Chieftec PowerPlay Gold GPU-550FC

Power supply for gamers

The Chieftec PowerPlay Gold is a pretty fancy modular power supply from Chieftec, designed for powerful and not cheap gaming computers. It attracts interest with several unusual chips.

Efficiency 87%

Firstly, it contains Japanese capacitors Nichicon and Nippon Chemicon, which made it possible to reduce current ripples, implement protection mechanisms (there is protection against overvoltage, overcurrent and short circuit) and raise the efficiency of the model to an impressive 87% (certified 80+ Gold). Also on the PSU case there is a separate button for switching cooling modes. In one mode, the speed of the cooling fan will depend on the load, in the second, the cooler will switch to a semi-passive mode. If the load is below 30%, then the fan will not turn on, prolonging the life of the bearing and making the PSU completely silent.

550 W

The power of the main +12 volt line, from which the processor and video cards are powered, in the PowerPlay Gold GPU-650FC is 550 W, that is, 100 percent of the claimed total power. Another 55 W each with a current of 20 A is supplied through the +3.3 and +5 V lines (up to a total of 110 W), which serve to power the motherboard, drives and fans. In general, you can’t dig here, Chieftec turned out not to be the cheapest power supply, but it works out every penny.

Modular structure

In addition, I would like to praise the cable management. The cables here are removable (modular design) and very long. Even the ever-short 4 + 4-pin processor power cable turned out to be 70 cm against the standard 55 cm. Well, a set of power connectors allows you to easily connect everything you need (2 for a graphics card, 6 SATA, 3 Molex), there is even a Floppy connector , which is still needed, for example, to power some sound cards. A big plus is that all the wires are made in the form of a thin flat “noodle”, which is easier to twist or hide in the wire compartments of the case.