the unit or lack thereof. Nevertheless, our unit arrived safely without any damage.

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The I/O specification label is present on the top of the power supply. Enermax uses their usual dark grey texturized finish on the NAXN ADV 650W.

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Both sides feature the NAXN ADV logo with it being inverted on the opposite side.

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The standard honeycomb mesh grill is present along with the AC input and on/off rocker switch. Also present is the ability to attach the included CableGuard to prevent the power cable from being unplugged accidentally.

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The front of the power supply is pretty bland as there are no modular cables here.

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The bottom of the unit houses the 120mm fan that provides active cooling for the power supply. Note that the case edges around the fan are rounded. Enermax has dubbed this as AirGuard, which is a "Patented air-inlet with optimal aero-dynamical design reduces noisy air turbulences."

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Pictured above are the natively wired cables, all of which are flat ribbon cables.

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Also included with the power supply is the user manual, AC input cord, four mounting screws and CableGuard.

Cabling Arrangement and A Look Inside

Cabling Arrangement

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The Enermax NAXN ADV 650W has a good selection of cables and connectors that should make sure you get the full use of the unit. The quad PCI-E connectors ensure that even entry level multi-GPU configurations are taken care of. Seven SATA connectors should take care of most storage solutions and for those in need, they can utilize the three Molex or single FDD connectors.

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Rail distribution is as simple as it gets with a single 12V rail. There is no need to worry about load balancing here.

A Look Inside

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As you can see from the unit, it could have been placed in a much smaller enclosure. Doing this would have required a smaller fan and increased noise from the unit and is probably a tradeoff that Enermax didn't want to make.

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As expected, a single Nippon Chemi-Con capacitor sits on the primary side of the power supply.

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The secondary side doesn't fare so well. Pictured above is a Chinese capacitor from Aishi.

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Pictured here are more Chinese capacitors from CapXon. Things could be worse as far as selection is concerned, but not by much.

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Rounding out images of the inside is a shot of the Yate Loon D12BH-12 fan that keeps everything nice and cool.

Test Results and Final Thoughts

Test Results

Our load tests utilize a couple of FAST ATE active load testers and a variety of other equipment such as an oscilloscope, power conditioner, temperature probe and a power consumption meter. You can read more about our standard testing approach here.

The tests performed are based around six conceivable setups that are out there and progressively load down the PSU up to the power supply's limits or 1000W, whichever comes first. Since our test equipment's limits are equal to that of the Enermax NAXN ADV 650W power supply, we can test it to the maximum.

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The above tests represent typical loads that we have measured from various systems and are meant to give a rough idea of where your computer might fall in line with our tests. Please keep in mind that each system is different and actual loads can vary greatly even with similar hardware.

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Let's start by taking a look at the voltages to see how well this unit did during testing. Starting with the 12V rail, we see 3% regulation from start to finish with a total drop of .28V. The 5V rail managed to stay within 3% of specification with a total drop of .14V from start to finish. Moving towards the 3.3V rail, we see that regulation was within 3% of specification with a total voltage drop of .11V.

DC Output quality for the NAXN 650W wasn't spectacular, but still well within specification. During Test 1, we saw 25mV of noise on our scope. When we increased the loads in Test 2, the ripple climbed to 36mV at around half load. During Test 4 under a load of 650W, the oscilloscope showed a maximum of 60mV on noise on the 12V rail.

The Enermax NAXN ADV 650W is rated for 80 PLUS Bronze efficiency. This means that the power supply must perform at 82%/85%/82% efficiency at 20%/50%/100% loads respectively. As you can see, the NAXN ADV 650W passed on our bench, and wasn't close to failing at any point.

Final Thoughts

Up to this point, every single unit that we've tested from Enermax has been a spectacular example of what to look for in a power supply. We've seen high efficiency, excellent voltage regulation, and superb DC output quality all done with great build quality inside and out. Their units have always been feature packed, but have put a bit of a strain on your wallet.

The NAXN ADV 650W power supply sits at the opposite end of the spectrum and is most certainly meant for more entry level gaming than the rest of their lineup. There are many tradeoffs for going with a lower end power supply like this and it starts with basic features like protections and modular cabling, but also ends with reduced build quality such as Chinese capacitors and smaller fans. These are what lead to the test results we've seen today.

The voltage regulation is a bit sloppier than we are used to seeing, but stayed within 3% across the board. DC output quality was also a bit ho-hum, especially at full load. At least the efficiency was spot on to what we expected, but even that isn't great, as it is only 80 PLUS Bronze in this day of Gold and Platinum rated units. Keep in mind though that all of the results we've seen today are well within specifications and presented no problems.

What really is the kicker is the MSRP that Enermax has on the unit. At an MSRP of $99, you'd think that the NAX ADV would be a great deal, but it just seems overpriced compared to the competition. We've taken looks at both the NZXT HALE82 N and Antec EA-650, both of which performed better and have more features for less money and the same wattage with the same or better build quality. Until Enermax makes the price more attractive for the unit or increases the build quality for the NAXN ADV, we see no reason to recommend the unit when there are cheaper options that perform better.

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Zac provides professional IT support by day, but plays the role of enthusiast by night. He's been building high-end custom computer for the nearly fifteen years and writing PC hardware reviews for the better part of a decade. Aside from computers, he also dabbles in quite a bit of home A/V equipment. Throughout the years, Zac has picked up an extensive knowledge of power circuitry and leverages this to provide the PSU reviews. When not found testing or writing, you can often find him speeding through the winding countryside on his motorcycle.

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