Home page » Peripherals

Search:

Refine search for Peripherals

Tagan won the group test last time around and it puts in another impressive showing with the EasyCon TG530-U15. However, this is a radically different PSU to the ones we saw last time around. Gone are the 80mm fans and in their place is a single bottom mounted 120mm fan. The simple reason for this is because the EasyCon range is of the modular type, which would’ve made it very hard for Tagan to keep older design.

The modular design is similar to those seen from other manufacturers - with one important difference – it’s near enough fool proof. Tagan has blocked one of the connectors in the end that attaches to the PSU, to prevent the wrong cable being inserted. The PCI Express connectors are also coloured blue to reduce further confusion. Using a five pin connector also means that the EasyCon supports full SATA power connectors.

As with previous Tagan models the graphics card cables are extremely well made and the metal braided cable is covered in rubber to give them a high-end AV cable feel. The EasyCon TG530-U15 comes with two PCI Express and two Molex cables of this type. There are also four mesh braided power cables with a total of six Molex connectors – two terminating in a floppy connector – and two SATA power cables with four connectors.

The main power connector isn’t removable but it has a removable part so it can be used with both ATX and EPS style power connectors. Although only a four-pin +12V connector is present, a further four pins can be added with a removable cable for boards that need an eight-pin type 12V connector. As with the previous Tagan PSUs the EasyCon also comes with a grounding wire.

An interesting feature of the EasyCon is that you can combine the two 12V rails. Let me explain so bear with me while I get technical. With the recent updated specifications all new PSUs require dual 12V rails. This has been done for several reasons, but the downside to this is that the PSU can’t deliver enough power in some circumstances, for example in a high-end gaming system with dual graphics cards.

Tagan’s engineers came up with the idea of having a flexible system that allows Tagan to follow the latest specification, but also enable high-end gamers to take advantage of its PSUs. A simple switch on the back of the PSU enables you to switch between split and combined mode. In split mode each of the 12V rails can deliver 20A, whereas in combined mode you get a single 12V rail which delivers 33A.

This might not seem like a big deal as you’d think that two times 20 equals 40, but not in this case. The reason for this is that the two 12V rails can’t be shared between different peripherals, as it is with a single 12V rail.

The voltages where similar in both split and combined mode and apart from a drop on the 12V rail at 100 per cent load, (although still within spec) everything is as it should be. The EasyCon also passed the stress test and Hi-POT test at 1.5kV. However, there was some PFC noise, but this is going to vary between PSUs as it is a component issue. Finally on pricing the Tagan EasyCon TG530-U15 is quite expensive at £80.65 but you could do far worse when it comes to modular PSUs.

Verdict

Tagan has managed to create a near enough fool proof modular PSU with some interesting features, but it is on the expensive side

Add your comment

© 2003-2008 TrustedReviews | About Us | Contact Us | Legal | Privacy | RSS