![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Thursday , July 12, 2007
- Author:
- Paul Johnson
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 750w
Cooler Master is synonymous with computer cases and has been moving up in reputation when it comes to power supplies to put in those cases. Is a the Real Power Pro 750w worth your hard earned dollars? We give this PSU the HardOCP grind and torture tests.
Build Quality
As we already know the Cooler Master Real Power Pro 750w features a single 120mm fan design that has come to be the preferred standard for quiet cooling environments due to the ability to move a larger volume of air at slower speeds than a smaller diameter fan. While great for quiet computing environments the key criteria in our evaluation is whether or not the cooling solution is sufficient, not necessary it’s sound level or form factor.
External Build Quality
The Cooler Master Real Power Pro 750w comes clad in an all black slightly mirrored finish. The finish on the Real Power Pro is not as mirrored as some other units on the market but it is glossy and attractive. The back of the unit has the basic power switch, no voltage selector as the unit is full range, and an LED that is the Worry Free Power Failure detector. On the front side of the Real Power Pro the cables lack a wire guard and are secured to the side of the power supply housing with a zip tie like we saw in the Ultra X-Pro 750w. Other than those features the unit is very basic having just the single 120mm fan covered by a screw down wire fan guard.
The cables provide a serviceable length of ~20 inches to the first (or only) connector and are sheathed in black mesh. The sheathing on these cables is nicer than seen on most and extends the full length of each cable as opposed to just to the first or only connector which is all too common with power supplies. Also on the PCI-Express cables we see the included bead cores at each PCI-Express connector that are supposed to reduce "noises." Overall the external build of the unit looks good except for the zip tying off of the cables to the housing and lack of wire guard. Why companies continue to not use a wire guard is a bit perplexing.
Internal Build Quality
Once the screws securing the fan housing are removed we are left looking at a very standard single 12v transformer power supply cooled by a 120mm overhead fan. The primary capacitor, which is in the center by the large transformer, is a single large OST capacitor, like we have seen on various FSP builds, rated at 560uF 400v 85c. The heatsinks flanking the primary capacitor are ribbed to increase surface area but aren't as wide as many of the ones we have seen paired with overhead fan designs. The fan charged with cooling this unit is a SuperRed fan rated at 0.26A at 12v. Cooler Master claims a 17dBa rating for this unit but the fan appears to be rated at 37dBA by SuperRed. So the unit’s noise profile will certainly be interesting to observe during testing.
The secondary of the Real Power Pro 750w is populated by Luminous Town Electric Co Ltd (Ltec) capacitors. This is the first time we have seen this brand of capacitors in our reviews but Ltec is a Chinese/Taiwanese capacitor manufacturer that has been around for some time and may be familiar to some readers. In the last couple of years however, they have ceased to be a completely independent company as Teapo has acquired controlling interest in the company. This is our first experience with Ltec so we will see how their capacitors do in our testing but our testing does not cover long-term issues that may arise.
Finally, on the secondary we have the wiring bundle exiting the housing unprotected but secured with a zip tie and the solder points for the 4 12v rails. Why the sheathing at a minimum is not extended into the housing or a plastic guard installed to protect the wiring is still a mystery but these very cheap protection methods are skipped by a number of companies.
Overall the build quality of the unit seems decent but not as good as we have seen before. Specifically, the component choices are hardly top shelf, the heatsink fan combination is interesting, and the continued lack of protection of the wiring exiting the housing is disappointing. At the same time Cooler Master/AcBel Polytech has sheathed the cables all the way to the connectors, included a rudimentary warning system, and installed Bead Cores for filtering on the cables leading to the PCI-Express connectors. The build quality is an interesting dichotomy.