Cooler Master has recently launched a new entry-level series of power supplies, eXtreme Power Plus. Products from this series are very simple, with optional passive PFC. We reviewed the 460 W model (RS-460-PMSR-A3), which costs only USD 40. Is this a good product for the average user? Can it really deliver its rated 460 W? Let’s see.

You need to pay attention as Cooler Master has two power supply series with similar names. The older series is called eXtreme Power and the power supplies from this series are presumably manufactured by Seventeam. The new series is called eXtreme Power Plus, with models being manufactured by AcBel Polytech. So even though the names of these series are similar, each series use a different internal design. Unfortunately on their website Cooler Master puts all power supplies from both series on the same page, making you to believe that all units use the same design.

To make things worse, there are four kinds of power supplies on the new eXtreme Power Plus series: the ones using an 80-mm fan on the rear of the unit (model names starting with “PMS”) and the ones using a 120-mm on the bottom of the unit (model names starting with “PCA”), and the ones without PFC (model names ending with “R”) and the ones with passive PFC (model names ending with “P”, targeted to the European market).

Thus for the 460 W power we have four models (PMSR, PMSP, PCAR and PCAP) and like we mentioned we reviewed the RS-460-PMSR-A3 model, which has no PFC and has an 80-mm fan on the rear.

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Figure 1: Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 460 W (RS-460-PMSR-A3) power supply.

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Figure 2: Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 460 W (RS-460-PMSR-A3) power supply.

The main motherboard cable uses a 20/24-pin connector and this power supply has one ATX12V connector.

This power supply comes with four peripheral power cables: one auxiliary power cable for video cards with one 6-pin connector, one cable containing three standard peripheral power connectors, one cable containing two standard peripheral power connectors and one floppy disk drive power connector and one cable with three SATA power connectors.

The number of power plugs provided by this power supply is sufficient for someone building an entry-level PC.

On this power supply all wires are 20 AWG, which are thinner than we would like to see. We think that all power supplies should use at least 18 AWG wires.

On the aesthetic side Cooler Master used a nylon sleeving only on the main motherboard cable, coming from inside the power supply housing.

Let’s now take an in-depth look inside this power supply.