Nzxt e650 review in Spanish (complete analysis)

NZXT is a well-known name in the Hardware market, but not everyone knows that they have a presence beyond boxes and refrigeration products. In addition to various accessories, the Californian brand sells motherboards and power supplies.

Today we will show you its latest bet in the source market, its E range with great promises of quality and reliability and which stands out for its interesting digital monitoring system and more. Ready to get to know her thoroughly? Let's go there!

We thank NZXT for the trust placed in sending this product for analysis.

Technical Specifications NZXT E650

External analysis

The exterior of the box shows us an image of the protagonist and her most important characteristic: "Digital". Now we will see what it means.

On the back, we have a summary of what NZXT wants for this range in 3 words: “ SILENT. INTELLIGENT. RELIABLE . " Then we will see if they comply;).

Among the most important characteristics of the source, we have the ability to monitor consumption and control parameters such as fan speed or OCP protection using CAM software. That is what this is a 'digital' source, because implementing this system implies the use of advanced digital chips.

Of course, it is not a 100% digital design, but on top of an 'analog' interior source the digital monitoring characteristics are added.

When opening the box we see that the source is very well protected, thanks to the use of a fairly thick foam. We also get a case with a very interesting appearance…

The contents of the box are the source itself, its manual, and inside the case we have all the necessary wiring (including power) and hardware. Some flange is missing, but it is no drama.

We now turn to analyze the external appearance of this NZXT E650. Rather, to enjoy it, since the aesthetic is undoubtedly well cared for, with a design that does not risk mixing strange colors or extravagant shapes, but manages to stand out thanks to the minimalism that characterizes the brand, with the interesting curved touch of the chassis.

The fan grill is somewhat restrictive, but sufficient for air flow.

We have a perfectly used front, contrary to what happens in other power supplies.

As expected, this is a fully modular source, meaning we will only connect cables that are strictly necessary. The indication ' do not use modular cables from other power sources ' is appreciated, a warning that could avoid errors for some users.

For the connection with the digital software, a Mini-USB connector is used. The source includes a cable that connects to the motherboard through an internal USB 2.0 header.

We'll take a look at the wiring. In the ATX, CPU and PCIe connectors, use is made of completely black meshed cables, in this range we do not find the showy 'sleeving'.

These cables have condensers at the end, designed to offer the cleanest possible output. We consider it an impediment to mounting rather than a necessity, and it has certainly limited our ability to organize wiring. If anything, it's something almost shared by almost all sources in this price range and above, so there's no reason to blame NZXT.

In SATA and Molex cable strips, excellent quality flat cables are used.

The specific amount of cabling included in this source is 1 connector to ATX, 1 8-pin CPU connector, 4 6 + 2-pin PCI-E connectors, 8 SATA and 6 Molex, 1 FDD and a mini-USB. It is basically the amount of wiring expected in a unit of this power. Also, it is important to clarify that the PCIe go in two connectors per cable, and each cable supports up to 225W, so it would be interesting to occupy two different cables for a maximum power graphic such as the RTX 2080 Ti.

Internal analisis

As we have already indicated, the manufacturer of this range of E fonts is Seasonic, and specifically it is based on the Focus Plus internal platform . It is the same 'rebrand' found in other ranges that we have already analyzed as the Antec HCG Gold, but with the characteristic feature of digital control, which implies the inclusion of a microcontroller that significantly increases production costs.

As we already know the platform to which it belongs, we can already tell you that this is a very high quality internal design with excellently built components, very well designed and with great capabilities. Obviously, it makes use of the internal technologies that correspond to sources in this range: LLC on the primary side and DC-DC on the secondary.

Primary filtering begins with a pair of Y capacitors and an X capacitor (not visible in the photo), located on a PCB just at the entrance.

Then, in the main circuit, we have another Y / X capacitors, making a total of 4 Y, and 2 X. It is nothing less than expected. In addition to this, we see two coils and 1 TVR, a type of varistor or MOV in charge of suppressing surges.

Subsequently, we found two very important components: an NTC thermistor and an electromagnetic relay, these are used to prevent current peaks from entering each time we turn on the PC. It is an important combo since such spikes can be harmful to the source.

The relay is the cause of there being sources where a “click” is heard when turning the equipment on and off. It means that this component is doing its job. There are relays that are practically not heard, while others are quite noisy.

We find a 470uF Japanese primary capacitor with a temperature rating of up to 105ºC. In this case it is manufactured by Nichicon and has the same capacity as in other versions of the 650W Focus Plus platform. Curiously, the capacity seems a little low, but instead the 'hold-up time' (where the capacitor capacity most influences ) is usually really good, from what we have seen in tests like those of Cybenetics. It is a symptom of doing things right by Seasonic.

As expected, on the secondary side we also have 100% Japanese capacitors, with a somewhat curious distribution. Again, another peculiarity of this internal design. It also has several solid capacitors ( those of a small metal casing with a band of red, blue, etc. ), which are of great durability.

Here we have the two protagonists of the party, the DC-DC converters (in the background) and most importantly, the plate where the entire digital monitoring system is located.

The DSP (Digital Signal Processor) used for this system, and its 'brain' is the Texas Instruments UCD3138064A. It is a component that, as we can see on the IT website itself, can have a price even of up to $ 10 per unit, an amount that is not negligible in the production cost of a power supply, and that we It makes understand the surcharge of € 20-30 that the range has.

We take a look at the welds where, as expected by Seasonic, we have not found anything strange or anomalous. Everything seems very well built.

The supervisory circuit of the protections is the Weltrend WT7527V that is in charge of most of those that are implemented. The 12V OCP is the job of the Texas Instruments DSP.

The fan used here by NZXT is the Hong Hua HA1225H12SF-Z, which makes use of good quality dynamic fluid bearings. It is a good quality model, something different from others used with this platform, but we understand that it is because in this case it is a PWM fan;).

At low speeds it is very quiet, unlike the 135mm model with which we have suffered clicking (this is 120). If we increase the speed, it becomes very audible, but it is also true that we can rotate it at 2000rpm.

Let's see how this interesting CAM software behaves?

Test bench and performance tests

We have carried out tests to regulate the voltages, consumption and speed of the fan. To do this, we have been helped by the following team:

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	AMD Ryzen 7 1700 (OC)
Base plate:	MSI X370 Xpower Gaming Titanium.
Memory:	16GB DDR4
Heatsink	-
HDD	Samsung 850 EVO SSD. Seagate Barracuda HDD
Graphic card	Sapphire R9 380X
Reference Power Supply	Bitfenix Whisper 450W

The measurement of voltages is real, since it is not extracted from Software but from a UNI-T UT210E multimeter. For consumption we have a Brennenstuhl meter and a laser tachometer for fan speed.

Test scenarios

In order to maintain the reliability of the tests, especially the consumer one (the most sensitive), and taking into account the changing nature of the loads on a device, the sources shown here have been tested the same day and in the same situations, so we always retest the source that we use as a reference, so that the results are comparable within the same review. Between different reviews there may be variations due to this.

We try to stress the components of the PC used for testing as much as possible, so in each review the voltages used on the CPU and GPU will vary.

The review of the NZXT E is special, and is that it is the first with software monitoring that we tested in a long time, so we will focus on talking about it. We already know perfectly well that Seasonic's Focus platform works very well.

NZXT CAM software, the characterizing feature of this font

As we have already said, the most exclusive and unique capacity of this NZXT E is the possibility of monitoring and controlling it using the NZXT CAM software. Let's take a look at its capabilities.

Fan control

One of the advantages of the NZXT E is that it allows us to adjust the fan speed to our liking, and configure custom speed profiles. The only limitation that is imposed is that the fan must rotate at 100% speed when its temperature is 60ºC. CAM software allows us to adjust between different% of speed, as usual, and do not indicate any equivalence between% PWM and real RPM. We have measured its speed in steps of 5%, from 0 to 100%, and we show it in this graph:

As you can see, the relationship between% of speed per PWM and actual measured speed is linear, the RPM increases uniformly and are quite predictable. In any case, as we already indicated, CAM allows us to see what RPM the fan is subjected to.

The source is silent up to about 35-40%, from there it is quite audible. At 100% it is super noisy, but not as much as we expected from a fan at 2000rpm.

500rpm is a decent minimum speed, it could be lower but still at this level it is almost inaudible.

By default, we find two ventilation profiles: “Silent” and “Performance”. The first one turns off the fan at low temperatures, while the second one stays completely on:

As we can see, the performance profile is clearly more aggressive than the silent one. It is curious the great jump in speed that occurs between 50 and 60ºC in both power supplies, but the truth is that it makes a lot of sense, because it is really difficult to reach 60ºC, even at high loads.

Since we don't know exactly where this measurement is made, we cannot determine which temperature is 'high' and which is 'normal'. In any case, taking into account that (at a moderate ambient temperature) we barely reach 40ºC at rest with Silent mode or 35ºC with Performance, and that at full load it costs us to reach 50ºC, the fan profile remains within operation fairly reasonable.

In any case, the magic of this source is to be able to choose the profile of the fan that we want, such as the example that we show you in the image, which keeps the fan always on but at a speed lower than that of the "Performance" profile."

If we wish, we can also apply a fixed speed. This is recommended to check how loud the fan is at a certain RPM.

Fan hysteresis

We have encountered what we consider a major fan control failure. There is no type of hysteresis adjustment, that is, the fan curve always remains true to the temperature measured by the source. So, if the fan profile causes it to turn on when it reaches 40ºC, once it returns to 39ºC it will turn off, causing a continuous on / off loop.

Fans with dynamic fluid bearings and the like, such as the one used in this source, suffer much more on / off than in continuous operation. So it is important to avoid loops.

Considering that the fan is digitally controlled, this should be remedied. In other sources, when the fan is turned on it does not turn off until the temperature moves away from the point of ignition. This is very important, for example, when we stop playing a game or stress the team in any way.

Source monitoring

Moving to the monitoring tab, we see a breakdown of consumption in 3 points: CPU, GPU and "Others". They correspond to the EPS connector, PCIe connectors and the rest (ATX, SATA, Molex) respectively. In this way, we can know how much they consume separately.

The "GPU" consumption does not reflect what is demanded by the graphics in the PCIe slot itself, so it is not its total consumption. In our case, the used board allows powering the slots through an additional 6-pin connector, so the full consumption of the GPU is reflected in the measurement.

In addition to these consumption data, we have a counter for total source ignition hours, internal temperature and voltages.

In the advanced data tab, to the consumption is added the voltage broken down by rail, a very interesting measurement of amperage and combined power of the minor rails, and an adjustment for the OCP in 12V, a feature that we will talk about now.

Multi-rail system: OCP in 12V

As we have indicated, the E range allows activating a virtual multi-rail system that allows the use of OCP (overcurrent) protection on 3 12V rails. This feature is very relevant, and yet it is not present in most sources. Almost no source that claims to have OCP has it beyond the minor rails, 5V and 3.3V, since its implementation in 12V is quite expensive.

Then, with the multirail system we manage to monitor the current of the 12V rails in an ultra precise way so that, if at any time the established limit is exceeded ( we can determine the limit that we want in CAM ), the source is turned off.

Now, what is the importance of this system? If we take into account that most of the current equipment load is located on the 12 volt rail, then we can think that the OPP (technology that monitors the total power that enters the source) acts as an OCP in 12V. However, it is a much slower system, ie certain shorts that are not detected by SCP (Short-Circuit Protection) are also not detected by OPP, which takes too long to act. In these (very isolated) cases we could only use the OCP in 12V. So we can conclude that this multi-rail feature is not vital, but it is quite interesting as a security function. We always applaud when this is implemented.

But of course, apart from the higher cost of implementation there is a disadvantage for this system, and that is that in certain very high-power graphics cards (for example, 2080 Ti) there are fairly high consumption peaks that, although they do not constitute a danger to the Source, the OCP is so sensitive that it could become active. For this reason, NZXT adds the possibility of activating or deactivating this protection, something that we should also applaud.:)

After the theory, comes the practice, and the truth is that we have not been left with the best taste in our minds about it. On the one hand, the OCP is disabled by default, when we believe that it should be the opposite. Most users simply have no knowledge of whether to use it or not, so it would have been better if it had been left on by default.

Sure, this isn't a really major issue until we realize that, for some strange reason, the OCP setting is never saved in this source that we have. That is, if we activate it and restart the computer or reconnect the source, we find that this feature does not work, both using CAM and having the mini-USB that communicates with it disconnected. If we can affirm this it is because we have made our graphics card consume more than 20 amps, allowing us to test the operation of the OCP, since we are capable of activating it under stress (obviously adjusting OCP to 20A in CAM, we would normally have it to 50A).

We have tried it on several occasions, and this only works when we go to CAM to activate it. So, for us it remains a practically useless feature, since no user (not even us) is going to dedicate itself to activating the OCP every time the computer is turned on.

Is this a problem with our unit or does it apply to all NZXT E's? If it is the second case, hopefully there is a firmware update that will fix it. We insist, it is not the end of the world since this feature is not essential, but it has certainly left us with a bad taste in the mouth. It must be taken into account in a prudent way.

Performance tests: voltages and consumption.

We have compared the voltages measured by source and multimeter, and the values ​​certainly differ greatly. This is obviously due to the difference between the points at which they are being measured. The source gives us a lower value than what we read on the multimeter, which is just the opposite of what was expected. In any case, if we take the information simply as a guide, there is no problem.

We have already reached 520W of actual consumption in our tests… we will continue to try to push the limits to stress the power supplies as much as possible.

Regarding the consumption measurement, it should be noted that the NZXT indicates the output power of the source. That is to say, it is not a question of what it consumes in the wall (entrance), since for the exit to the components it goes through a series of electrical processes that have energy losses.

The funny thing is, if we calculate the efficiency from the NZXT measurement (output) and that of our Brennenstuhl plug (input), we get quite credible values ​​for a Gold source. This indicates that the measurements are reliable enough to be able to guide the user, that is, we can never take it as a hyper-precise data, but we can conclude that there are no large measurement errors.

And now, it's time to recap…

Final words and conclusion on NZXT E

NZXT is looking for more and more products to integrate with its CAM software , and the power supply market is a good opportunity to do so. After several years without new PSU launches, the company has decided to take an internal design with excellent internal build quality and have imbued it with its philosophy, resulting in a truly interesting product.

In the internal aspects, there is nothing to say, the cleanliness of its interior, the quality of the components and the welds speak for themselves. Externally, the fountain itself is attractive and apart from that it includes an acceptable set of cables for the price range in which it moves.

Regarding its software, we have found a set of extremely interesting and very useful features for the user, since it will be possible to know the consumption of the PC in a quite reliable and effective way, and to adjust the fan profile very freely.. We believe that it is something that many will be interested in, although many others will consider it unnecessary.

However, we believe that the brand should fix the fan control and OCP problems that we have found in its CAM software, since it misuses the great potential of this source. For one band, there doesn't seem to be a fan hysteresis configured (when it could have been). On the other hand, the OCP is disabled by default and activating it does not save the setting, so it is practically 'as if it were not'. Hopefully, if these problems apply to all E drives, they will be fixed by a firmware update.

We recommend that you visit our updated guide to the best power supplies 2018.

The NZXT E500, E650 and E850 are priced at 119.99, 129.99 and 149.99 euros respectively. So, we are talking about an increase of about 30 euros for monitoring capabilities, seeing the difference with fully analog sources. For users who are not interested in software control, it is not worth the additional outlay. However, if you want to enjoy these features, the NZXT E is one of the best options to consider, due to its quality, reliability and its 10-year warranty.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ VERY POWERFUL MONITORING AND CONTROL SYSTEM THANKS TO NZXT CAM	- HIGH PRICE DUE TO DIGITAL MONITORING
+ 10 YEARS WARRANTY	- SMALL FAILURE OF FAN CONTROL SYSTEM WE EXPECT TO FIX
+ WIDE PROTECTIVE FEATURES	- IF WE ACTIVATE OCP IN 12V THE SETTING IS NOT SAVED, IT MUST BE ACTIVATED MANUALLY WHEN WE TURN ON THE SOURCE, A BIG ERROR
+ EXCELLENT INTERNAL CONSTRUCTION

The Professional Review team awards him the gold medal.

INTERNAL QUALITY - 95%

SOUND - 87%

WIRING MANAGEMENT - 88%

PROTECTION SYSTEMS - 90%

PRICE - 77%

87%

NZXT releases an excellent quality font with interesting smart features, albeit with certain CAM glitches that should be fixed.