The Enermax Liberty - Getting long in the tooth, but still worth a look
by Christoph Katzer on July 30, 2007 1:40 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Temperatures
Room Temperature
During the room temperature test the temps of the heatsinks is very low. At only 50°C on the secondary heatsink and 40°C on the primary it is definitely a good result. This has a lot to do with the fan, which begins increasing its rotational speed rapidly at loads above 50%. The heatsink design helps as well, as it leaves enough air so that components under it can be cooled as well.
Fan Speed
Room Temperature
The curves of the two different ambient temperatures look similar; they only differ in maximum speed and the point at which the fan starts rotating faster. At room temperature fan speed starts ramping up at around 40% of load (around 250W). The curve then goes steadily up to its highest point of almost 2000 RPM. With higher ambient temperature the fan starts to spin faster at 30% load which is an approximate 190W. We measured a difference of about 250 RPM between the two ambient temperatures.
Acoustics
Room Temperature
The two tests at room temperature and high temperature show clear differences in terms of noise levels. We measured 5dB(A) more under high temperatures when the fan was spinning 250 RPM faster. Enermax doesn't make a big deal about noise levels and has always stated that they prefer to have a well-performing power supply which can only be done by a fan that actually moves enough air through the housing. Enough air means that the fan needs to spin at higher speeds, and that means it will produce more noise. In comparison to some of the higher power units we've looked at the Liberty does quite well at being quiet; then again, it's only providing a maximum of 500W vs. 850W on some of the units we've tested.
Room Temperature
During the room temperature test the temps of the heatsinks is very low. At only 50°C on the secondary heatsink and 40°C on the primary it is definitely a good result. This has a lot to do with the fan, which begins increasing its rotational speed rapidly at loads above 50%. The heatsink design helps as well, as it leaves enough air so that components under it can be cooled as well.
Fan Speed
Room Temperature
The curves of the two different ambient temperatures look similar; they only differ in maximum speed and the point at which the fan starts rotating faster. At room temperature fan speed starts ramping up at around 40% of load (around 250W). The curve then goes steadily up to its highest point of almost 2000 RPM. With higher ambient temperature the fan starts to spin faster at 30% load which is an approximate 190W. We measured a difference of about 250 RPM between the two ambient temperatures.
Acoustics
Room Temperature
The two tests at room temperature and high temperature show clear differences in terms of noise levels. We measured 5dB(A) more under high temperatures when the fan was spinning 250 RPM faster. Enermax doesn't make a big deal about noise levels and has always stated that they prefer to have a well-performing power supply which can only be done by a fan that actually moves enough air through the housing. Enough air means that the fan needs to spin at higher speeds, and that means it will produce more noise. In comparison to some of the higher power units we've looked at the Liberty does quite well at being quiet; then again, it's only providing a maximum of 500W vs. 850W on some of the units we've tested.
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26 Comments
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swaaye - Saturday, August 4, 2007 - link
I've bought a few AX400s and an AX450. On the surface, they seem to be great PSUs. Very quiet with that 120 mm fan. I don't think they have very good efficiency. Newegg only says >65%. I would like to see a review of one of them as well.miahallen - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
A8N-SLI DeluxOpty 165 @ 2.5GHz
8800GTX @ 621/999
4x SATA2 HDD
Antec P180b
I bought the Liberty 500W about a year ago and it has served me very well. I am very picky about noise, so I swapped the fan for a low noise Yate Loon model...best change ever. Now I cannot hear it at all!!!
It's interesting you mention good reliability, there seems to be lots of unhappy users on forums around the web having had problems with the Liberty series (mostly the 620W version from my experiance). I also replaced my 500W 6mo after purchase, but not because it failed, it just developed a rattle that drove me crazy. Enermax was very prompt at replacing it with a brand new one! Speaking of failures, I have a good friend who bought the 620W on my recommendation, and his blew up last week?! Whoops! Anyhow, thanks for the great review, you've endulged my confidence in the investment I made :)
JarredWalton - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
So I'm not sure I understand... you bought the 500W and swapped the fan for a Yate Loon, but then the PSU developed a rattle and you got a new unit? I don't know what causes a rattle in a PSU, but usually it's the fan, which you had already replaced.... Since you had already opened it, wouldn't it have been easy to just fix the issue yourself? Or was there something else causing a rattle? (I'm also surprised any manufacturer would replace a PSU that you had opened to swap fans.)Anyway, one of the unfortunate aspects of PSUs is that a company can make an excellent product in one market and a lousy one in another. Sounds like the 500W Liberty might be great but the 620W has issues. I know I had a test system (from ABS) where a 620W failed during the two weeks of stress testing and benchmarks. They sent a replacement, which seemed to work fine, but long-term I couldn't say whether it was really stable.
xsilver - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
just goes to show that old psu's are not outdated by any means.its funny that psu's are one of the few (only?) components that dont drop massively in price years after release.
is there a review of the corsair hx520 in the works? thats the psu that most people seem to be recommending for higher end systems and I feel will be the benchmark for performance/value
Final Hamlet - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
What I am really longing for is the review of the new 1TB-F1 hard-drive by Samsung. Any ETA available?Thank you.
Le Québécois - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
Any chance you could review one of the newer Enermax model from the Galaxy or Infinity series?Great PSU reviews btw, keep them coming !