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Appeared on: Thursday, February 11, 2010
Nexus RX-5300 PSU

1. Features, specifications

Nexus power supplies are designed to provide your PC stable and efficient power to guarantee perfect PC performance. The company claims that the new Nexus RX-5300 Modular Power Supply (530W) is the quietest in the market, while it remains ultra high efficient. Today we take a look in this new device.

 

- Features

Energy Efficient


The Nexus RX-5300 power supply is guaranteed to provide with over  82% efficiency. This means the power supply is using the power it is drawing from the wall outlet more efficient and less electricity is wasted. Obviously this is better for the environment and it saves you on your electricity bill! A more efficient power supply also results in a cooler power supply. So less cooling is needed allowing Nexus to o make the power supply even quieter.

Silence
By selecting each component Nexus aims at creating the best possible of mix of components to make the power supplies as silent as possible. The company tests the noise level  in a ISO-certified chamber for noise tests. It is important to know that the background noise in such a chamber is a little over 15 dB(A). These are the best possible conditions for these tests and hence you should always be aware when a manufacturer is claiming dB(A) values lower then 15 dB(A). Because how are they able to measure this?

Modular & Sleeved Cables
Messy cables interfere too much with the airflow inside a PC. The modular cable design allows you to only connect the connectors you really need. Plus all cables are sleeved with a black and white X-mesh for a clean look.

Active PC Circuit
Power Factor Correction (PFC) allows the power distribution system to operate at maximum efficiency. This does not so much influence your electricity bill but it will also reduce energy consumption at the side of the power provider. Active PFC is technically more complex then passive PFC and matches the overall high quality standard and reliability of this Nexus power supplies.

Full Range Automatic
This power supply can be used on 115VAC and 230VAC input power. Selection is automatically made no voltage selection has to be set. Just plug in and go.

2. A closer look

The retail price for the Nexus RX-5300 PSU is around ~$110 (including VAT), a competitive price for a PSU of the 530Watt category.

The PSU is aimed at dual VGA systems, so if you plan to add more graphics cards or many internal devices, you will probably need to consider of a more powerful PSU. The Nexus RX-5300 PSU is backed by a 3-year warranty.

The black-colored package is quite simple as you can see in the picture below.

Into the box everything is well arranged and carefully packaged:

The Nexus RX-5399 is equipped with a 135mm cooling fan, quite enough to produce just 15dBA of noise at 60% load. The black color of the fan matches the overall look of the device. The PSU is made of polished steel and its gray color make it look really nice. Nexus has followed a honeycomb design for the rear side of the PSU. This allows the produced hot air to easily escape the main unit, keeping the internal temperature low. Nexus has also rounded the edges of the device for easier handling:

The retail package includes the RX-5300 power supply unit, many cables and mounting screws. We would like to see a manual and a power cord included there as well:

The PSU has the typical dimensions for the category (150x86x158mm) and should fit into any PC cases, except from small desktop or very basic tower designs.

The length of the cables reach the 41cm, which is a fair length for midi cases. But if you are having a full tower PC case the cables you would find these cables a little short. All the cables are sleeved, a very good feature for modular PSUs:

.

A label provides information about the PSU's specifications and ratings:

 

Model No.
RX-5300
AC Input
  110V/240V
10A/5A
47/63Hz
DC Output +3.3V
+5V
+12V
 -12V +5VSB
Max Output Current 24A
24A
41A
 0.5A 2.5A
Max Combined Power
140W
492W
6W
12.5W
Total Power
511.5W

It's interesting to see that there is a single +12V rail with rated at 41A. This should be able to power modern systems with several storage devices and a medium-sized graphics cards installed without any problems.

Below you can see the modular interface of the PSU where you can connect the cables. As you can see there are two yellow PCI-express connectors but only one yellow cable has been included in the package.. a little bit strange don't you think?

Mounted on the main unit, the main power cables include the 20+4 pin main connector, a 6+2 pin PCI-e and a 8pin/4pin EPS/ATX12V power connector:

Below you can see all the modular cables available in the box:

Connectors Included #

ATX 24 pin & 20 pin compatible 		x1

EPS/ATX12V 4+4 pin 		x1

PCI-E 6 pin		 x1

PCI-E 6+2 pin 		x1

SATA 		x6

4 pin Peripheral 		x6

Floppy 		x2
3. Powering up the device

Which factors contribute to a quality power supply unit? Well, it should be able to perform as rated even under heavy loads and of course, it should offer reliability in time.

Though our measuring equipment is yet upgraded in order to offer hardware measurements for the provided outputs of the PSU, we have to compromise with simpler testing procedures, which however may lack accuracy.

We tried to give our system enough load either through extensive CPU+3D usage via 3D Mark Vantage and PC Mark Vantage. Our test PC was as follows:

All PSU ratings were monitored using the Everest Ultimate Edition v3.0 software. The following table lists the industry-wide specifications for DC Output Voltage Regulation.

 

After running both benchmarks, the monitored the outputs of the PSU in order to see how much they were 'stressed' under the heavy load. A summary of the results is available below:

Minimum
Maximum
+3.3 V
V
3,23
3,26
+5 V
V
4,86
4,94
+12 V
V
12,20
12,28

It looks like the PSU is capable of keeping the variation of voltage within the acceptable limits. The dual VGA setup seems to load the PSU a little bit more and we saw a 0.08V in the voltage measured at the +12V rail.

4. Final words

The Nexus RX-5300 is a power supply that aimed at entry-level users who need mainly need a quiet power solution During our tests, we saw that the 135mm fan was very silent indeed and in most cases you couldn't hear any noise at all coming from it. Nexus claims that the fan produces just 15dB(A) of noise at 60% load, which is very good for this category.

The retail price of the product is rather competitive, even we would like more juice for spending $110 in order to buy it.

The unit is well-built and look solid, without any fancy lighting or operation LED With a minimum efficiency of 82%, the device performs well and less electricity is wasted. In addition, its modular design helps you get rid of all this mesh with the cables hanging inside your PC case. It allows you to only connect the connectors you really need. Plus all cables are sleeved with a black and white X-mesh for a clean look. The cables are also properly shielded for extra safety and duration.

Our simple tests showed that the PSU's performance was stable enough even under dual GPU setups. A slight variation in the nominal value of the output voltage under full load should not be an issue for a PC PSU.

The Nexus RX-5300 is a well-designed product for entry-level users. It will just do the job, providing efficient power for you PC components and most importantly, it is affordable to most of you. Backed by a 3-year warranty, it will offer you worry-free operation for a long time. Definitely a 'Safe Buy' at least.

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