Cooler Master V700 700-Watt 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply Review (Page 5)

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 higher than that of the Cooler Master V700 700W power supply, we can test it to the maximum.

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.

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 1% regulation from start to finish with a total drop of .07V. The 5V rail managed to stay within 1% of specification with a total drop of .02V from start to finish. Moving towards the 3.3V rail, we see that regulation was within 1% of specification with a total voltage drop of .03V.

DC Output quality for the Cooler Master V700 700W was good and well within specifications. During Test 1, we saw 15mV of noise on our scope. When we increased the loads in Test 3, the ripple climbed to 28mV at a little over half load. During Test 5 under a load of 700W, the oscilloscope showed a maximum of 33mV on noise on the 12V rail.

The Cooler Master V700 700W is rated for 80 PLUS Gold efficiency. This means that the power supply must perform at 87%/90%/87% efficiency at 20%/50%/100% loads respectively. As you can see, V700 passed on our bench, and wasn't close to failing at any point.

Final Thoughts

The V700 is the third power supply in the V-series that we have looked at from Cooler Master. It is also the last one in the series for us to look at. Both the V1000 and V850 proved to be fantastic power supplies. Considering the V700 is built on the exact same platform the other two are built on, there is no reason that it shouldn't perform just as well as the other two in the series have.

That is exactly what has happened with the V700. The performance is spectacular and mildly better than what we've seen so far. The V700 has superior voltage regulation with all rails staying within 1%. Not too many units have ever been able to accomplish this.

The noise suppression on the 12V rail wasn't quite as good, but it is still what we consider very good and not something that we would ever even bat an eyelash at. The efficiency is even right where it is supposed to be for the Gold certification that it holds.

Sweetening the deal even more on this already great power supply is the price. It may have an MSRP of $159.99, but it can currently be had for $79.99 after rebates. With the incentives that Cooler Master is throwing around and the great performance from this unit, it is very clear that the V700 is going to be a favorite for many segments of the PC market as it is cheap enough for a budget PC yet strong enough for a most dual GPU gaming machines.

That is a hard combination to beat and I suspect that it will be for some time.