From six different power supply models from Huntkey we tested to date, five of them couldn’t deliver their labeled wattage, literally exploding (we posted the videos of the explosions on YouTube). They offered us money to take the reviews down and also started a campaign to make other manufacturers to boycott us, which actually backfired on them. You can read the whole story here. We got our hands on a model from a series we haven’t reviewed yet, Balance King, so we were really curious to see if this model would work fine or would also explode like its sisters. Check it out.

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Figure 1: Huntkey Balance King 4500 450 W power supply.

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Figure 2: Huntkey Balance King 4500 450 W power supply.

Huntkey Balance King 4500 450 W is 5 ½” (140 mm) deep, using a 120 mm fan on its bottom. It doesn’t have any PFC circuit, being based on the obsolete half-bridge topology.

No modular cabling system is available and only the main motherboard cable has a nylon protection, that doesn’t come from inside the unit. Most wires are 18 AWG, which is the minimum recommended gauge, but the wires used with the SATA and peripheral power connectors are 20 AWG, i.e., thinner than the recommended. The cables included are:

• Main motherboard cable with a 20/24-pin connector, 19 ¾” (50 cm) long.
• One cable with two ATX12V connectors that together form one EPS12V connector, 20 ½” (52 cm) long (permanently attached to the power supply).
• One cable with two six/eight-pin connector for video cards, 19 ¾” (50 cm) to the first connector and 5 7/8” (15 cm) between connectors.
• One cable with two SATA power connectors and one standard peripheral power connector, 19 ¾” (50 cm) to the first connector and 5 7/8” (15 cm) between connectors.
• One cable with two SATA power connectors, one standard peripheral power connector and one floppy disk drive power connector, 19 ¾” (50 cm) to the first connector and 5 7/8” (15 cm) between connectors.

The number of connectors is satisfactory for a 450 W product, although we’d prefer if the manufacturer had separated the two video card power connectors in independent cables, and also the SATA and peripheral power connectors we think should be installed on separated cables.

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Figure 3: Cables.

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