Page 2 - Physical Look - Outside
As a new product, the exterior design of the NZXT C650 650W does not surprise me at all. In fact, I could not tell if there is any difference compared to the NZXT E850 850W other than the model inscription on the side, which was previously reviewed by our Editor-In-Chief Jonathan Kwan. It looks like my favorite snack, which is dark chocolate. I really do not think there is any point to use different shapes other than a cuboid for power supply unit design. Therefore, the challenge of designing a good looking power supply unit is really about how to place things like the power plug, switch, grille, ventilation holes, output sockets, and even stickers. When it comes to measurements, this product is 15.0 cm in length, 15.0 cm in width, and 8.5 cm in height. This is about as small as it can get for a modular ATX PSU. For most ATX or eATX chassis, length should not be much of a problem, if at all. However, if you have a mATX or mITX case that takes standard power supplies, the shorter length will definitely serve as an advantage, especially considering the fact the C650 is fully modular.
The above photo shows three sides of the NZXT C650 650W; namely the bottom, back, and left sides. On the bottom, there is a grille above the cooling fan. The details of the cooling fan will be investigated later. The top side of the power supply unit is not shown in the photo, but there are still important items there, as we will see soon enough. You can see from the left side of the PSU, there is a slight convex indent. I would say it is a nice touch to add some flavor to the rather boring PSU design, but I am not sure if this feature will be visible when it is installed in a system.
Now, let us move on to the back of the power supply unit. In the photo, we can see the power input and switch. The power input plug is standard; therefore, the user can just reuse a power cord from other equipment if necessary. The rest of this side panel features a grille for cooling. Cool air can be pumped into the power supply unit from the grille at the bottom. After cooling down the internal components, hot air can then be discharged through the back grille. To install the power supply unit in a computer case, there are four screw holes at the back of the PSU. On the right hand side of the power switch, there is push button for the user to turn on and off the PSU fan passive mode. This feature allows the PSU to have a semi-fanless cooling solution, which shuts off the fan when the load is low. It is a nice feature for sure.
The NZXT C650 650W is a fully modular power supply unit. The good thing is only the cables that need to be used will be connected and thus the computer case will have a cleaner internal look. However, the downside is users have to connect all the cables themselves. It is worth noting the ATX 24-pin connector needs to be used in almost all desktop computers. Overall, I think it is a good thing to have a fully modular power supply unit, since cable kits can be swapped in and out.
The sockets here are easy to identify thanks to the labels on the panel. It comes in a familiar two-row pattern. On the first row, there is one 20+4-pin set to power the motherboard and one 8-pin EPS output socket. Note there is only one CPU power socket for the ATX/EPS 4+4 connection. However, NZXT points out future revisions will have an ATX/EPS 4+4 cable with two connectors and people can get the new cable from them if they need it. For the computers that only need power supplied to the motherboard, only the first row needs to be used. However, if you have more, then the second row of sockets will be used. On the second row, there are four peripheral power outputs. Besides the peripheral section, there are three sockets for PCI Express connectors grouped together. Thanks to the good design of the sockets, it is not possible to plug cables into the wrong connectors. For example, the user cannot plug the ATX 4+4 pin to the PCI Express output, even though they look similar in terms of pin layout.
The NZXT C650 650W features good exterior build quality. The surface of the power supply unit is pleasant to touch, but it is not likely to display any fingerprints left on it. The gaps between panel connections are small and even. Most importantly, there are no sharp edges around the product. The external build quality boosts my confidence, and hopefully this product will also have good internal build quality, which we will look at shortly.
The voltage specification label for the NZXT C650 650W can be found on the top panel. There are two main virtual rails. Up to 20A can be delivered via the +3.3V rail for a total of 66W. The +5V rail can also deliver 20A, which is 100 W. The total combined output for the +3.3 V and +5 V rail is 100W. In other words, your power allocation combination must fall within the limits of the listed specifications. Meanwhile, a single powerful +12 V rail delivers up to 54A (648W) to reduce operating overhead compared to multiple +12 V rails. Overall, the combined power output for the whole NZXT C650 650W is 650W. Again, your power distribution in your system must fall within the limits provided -- it must not exceed 66W on the +3.3V rail, 100W on the +5V rail and 10 W combined for both, 648W on the +12 V rail, and 650W combined between all the positive rails. Normally, users will not need to worry about those configurations, since most of the use cases have already been considered by the engineers of NZXT. Generally speaking, the power distribution of this product is fairly reasonable for a 650W power supply unit. The NZXT C650 650W is 80 Plus Gold certified, which means it is certified to be at least 87%, 90%, 87% efficient at 20%, 50%, and 100% load, respectively.
Out of box, we have eight modular cables and one power cable with the NZXT C650 650W. The modular cables are generally easy to bend. The flat cables are flexible enough to allow easy cable management in a desktop computer. As for current handling, most of the wires are 18 AWG, which are high enough for a 650W PSU. For the ATX 20+4 pin connector cable, there are some wires are rated as 20 AWG.
The following modular cables are included out of the box:
- 1x ATX 20+4 pin, 61.0cm
- 1x ATX/EPS 4+4 pin, 65.0cm
- 2x PCIe 6+2 pin, 2 connectors each, 65.0cm to first connector, 7.5cm spacing thereafter
- 2x SATA, 4 connectors each, 50.0cm to first connector, 10.0cm spacing thereafter
- 2x Molex, 3 connectors each, 50.0cm to first connector, 10.0cm spacing thereafter
As aforementioned, future revisions will have an ATX/EPS 4+4 cable with two connectors and people can get the new cable from them if they need it.
These are measurements from the manufacturer. Most users should have no problems with installing NZXT C650 650W even if your case has a bottom power supply mount. 50cm is the general standard for an ATX PSU, and these cables have exceeded it on all counts. In terms of color, all the cables are black. It is worth mentioning for the motherboard and PCIe cables, nylon sleeves are provided for better appearance. Unfortunately, there are some in-cable capacitors that can make routing and cabling a bit trickier due to the stiffer wires.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Minor Tests and Conclusion
