We also like to review low-end products from time to time so people with a serious budget restriction can have an idea whether it is worthwhile to buy cheap products or not. Today we are going to take an in-depth look at Elite Power 460 W (RS-460-PSAR-J3) from Cooler Master. Can it really deliver its rated power? Is it worthwhile giving it a shot if you don’t have a lot of money to spend on a power supply? Let’s see.

This particular unit is manufactured by FSP, meaning that Cooler Master uses all sort of vendors for their power supplies. For example, most units from the eXtreme Power Plus are manufactured by AcBel Polytech, with some models being manufactured by Seventeam. Cooler Master also uses other vendor for their other power supply series.

By the way, this unit has the same fantastic statement “As sealed stick was removed, lost or damaged, it shall be out of warranty validity” on its label as the members from eXtreme Power Plus series that are manufactured by a different company. So the author of this statement in Engrish is Cooler Master. When will they stop using on-line translators and hire someone that can speak English to write their labels?

Another interesting information from the label: “The +3.3 V & +5 V & +12 V total output shall not exceed 377.9 W.” Well, if you add this to the 12.5 W maximum power for the +5VSB output and the 9.6 W maximum power for the -12 V output you have a 400 W power supply…

We’ve already reviewed the 400 W version from this power supply, so during this review we will be comparing the two of them.

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Figure 1: Cooler Master Elite Power 460 W power supply.

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Figure 2: Cooler Master Elite Power 460 W power supply.

Cooler Master Elite Power 460 W is 5 ½” (140 mm) deep, using a 120 mm fan on its bottom. This unit does not feature a PFC circuit, as you can see by the presence of a 115 V/230 V switch in Figure 1, being based on the outdated half-bridge topology.

No modular cabling system is provided and cables don’t have a nylon protection. Only the ATX12V/EPS12V cable use 18 AWG wires. All other wires are 20 AWG, i.e., thinner than recommended. We saw the same configuration on the 400 W model.

The cables included are:

• Main motherboard cable with a 20/24-pin connector,17 3/8” (44 cm) long.
• One cable with two ATX12V connectors that together form one EPS12V connector, 20” (51 cm) long.
• One cable with one six-pin connector for video cards, 18 7/8” (48 cm) long.
• Two cables with two SATA power connectors each, 16” (41 cm) to the first connector, 4 ¾” (12 cm) between connectors.
• One cable with three standard peripheral power connectors and one floppy disk drive power connector, 16” (41 cm) to the first connector, 4 ¾” (12 cm) between connectors.

This configuration is identical to the one used on the 400 W model. One curiosity: the SATA connectors don’t have the +3.3 V (orange) wire on them!

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Figure 3: Cables.

Now let’s take an in-depth look inside this power supply.