The Raidmax RX-700AT 700W 80Plus Titanium Power Supply Review
by E. Fylladitakis on July 7, 2016 8:00 AM ESTHot Test Results
Switching over to our hot testing results, as we see in the following tables, the Raidmax Monster Power RX-700AT displays excellent voltage stability when thermally stressed. Voltage regulation is clearly stronger on the 12V line, with a regulation of 1.25% across the load range. On the other hand, the regulation of the minor voltage lines is considerably worse, at 2.1%/2.3% across the load range for the 3.3V/5V lines respectively, but that remains a very good performance figure for such a PSU.
| Main Output | ||||||||
| Load (Watts) | 141.88 W | 353.26 W | 525.74 W | 700.04 W | ||||
| Load (Percent) | 20.27% | 50.47% | 75.11% | 100.01% | ||||
| Amperes | Volts | Amperes | Volts | Amperes | Volts | Amperes | Volts | |
| 3.3 V | 1.8 | 3.37 | 4.49 | 3.35 | 6.74 | 3.32 | 8.99 | 3.3 |
| 5 V | 1.8 | 5.06 | 4.49 | 5.04 | 6.74 | 4.97 | 8.99 | 4.94 |
| 12 V | 10.42 | 12.16 | 26.06 | 12.11 | 39.09 | 12.02 | 52.12 | 12.01 |
The power output quality of the RX-700AT is good. The maximum voltage ripple on the 12V line is reaching 62 mV at maximum load, which is about half that of the design limit (120 mV). Similarly, the maximum voltage ripple on the 3.3V and 5V lines is 20 mV and 30 mV respectively, with the design limit being at 50 mV.
| Line | Regulation (20% to 100% load) |
Voltage Ripple (mV) | |||||
| 20% Load | 50% Load | 75% Load | 100% Load | CL1 12V |
CL2 3.3V + 5V |
||
| 3.3V | 2.1% | 14 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 20 |
| 5V | 2.3% | 16 | 22 | 26 | 30 | 16 | 34 |
| 12V | 1.25% | 22 | 30 | 46 | 62 | 60 | 28 |
Now to the hot box testing. We should mention that this PSU does not have a clear temperature rating. This most likely means that it has been rated at 40°C, as this is the commercial computer PSU temperature standard. However, in order to match the 50°C rating of several high-end products, we perform our testing at temperatures higher than 45°C. We could reduce the ambient temperature of our hotbox testing but we chose not to do so as the results would then not be comparable to those of our previous reviews.
According to our testing results, the RX-700AT would have no trouble getting a clear power output rating at 50 °C. The impact of the high ambient temperature on the performance of the PSU is minimal, even though the operating temperatures nearly double. It loses only 0.5% of its average energy conversion efficiency, which drops to 92.6% across the nominal loading range. The drop is evenly distributed across the load range and does not seem to increase in effect as the load increases, suggesting that the PSU's capacity is virtually unaffected by the high environmental temperature.
The operating temperatures of the Monster Power RX-700AT reached between 75 °C and 80 °C when the unit was fully stressed inside our hotbox, which are good figures for a PSU with that kind of output, even for one with an 80Plus Titanium certification. However, the strong fan is to blame for the low temperatures, as the RX-700AT is rather loud under such conditions. The design relies on its own high efficiency and the heatsinks are small, so the fan is the only way for the PSU to combat adverse operating conditions. Ironically, the dual ball bearing fan that the company advertises as quiet is what makes the RX-700AT so loud. Dual ball bearings are exceptionally reliable but are one of the loudest (if not the loudest) type of bearings for high speed fans, which is why we see hydraulic/hybrid/magnetic and other types of bearings on high performance fans.
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HomeworldFound - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link
Yay, another review of a generic power supply, it's not like 10 other sites reviewed this exact model....BrokenCrayons - Friday, July 8, 2016 - link
I wouldn't put it like that, but I do see your point. My current PSU is an 8 year old 375 watt unit that I haven't looked at in so long I have no idea what company even manufactured it. Its sitting in the bottom of a case where I've been happily ignoring it. When I gutted my desktop and pulled out the old P35 motherboard and Q6600 CPU a couple months ago, I glanced at it while plugging its connectors into the new drives and motherboard. In other desktops, I've used PSUs bundled with a bottom-feeder cheap case. They work, so I shrug and move on. Power supplies play an important role, but in a lot of cases, they're a "who cares" component that's below notice.That said, as a hardware reviewer site covering PC components, AT has a limited number of components to review inside a given desktop PC and the PSU is one of those major components. In a stagnant market filled with uninteresting, routine releases, PSUs provide a way to fill in gaps between the last generation of Intel CPU and the next one that offers it's usual 5-10% more performance. Besides that, the power supply reviews are well-written and make for interesting reading even if I'll personally just pick of the latest no-name gray box supply once every 10+ years when connector standards leave me so far behind that I'm forced to grudgingly grab a newer one because some component won't fit and I don't want to add to the rat's nest by using adapters.
HomeworldFound - Friday, July 8, 2016 - link
That'd be alright but you can see its a poor quality generic power supply and the article doesn't make sense, the conclusions of where this product should sit are in conflict. I know they might only have a few products to review and sure, I can agree the power supply is very important but this isn't some item where Anandtech or it's users say "We have to get one of these to test" this is a case where a manufacturer is sending out a power supply to everyone they can just to get noticed.ComInliner - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link
That all forgot to say that this POS doesn't even beat platinum units and posted awesome performance figures nowhere near reality. I bought it after reading the first reviews in early May or about that and I just bought a seasonic unit 3 weeks later. It is good to see -some- level of honesty here and even though these numbers are much worse than other reviews I still think that the psu is even worse. Mine was atrocius, overheating, noise to the speakers, etc. Just buy something else.Oxford Guy - Friday, July 8, 2016 - link
"Dual ball bearings are exceptionally reliable but are one of the loudest (if not the loudest) type of bearings for high speed fans"The loudest are single ball bearing fans. Dual ball bearing fans are the second-loudest type of fan.
Oxford Guy - Friday, July 8, 2016 - link
"the RX-700AT is hardly a competitive product.""the RX-700AT is a choice to consider"
err...
echoe - Friday, July 8, 2016 - link
It is a choice to consider if you demand an 80+titanium power supply and don't need tons of power, as the others are over $200, but it is bad compared to its actual market. That's how I read that?sheh - Friday, July 8, 2016 - link
Why does the plastic ring, around the hole for the fixed cables, extend beyond the PSU width?http://images.anandtech.com/doci/10461/RMPL700W_07...
Laststop311 - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link
I don't see how they can say this price brings it more into the mainstream. 170 dollars isn't cheap. Is an extra 2% efficiency worth paying over double the price versus a platinum unit. I got an EVGA Supernova 850 P2 for 119.99 with a 40 dollar pre loaded debit card with it. Effectively paying 79.99 for a 850 watt 80+ platinum, 10 year warranty, full modular cables, 100% japanese caps, 140mm fan with eco mode runs totally silent and fanless at 25% and under loads meaning using 225 watts or less is completely silent which is almost all the time unless I am putting large loads on gpu and cpu at the same time.The evga psu has 150 more watts, has a larger higher quality fan, is fully modular instead of semi modular. the overall build quality is better in the evga unit, has 2x EPS connectors vs the 1 connector for the raidmax, no smart fan controls on the raidmax the fan is always on no matter what the evga unit only uses fan on loads above 225 watts prolonging fan life, the raidmax only has a 2 year warranty vs the 10 year warranty on the evga, the EVGA unit is only 1% less efficient than the raidmax basically within a rounding error of efficiency, EVGA customer support is superior to raidmax, has 6x pci-e connectors vs only 4 on the raidmax also has 9 sata vs 8 and 6 molex vs 4.
This huge amount of advantages would make you think well geez that evga must of cost at least the same or a bit more. No even without the 40 dollar rebate card sale it was 120 dollars. I paid 80 dollars with the rebate card sale and got a WAY better PSU in every single way other than losing 1% in efficiency. You'd have to be very ill informed to choose this over the evga unit i got.
philipma1957 - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link
It is hard to argue the evga 850 p2 pretty much crushes this unit.And it is lower cost, but if you insist on a titanium the evga 850 t2 also crushes this unit although it cost more money. Bottom line is very few people need a titanium and if you do and you have a steady 50% draw on the psu why on earth buy this one with a 2 year warranty.
when evga gives a 10 year warranty. I use lots of psus I mean 10 to 20 at a time.
I mine a lot and this is not what I buy when I build a two card mining/gaming rig for a friend .
I go evga first choice 850 t2 two card rig or 1000t2 3 card rig. third choice is silverstone 700 watt titanium for 2 card rigs (cheaper and at least a 3 year warranty)