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MGE Magnum 500W


Date
: 09/1/05 – 05:38:03 AM

Author
:

Category
: Power Supplies

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
MGE Company – XGBOX.com

Price:
$119.95USD xgamerpc.com

MGE stands for Manufacturer of Great Electronics, kind of an odd name when you think about it. When MGE started out in 1990, they were just interested in creating structurally sound and fantastically manufactured computer cases. It was only after their superior cases became well known and popular through outstanding reviews that they decided to expand their stronghold to include electronics such as power supplies, heatsinks, CPU coolers and other system cooling solutions. Perhaps there was a little foresight into the future by the founders of MGE Company. MGE is now truly a manufacturer of great electronics but, along the way, they have not forgotten about their initial intent in manufacturing the best cases around.

On their website, MGE states 'MGE is committed to pushing the limits of high performance products'. Today we will be looking at one of those products, a product that is clearly high performance which pushes the limits with technological firsts. The MGE Magnum line of Power Supply Units boasts one of the first designs that effectively cools while generating little to no noise. They offer both a 500W and 600W true power output model and today we will be looking at the 500W version! I would also like to mention that MGE has just put down a lifetime warranty on all of their XG power supplies including the Magnum. That is quite impressive for a company to stand behind their products like that, not many will.

Page 2 : Specifications

There is very little info is to be found on the MGE web site but they do have this to say about the Magnum…

• SATA enabled
• Active PFC
• Dual 12v lines
• PCI Express
• Ultra Silent dBa
• High Performance Heatpipe Technology
• LCD Displays: Temperature, Wattage, and all 3 voltage lines!
• Voltage Activity Lights monitor your voltage activity
• Most advanced Airflow & Cooling design ever developed!
• 2mm super thick Anodized Aluminum Chassis
• Includes Two PCI-Express power connections & 24 Pin Connector
• External Radiator keeps the heat outside your system

  I pulled this list of specifications from the manual that was included in the package.
  Power Distribution Maximum Values:
  +3.3V: 25A
  +5V: 30A
  +12V1: 15A
  +12V2: 15A
  -12V: 0.5A
  -5Vsb: 2A

  +5v & +3.3v = 150W
  Total Continuous Output = 400W

  Over Voltage Protection:
  +12v1 & +12v2: 15.6v
  +5v: 7v
  +3.3v: 4.3v

  Magnetically Shielded Modular Cables Included:
  1-20/24pin ATX power: 20"
  1-4pin and 8pin power: 1st segment to 8pin 20.5" / 2nd segment to 4pin 9"
  1-double SATA power: 1st segment 20.5" / 2nd segment 9"
  1-double 4pin molex: 1st segment 20.5" / 2nd segment 9"
  2-double 4pin molex + floppy power: 1st segment to molex 20.5" / 2nd segment to molex 7" / 3rd segment to floppy 7"
  2-6pin pci-express: 20 3/4"

  *measurements were taken from the tip of the connectors

  
  Page 3 : Package
  

  With all products we review here <a href='' target='outside'>Overclockers Online</a>, we like to take a good look at the package that the product comes in. Some people may not value the package all that much and, understandably so, as what is inside is technically more important but, the package can be influential whether you know it or not. Now I don't want to get philosophical here, but as humans we are naturally drawn to products by their packaging. That said, this Magnum packaging is something all companies should be copying their playbooks from as it will positively influence sales figures.

  

  I don't think I have to say I am impressed by my statement given above, but I will…I am impressed. MGE has done a wonderful job of incorporating style, grace and information into the package of the Magnum. Nothing too elaborate with shiny metallic lettering or bubbled 3-d graphics, just a solid well thought out design that gives a good sense of the product inside, all the while providing any necessary information to help influence even the most technical of buyers.

  

  The overall look is of a brushed aluminum box that is accented by the screws around the edge presenting the illusion that the box is heavy duty and not just cardboard. The design is cohesive with the actual product inside and displays it quite well. You can also see here on the front of the box that MGE is not relying solely on the appearance to sell the Magnum. They have a complete, easy to read and understand, list of features displayed here. In the top right MGE proudly displays the CES award, for superior silence, the Magnum won in 2005 with its debut.

  

  Turning the box around to the backside just increases the amount of data in which we are able to view about the Magnum. There is a full list of specifications of what the Magnum is capable of and a chart explaining the power output at the various temperatures of operation. MGE is not going to hide anything about their products and this is evident here.

  

  Both ends of the box elaborate on the features listed on the front, showing images of the various features of the Magnum with brief descriptions just above them.

  

  As stated, more features are explained and illustrated on this end as well. MGE also proudly displays the XG and Magnum logos as well as the accompanying website address for their XG lineup of products. On all sides, the standard certificates MGE has attained are displayed as well.

  Overall the package and logo that MGE has developed is perfectly fitting for the type of product the Magnum is. When you pick up the package, the weight will surely surprise you and you get a good sense of the quality that has gone into the build. If I didn't know better, I would have thought I just received an industrial quality power tool in the mail and for a power supply, that is quite a compliment in my eyes. The quality of the package doesn't stop with the exterior as we will see once we get inside in the contents section.

  
  Page 4 : Contents
  

  Upon cracking the lid of the Magnum package, we are presented with the installation manual and another box just underneath.

  

  The manual is nice and thick and not only covers installation of the PSU, but also the various specifications and abilities of the Magnum. The manual is very in depth and does a good job explaining the various cables, connections and components of the Magnum. It also gets quite technical in explaining everything about the specifications as well as the protections built into the unit.

  

  The smaller box underneath the manual is where all the cables are located. It too uses the same brushed aluminum theme and keeps the interior of the package clean and tidy by housing all the cables and mounting hardware that comes with the Magnum. Once again, MGE has done a nice job with the packaging keeping everything neat and tidy.

  
  All contents are neatly placed in the box and ready for use without having to uncoil them or smooth out any kinks by being folded.
  

  In total there are eight cables that came with my sample to be used with the modular design of the Magnum…
  1-20/24pin ATX power cable
  1-4pin and 8pin power cable
  1-double SATA power cable
  1-double 4pin molex cable
  2-double 4pin molex + floppy power cables
  2-6pin pci-express cables

  
  These are the double 4pin molex and double SATA power cables. I thought I would show how they are strung together as all the cables are built like this. The cables with 3 connections on them just daisy chain the 3rd connection and are long enough to reach anywhere in the case.
  You may have noticed that all the connections have the ends exposed showing the metal sleeving that is underneath the plastic coating. This is simply because I received my pre-production sample before MGE had a solution for the boot issue they encountered in testing where some of the connections did not fit properly on all motherboards. It's nice to see a company looking to solve issues before mass production, not after. I was informed by MGE that the retail versions will have a boot to cover the exposed area seen above and will be fully compatible with all motherboards.
  
  This is the last of the contents of the box, four mounting screws and a power cable.
  We will now move on to the actual power supply.
  
  Once the box of cables is removed we see a nice thick layer of styrofoam protecting the goods inside.
  

  The thick layer of styrofoam, top and bottom, all the way around is plenty of protection. There is really no chance for damage to the Magnum with packaging as thick, tight, and secure as we see here. I could literally drop this box on the floor a half dozen times and the PSU inside would be just fine due to the stiff cardboard outside and thick styrofoam utilized inside.

  

  With the Magnum released from the clutches of the interior packaging, we can see just how nice and rugged this power supply really looks. The 2mm thick anodized aluminum speaks for itself in the style department, the cooling abilities will be seen in testing.

  

  The most obvious difference with the Magnum than many other power supplies you will find is this mini radiator sticking out the rear. I have taken a nice close up to show the fins of the radiator and, if you look closely, you will see the two heatpipes at the top that are bringing the heat from inside out to these cooling fins where the fresh air will sweep the heat away.

  

  Turning the unit around to look at the other ends shows us the connections of the modular design. They all came protected with the little black covers on them that just pull out. On the left is where the bank of indicator LEDs informing us of which rails are being used. There are also holes in the front plate to allow for air to flow through the unit. In fact, the entire body of the Magnum is ventilated except for the bottom, which is great!

  
  As you can see from the other photos and this one from above, every side as well as the top, have slots for fresh air to enter and pass through the body. This is what is providing the cooling for the Magnum.
  
  The underside is the only side that has a solid aluminum finish to it. The underside also has a sticker displaying the various standard certificates and specifications of the Magnum.
  

  When we open up the Magnum, the first thing to notice is the vast amount of copper located inside that is responsible for cooling the unit. In the description on the website, it states there is a single fan in here somewhere.

  

  Ahh, there it is at the front just behind the connections for the modular cables. This seems to make sense as it will make the air flow from the front out the rear. I removed both heatsinks on the top to get the info on the fan.

  

  The fan is an ADDA model number AD0812HS-C76, an 80x80x20mm 0.24A fan that utilizes a SLEEVE bearing according to the model number scheme on their website. This fan is also indicated as their normal model and not a low-noise one. If this fan is not low-noise then I think I better look into some of their low-noise fans as this one operates completely silently. I was unable to find the exact model number in the ADDA specifications sheet, but the rest of the 80x80x20mm AD0812HS models turn at 3010RPM pushing 27.3CFM and generate 31.4dB/A at the maximum RPM.

  
  The heatsinks are rather large and have a lot of fins.
  
  This is the heatsink with the two heatpipes that transfer the heat to the radiator hanging off the rear of the unit.
  

  With the end plate taken apart, we can see the backside of the LCD that displays the temperature and wattage being used by the power supply. Just above the LCD is actually where the temperature probe is located, you can see it hanging over the connection at the top. We also see that everything is packed into the Magnum nice and snug. On the left we get our first look at one of the capacitors the Magnum uses. The monster shown is a Rubycon 400W 85C 3000 working hour capacitor. Rubycon is a top quality Japanese capacitor maker in which their factories meet ISO9000/ISO9001/ISO14001 standards.

  

  The capacitors used for making sure the different rails are provided with clean power are supplied by CapXon. On the left you can barely see the KF marking on the one of many capacitors buried further in. On the CapXon website the KF series falls under the heading of 'high reliability type'. They are rated for operating temps of -40 to 105C and have a load life of 2000-3000 hours depending on the exact unit. I was unable to find any other markings to determine any more specifics about these capacitors.

  

  One last look from above as I start to put the Magnum back together in which we see the LEDs on the left that signal which rails are in use. I didn't want to tear the power supply down any further for fear of not being able to get it back together, after all, I still need to do some testing for this review. It is time to put everything back together and move on to installing the power supply into the test case.

  
  Page 5 : Installation
  

  Power supply installations are as straight forward as a video card. Remove the old unit and slide in the new one. The Magnum, however, isn't as straight forward, at least not for me. It got interesting real quick when installing in the first case I had, the Aspire X-Cruiser.

  

  You can see it is quite obvious that the radiator sticking out the back is what is causing the issue. The angled cut at the corners of the opening for the PSU are blocking the Magnum from being able to slide over for the holes to line up to secure the unit. MGE states on their website that this may be an issue…

  Please note that Magnum may not fit all cases. Check the size and compatibility of your cases power supply slot before purchasing.
  
  MGE provides a chart with the complete measurements of the Magnum that can be viewed here. The above is just a small portion that gives the dimensions around the radiator.
  The only other case I had available also had the corners angled around the PSU cut-out so it was time to head out to the shop and warm up the dremel. I did not want to start cutting into the Aspire case so I decided that my old reliable generic mid-tower would go under the knife and be used for the review. I completely forgot to take a before photo, but you can see by the after photo that there really wasn't much to remove. I just squared off the corners and then had to grind a little bit down along the top of where the radiator sits.
  

  Yes I know I did a bit of a hack job, but the grinding stone I would have preferred to use was MIA, I was forced to use a cut-off wheel and, I will be honest, I was anxious to get the Magnum up and running. Either way, it got the job done and the case is no worse for the wear. I will mention that the PSU is quite long. It ends up being about an inch and a half longer than the standard generic size PSU. The length of 7.2" (excluding the radiator) seems to be the standard size for most high-end PSUs these days though so it is no bigger than most high quality PSUs. This might come into play if you have a top exhaust vent with a fan mounted on the inside. This is another issue with the Aspire case that would have prevented me from having a fan up there as the fan is mounted on the inside of the case. The problem lies with the X-Cruiser, however, where that exhaust vent should have been moved forward to accommodate a power supply of the Magnums size as it is not alone at that length.

  

  In the mid-tower case I will be using for the review, you can see that my exhaust vent will actually assist in cooling the Magnum by sucking some air through the top vents and there is plenty of room for the fan to still do its job exhausting hot air from the case out the top.

  

  Those small issues aside, the Magnum mounts in the case quite well. Despite its size, weight, and lack of support offered by my case, it does not hang down much at all and stays tucked right up against the top of the case. The anodized aluminum looks fantastic in there and I can hardly wait to see how it performs. The last step is to plug in the cables required by my motherboard and devices.

  

  The 4 Pin molex connections used to plug in the auxiliary power cables makes it really easy to attach the cables with the Magnum already mounted in the case. The 24 Pin MB power connection and the 8 Pin CPU power connection both have clips to lock them securely in place and all the connections are nice and tight. The length and design of the cables really allow you a lot of freedom in how you want to wire the case.

  The one issue I never even thought of when going over the cables was the fact that there are only seven connections on the Magnum and we are provided with eight cables. This means that users with an SLI setup will be restricted to how many molex connections will be available to them as one cable will have to sit on the bench. In my test setup with 2-SATA drives, 2-ATA drives, 1-Floppy drive and 1-fan that requires a molex connection I would not be able to plug in the fan that requires a molex connection if I was running 2 PCI-E cards that required both 6 Pin connections. This is rather disappointing and I would like to be able to use all eight cables at the same time as a lot of people will require the full array of molex connections offered.

  
  Page 6 : Performance & Testing
  

  The first part of testing was to run the power supply hooked up to a motherboard with no other accessories or fans running, to judge it's noise and get the power-on readings for the graphs below. I hooked up the 4pin CPU power cable and the 24pin main power cables, turned on the Magnum and powered up the motherboard. Nothing happened, the PSU started giving me a volt and watt reading but it didn't make a sound. I thought that was weird so I turned off the power supply and plugged in the MB speaker to see what the problem was. When I powered it up again, I got 'no CPU' error beeps but the Magnum did not make a sound, complete silence. That's right, it is completely silent. Not 'almost quiet' with a hum you can barely hear or a very low air noise, completely silent. The fan is turning in there, just not making any noise. The fan is thermally controlled so I will be checking to see if it makes any noise when the power supply warms up and the fan speed increases.

  

  You can see the LCD lights up a nice blue and gives us a reading of temperature from the probe at the rear of the unit, total wattage being used and the voltage consumption on the 12v line. During testing the temperature never went over 40C and usually hung around the 37C mark. SpeedFan temperature readings did not get higher than 43C. Keep in mind that the PSU was secured in the case with no additional fans in the case running and the motherboard running on the floor beside the case. With the motherboard in the case, and the case fans running, in the past two weeks I have been running the Magnum I have yet to see the PSU temp in SpeedFan cross 43C even after being under load for a number of hours.

  The voltage reading here on the PSU stayed around 11.85v and would fluctuate up to 11.90v once in a while at idle and under load, but not go over. The manual states that this is a reading of the voltage consumption on the 12v line. It is fairly accurate but not the same as the readings I took at the connectors with a calibrated multimeter. The flucuation of .05v at idle and load makes it hard to trust it as 100% accurate and its readings were not used for the results shown below. The LCD display is a nice touch and may provide useful information to some but the fact that it is at the rear of the unit makes it more of a novelty than a useful tool.

  The following components were used for testing…

  Foxconn WinFast NF4SK8AA-8EKRS
  3000+ AMD64 Winchester @ 2430MHz (270*9) 1.64v
  VapoChill Micro CPU cooler
  2 x BFG 6600GTOC 128MB 525MHz core / 1050MHz memory in SLI
  2 x 512 OCZ PC3200 Premier Dual Channel @ 442MHz 1.7v
  2 x WD Raptor 10,000RPM 36.7GB in a RAID 0
  2 x Maxtor 7,200RPM 160GB 8MB cache (IDE)
  Ultra Fan Commander powering 7 fans drawing a total of 1.02A.
  Windows XP (32-bit Edition) SP2 + Latest Drivers

  Power Supply:

  MGE Magnum 500W

  To stress the system, Prime95 was utilized running at the same time as Futuremarks 3dMark05 in a continuous loop. These were run for 8 hours and I took a total of 4 readings randomly during that time. The readings were taken with a digital multimeter with 2 digit precision and averaged for the graphs below. After 8 hours under 100% load the two programs were stopped and the system was then idled for 8 hours. Once again 4 readings at random times were taken and averaged together for the graphs. Before testing I had this system running 20 hours a day for just over a week and not once encountered any instability or problems. During testing the system was stable as a rock. Here are the results from the testing period.

  
  
  
  

  There isn't really much to say other than the fact that this power supply provides the system with some incredibly stable voltages. I will also say that the most variation of any of the four readings I took that I averaged out either under load or at idle was .02v. That was on any connector, any rail. The largest variation between power-on, idle, or load, was .09v on the 4 Pin Auxiliary CPU connector. That is mighty impressive and the rest of the connectors only show an average of .02v or .03v difference between the 3 states of operation.

  During testing I was determined to catch the Magnum making some sort of noise. I decided about half way through the load testing that the only way to hear the fan would be to unplug all the fans that were running for a few seconds. The great cooling ability of the VapoChill Micro without its fan gave me the confidence to try it so I did. After about 4 hours of running Prime95 and 3DMark05 the Magnum still did not give the slightest hint of making any noise. You just cannot hear the fan at all. Also, the temperature of the Magnum does not fluctuate much at all. Upon booting up, the temperature climbs to 41C and levels off as read by SpeedFan. The highest SpeedFan has ever read the temperature is 43C. This tells us that the heatpipes and heatsinks do an incredible job of cooling the interior of the Magnum and are no where near reaching their maximum capabilities in my system.

  I will now finish up my review with final thoughts and more praise on the last page.

  
  Page 7 : Conclusion
  

  A true test of a power supply cannot be made in 2 weeks, it's just impossible. The true capabilities of a solid power supply will be seen 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years down the road. With that being said, this MGE Magnum is one heck of a power supply at the starting line in its life. I am almost looking forward to a year down the road when I check voltages again in the same manner to see how it performs. In the past two weeks, the Magnum has been perfect, doing everything I have asked of it without hearing so much as the slightest sound escape from it's aluminum shell.

  There are, however, a couple concerns with the inability to use all the provided cables in the modular design being the biggest. If you have an SLI setup and use video cards that require the use of both 6 pin connectors and run two SATA drives, you will be limited to two cables for molex connections. That means only four molex connections are available keeping in mind one of those will be needed for the additional power connection on nForce 4 motherboards. On the Foxconn board I used for testing, I had to run it across to the back of the motherboard and it left the second molex connection on the cable virtually useless. This could cause a major problem for some users. The other issue also deals with the modular design, but more with the cables. I found it difficult to use the cables provided and keep the case clean. I have a much easier time keeping the cable situation clean with the cable setup of standard PSUs. The inclusion of two cables with power leads for floppy drives is somewhat hard to understand. I mean, your lucky if there is a single floppy drive in most cases these days, let alone two. Having a third molex connection in place of one of those two floppy power connections would really alleviate almost any issues with the cables or amount of molex connections available.

  The performance of the Magnum speaks for itself, it feeds ridiculously stable voltages to the systems components and does so remaining remarkably cool. If you have a silent system and are looking for a silent power supply, look no further than the Magnum, it'll be hard to get any quieter than this. If you need a powerful power supply for your SLI gaming rig, look no further than the Magnum. It looks good, performs even better, and is very well priced to boot. Only time well tell just how good this power supply really is and with a lifetime warranty offered from MGE I am convinced it will continue to perform for a very long time.

  Advantages:

• Completely silent in operation
• Rock solid voltage readings
• Build quality is top notch
• Very cool operating temperature extending lifespan

  Disadvantages:

• Modular cable design is not perfect
• May not fit in every case

  Overcolockers Online would like to thank MGE for the opportunity to review the Magnum.