Akasa PaxPower 460W Power Supply review

With the recent launch of Intel’s new platform, changes were announced to the specification of some PC components. One component that has undergone a change is the Power Supply Unit (PSU). So what has changed? Well, first of all Intel has moved away from the 20-pin ATX connector to a 24-pin EPS connector.

EPS stands for Entry-Level Power Supply Specification, although it seems like one S was dropped from the acronym. EPS was developed by the SSI Forum which is a group that works on server standards and as such EPS is a standard for entry level servers. Intel has not gone for full EPS spec as the four-pin AUX connector is still present, whereas EPS utilises an eight-pin AUX connector.

The advantage of this is that you can get a converter for current ATX PSUs that turns the 20-pin ATX connector in to a 24-pin EPS connector. It is however not advisable to get one of these for anything less than a 350W unit due to the extra drain on the PSU that the new motherboards will have.

The main reason for the changes, according to the new specifications which you can find at Formfactors.org, is the higher power drain from the x16 PCI Express lane, which can draw as much as 75W of power.

Another spec change is the requirement for dual 12V power rails. This might sound odd, but with more and more components in a PC drawing their power from the 12V rail, this change spreads the load across two 12V rails rather than putting a single 12V rail under too much load. This allows for a cooler, more efficient running PSU as the load on the components are shared.

Akasa has addressed these issues with its new PaxPower 460W PSU, which comes in a black anti-corrosive nickel coated casing and looks very smart for a PSU. There are two models available, with or without a blue LED fan. This review sample features the blue LED fan, although this adds nothing to the functionality of the PSU, many case modders out there will probably go for it.

The Akasa retail packaging has “ultra quiet” in big letters across the front and as the PaxPower utilises a 120mm fan, Akasa claims no more than 18dBA at normal load. The fan is temperature controlled, but there is no way of manually altering its speed. This means that if the PSU runs very hot, it will produce more noise than its normal load rating.

The PaxPower is the first PSU that I have come across with the new separate 12V rails, but Akasa has stuck to a standard 20-pin ATX connector. This might look like a major omission, but Akasa is trying to appeal to anyone looking at buying a new PSU and has thus bundled a converter in the box. If you were to buy an ATX to EPS converter on its own you’re looking at shelling out around £6, which is not a lot of money, but they are not that easy to come by and it’s always good to get everything you need in the box.