XFX, a traditional video card manufacturer, has recently decided to enter the power supply business. They first offering, an 850 W model called Black Edition proved to be an outstanding product. Now they are launching a more mainstream model rated at 650 W, called XXX Edition, featuring modular cabling system, single-rail design and 80 Plus Bronze certification. Will this model live up to the expectation? Let’s see.

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Figure 1: XFX 650 W XXX Edition power supply.

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Figure 2: XFX 650 W XXX Edition power supply.

XFX 650 W XXX Edition is 6 19/64” (16 cm) deep, using a 140-mm fan on its bottom and active PFC circuit, of course.

The reviewed power supply features a modular cabling system with eight connectors, but some of the cables are permanently attached to the power supply. These cables have nylon sleevings that come from inside the power supply unit.

The cables included are:

• Main motherboard cable with a 20/24-pin connector (21 5/8” or 55 cm, permanently attached to the power supply).
• One cable with two ATX12V connectors that together form one EPS12V connector (21 5/8” or 55 cm, permanently attached to the power supply).
• One cable with one EPS12V connector (21 5/8” or 55 cm, permanently attached to the power supply).
• One auxiliary power cable for video cards with one six-pin connector (21 5/8” or 55 cm, permanently attached to the power supply).
• One auxiliary power cable for video cards with one six/eight-pin connector (23 5/8” or 60 cm, permanently attached to the power supply).
• Two auxiliary power cables for video cards with one six/eight-pin connector each (21 5/8” or 55 cm, modular cabling system).
• Two SATA power cables with three SATA power connectors each (19 ¾” or 50 cm to the first connector, 5 7/8” or 15 cm between connectors, modular cabling system).
• Two peripheral power cables with three standard peripheral power plugs and one floppy disk drive power connector each (19 ¾” or 50 cm to the first connector, 5 7/8” or 15 cm between connectors, modular cabling system).

This configuration is perfect for a 650 W product, providing four connectors for video cards, allowing you to connect two video cards that require two power connectors each.

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Figure 3: Cables.

Although all wires are 18 AWG (the correct gauge to be used), inside the power supply pairs of +12 V (yellow) wires are joined into a single wire, which is not good. The same happens with ground (black) wires.

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