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nMedia Mute Power MP-400


Date
: 07/20/06 – 04:42:12 AM

Author
:

Category
: Power Supplies

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
nMedia System, Inc.

Price:
$54.99

The disease has claimed many victims already… The affected are usually seen purchasing high-end CPUs, graphics cards, memory, and even input devices. However, the defining symptom is the purchase of a low-end power supply. All joking aside, this is a serious problem with computer enthusiasts these days. After all, the power supply is the heart of the computer; it powers all the components and allows everything to run smoothly. It is as important, if not more important, than the CPU or even the motherboard! Therefore, choosing a strong PSU is very important to the smooth functioning of a computer.

So how do you pick a good PSU? You buy a trusted brand. So how do new companies earn your trust? They allow us to review their products.

nMedia has provided us with their
Mute Power 400W
power supply for this review. Will it be able to supply a power-hungry, overclocked PC with stable energy? Let's find out!

Page 2 : Package

The package is very elegantly designed, using green and black as the main colors.

This PSU belongs to the Mute Power series, emphasizing silence. The feature list begins with another claim of silence. What is interesting is that the MP-400 uses a huge 140mm fan, which should really provide great airflow at a low noise level.

Towards the bottom, we see "SHHH" as well as the model number. All in all, silence is something this power supply hopes to achieve.

Turning the package to the side, we see general features as found on almost all power supplies. It is one thing to list them and one thing to actually achieve the claims as many PSUs fail to do.

The other side is bland, only featuring the model name.

Looking at the back, we find more features as well as certifications and other technical information.

Let's now take a look at the specifications before opening up the package.

Page 3 : Specifications

A great deal of information on the MP-400 PSU can be found on nMedia's website.

Here's what nMedia has to say about the Mute Power series:

All in all, the PSU seems to be well-endowed in terms of the amperage provided by the rails. The dual 12V rails are a plus. Efficiency is also really great at over 80%, which is good for your electricity bill!

One thing I noticed was that the specifications say SLI-ready but there is only 1 6-pin PCI-E connector… that's kind of odd.

Anyway, let's check out the package contents.

Page 4 : Package Contents

Upon opening of the package, we see an instruction manual. Though rudimentary, at least nMedia included one; I can't say the same for many other companies who shall remain unnamed.

Below it, we find the power supply itself, wrapped in plastic, along with an 18AWG power cord.

Removing the plastic cover reveals the MP-400's highly reflective finish. Also, we can see that the 24-pin power connector is sleeved.

There are ample connectors. These include the 24-pin (20+4) connector, the 4-pin connector, two SATA connectors, seven Molex peripheral connectors, a floppy connector, and one PCI-Express connector.

Altogether, there should be more than enough connectors for all your devices. Also, the cables are quite long for those with large cases.

The exterior is well polished and is somewhat reflective. The large 140mm fan is the main feature of the top, taking up most of the room. One side features that familiar sticker with PSU specifications.

The back of the PSU has a honeycomb grill to allow optimal airflow.

Opening up the power supply allows access to the fan and the interior.

The 140mm 12V fan, made by Yate Loon Electronics, consumes 0.70A of current and uses 8.4W of power.

Beneath the fan lie the PSU's main components.

There are high-quality components inside. Two medium-sized heatsinks also make their presence. nMedia has used Teapo capacitors.

Time to install this beast.

Page 5 : Installation

There were no problems in installing this PSU. Though I will be testing this PSU on the bench, I wanted to see whether it would install in my Aspire X-Dreamer II case.

It fit perfectly as expected of a normal ATX-sized PSU. The cables are long enough to reach even the lowest drive bays.

Page 6 : Performance

The test setup will consist of the following:

All voltages will be measured with a digital multimeter under three different conditions: power-on, idle, and load. Power-on conditions denote just the PSU turned on with a paperclip, not connected to anything. The idle conditions denote the PC on and no programs running for at least 3 hours before measurement. The load conditions denote the PC on and running StressPrime 2004 in blend mode, the Windows Defragmenter running, and 3DMark2001 SE running for at least 2 hours before the measurement. Ambient temperature was kept at approximately 26°C. Results are the averages of three measurements done over a period of one week: one at first power-on, second during the 3th day, and the last on the seventh day. The PSU was under stress most of the time running the load conditions unless preparing for idle or power-on measurements.

All in all, the voltages remained constant over the week of arduous stress; they also stayed well within the 5% tolerance limits. It looks like we've got a nice, solid, quality power supply on our hands. I have had power supplies in the past stop working after maybe a few hours of stress but not this one.

Page 7 : Conclusion

The nMedia Mute Power MP-400 power supply performed exceptionally well.

Although only a 400W version, it should be fine for a decent low-end to mid-range system. For the higher-end PCs, nMedia offers the more powerful 500W version of the Mute Power.

The beautifully finished MP-400 demonstrated great resilience throughout the week-long test and kept the voltages well within range.

If there is one shortcoming, it would have to be the fact that the MP-400 is not modular. It has a large number of long cables which could really benefit from being modular.

Also, note that nMedia advertises the MP-400 as being SLI-ready even though there is only one 6-pin PCI-E plug. I'm not sure what the reason is because they list both the SLI-ready tag and the fact that there is only one 6-pin PCI-E plug; I would have to assume that not all video cards, SLI or not, require a 6-pin PCI-E power source such as in the case of my GeForce 7600GT. As people always say: caveat emptor.

These minor shortcomings aside, I believe the nMedia MP-400 is a solid power supply which will further nMedia's name as a major player in the power supply market.

So, the next time you're out shopping for a new power supply and you're perusing your list containing the likes of Antec, Fortron, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling, Silverstone, and OCZ, add nMedia to your list.

Advantages:

Stable, reliable power
Great finish
Lots of connectors
Quiet – almost dead silent

Disadvantages:

Not modular
Where's the second PCI-E connector?

Thanks to nMedia PC for providing the MP-400 to make this review possible!