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
Conclusion
There is frankly no need to buy this power supply today since there are better performing units in the market. With this review we mainly wanted to show what the Enermax Liberty is capable of since it was a popular unit for a long time - it was also one of Germany's top selling power supplies. From the quality perspective it is still a very fine product that is relatively quiet and very stable. The efficiency is behind the top units of today, but if you own already a Liberty there is no need for a change (unless perhaps you're looking at quad cores, overclocking, and HD 2900 XT CrossFire).
Comparing the efficiency of the Liberty 500W to the other power supplies we've tested, it ranks at the bottom of the chart right now. However, it's important to clarify that we take the highest efficiency reached during testing for this graph, regardless of load or input voltage used. This is how most manufacturers rate their PSUs, but for a more realistic look at efficiency you should read the individual PSU reviews. At 81%, the Enermax still does quite well, relative to many inexpensive units. It doesn't reach 85% or higher efficiency, but we don't really expect that from older models.
One of the great things about the Liberty - particularly for anyone that already owns one - is that Enermax has provided a reasonable upgrade path by creating new cables. Purchase those separately, and you can be PCI-E 2.0 compliant. With the two 6-pin PEG connectors you already have a decent amount of support for high-end systems, and the upgraded inclusions take that a step further. In our version we had the new 6/8-pin PEG cables, which will be the case for all packages purchased this year.
All the DC outputs have been stable within the specified area and only came close to the lower limit during high performing tests combined with high temperatures. We have been surprised about the very stable 12V rails which have been generally within 0.2V of the ideal voltage. From the acoustic point the Enermax Liberty is surely not silent since you can clearly hear it at medium to high loads. However, as our graphs show it is well cooled inside and this protects the PSU from overheating.
Today, the Enermax Liberty has an average price of around $110 USD or 84 EUR. At a cost of $110 it starts to encroach on the realm of modern high-end power supplies, which in some cases are newer and slightly better in terms of performance and efficiency. Newegg currently has a $10 mail-in-rebate, but even at a price of $100 we would recommend looking around at some of the latest offerings from competitors. The Liberty 500W isn't a bad PSU by any means, but neither is it really class-leading in any area.
There is frankly no need to buy this power supply today since there are better performing units in the market. With this review we mainly wanted to show what the Enermax Liberty is capable of since it was a popular unit for a long time - it was also one of Germany's top selling power supplies. From the quality perspective it is still a very fine product that is relatively quiet and very stable. The efficiency is behind the top units of today, but if you own already a Liberty there is no need for a change (unless perhaps you're looking at quad cores, overclocking, and HD 2900 XT CrossFire).
Comparing the efficiency of the Liberty 500W to the other power supplies we've tested, it ranks at the bottom of the chart right now. However, it's important to clarify that we take the highest efficiency reached during testing for this graph, regardless of load or input voltage used. This is how most manufacturers rate their PSUs, but for a more realistic look at efficiency you should read the individual PSU reviews. At 81%, the Enermax still does quite well, relative to many inexpensive units. It doesn't reach 85% or higher efficiency, but we don't really expect that from older models.
One of the great things about the Liberty - particularly for anyone that already owns one - is that Enermax has provided a reasonable upgrade path by creating new cables. Purchase those separately, and you can be PCI-E 2.0 compliant. With the two 6-pin PEG connectors you already have a decent amount of support for high-end systems, and the upgraded inclusions take that a step further. In our version we had the new 6/8-pin PEG cables, which will be the case for all packages purchased this year.
All the DC outputs have been stable within the specified area and only came close to the lower limit during high performing tests combined with high temperatures. We have been surprised about the very stable 12V rails which have been generally within 0.2V of the ideal voltage. From the acoustic point the Enermax Liberty is surely not silent since you can clearly hear it at medium to high loads. However, as our graphs show it is well cooled inside and this protects the PSU from overheating.
Today, the Enermax Liberty has an average price of around $110 USD or 84 EUR. At a cost of $110 it starts to encroach on the realm of modern high-end power supplies, which in some cases are newer and slightly better in terms of performance and efficiency. Newegg currently has a $10 mail-in-rebate, but even at a price of $100 we would recommend looking around at some of the latest offerings from competitors. The Liberty 500W isn't a bad PSU by any means, but neither is it really class-leading in any area.
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MCSim - Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - link
400W Liberty here. Mine is also about 2 years old and still going strong. There's no need for new PSU. :)wolfman3k5 - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
Just out of curiosity, did you guys run out of stuff to write about?leexgx - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
hehi had the 400W Enermax PSU for 2 years now and its powering my server quite happy (8 hdds and an old P4 2.6ghz 2gb ram) never had an problem with them (use thermaltake TR2 420W-500w now for basic PSU as its the only good ones on my local trade lists never had one blow on me)
CuriousMike - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
fwiw, I bought two 350w enermax "basic" powersupplies about 2 years ago ( built two new machines for home.)One of the units fans developed a bad squeek about 2 months into ownership.
I tried contacting enermax in two different ways - both via email.
One was their usa (my locale) website (which I think was a distributor site?), and the other their taiwanese/chinese site.
Never heard back from them.
JarredWalton - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
The squeaky PSU gets the new fan, and the squeaky wheel gets the oil. You just need to squeak a bit louder probably. That or you got unlucky. I haven't dealt with Enermax directly, but I have had a few companies (DFI, for example) where it took several email messages to get help. Not good at all, but eventually they did respond. The fact that their email support form fails 75% of the time didn't help, of course.Vidmar - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
While I think the Efficiency charts in load percentage are nice, if you included Efficiency charts in watts it would be more informative from a buying perspective.The reason? I know the sum of system load is 375watts normally. The way it is now, if power supply XYZ has a max load of 650watts, I have to calculate where my ~375watts falls into that load chart (~57% load). But if the next power supply has 1000 watts max, then I have to yet again calculate what load percentage that may be for *that* power supply. If the Efficiency charts were in watts, instead of load, no calculations would be necessary. If I could look at your charts and see that XYZ power supply provided those watts the most efficiently, that would be the power supply I would get.
Maybe you could just provide a second X axis on the chart that included the watts.
Thanks!
michal1980 - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
Owned for for probably 18+ months now. It was a replacement for the early problems the antec neo-he's had. and I bought it at a retail store for about 110 bucks. I had no idea if it was good because it was so cheap (for a retail store, everyother branded 500w psu was 150~180 bucks).its given me good stable power for all these years, and I hope for a few more.
kmmatney - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
I've owned a 550W Enermax PSU for over 5 years! It was originally made for the old Thunder K7 dual AMD motherboards, but it now powers my Core 2 Duo. It's been a great power supply - never thought it would last so long. I did recently re-oil the fan (still running on the original fan as well).mostlyprudent - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
Nice review. I appreciate the diversion from the high end. I have been wondering how newer models would stack up against an old favorite. It is nice to see that there is a little more happening in the PSU industry than just wattage hikes.Thinkitect - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
Almost!Value PSU review? Quality Benchmarks? Fortron Source!
FSP Group products should be the baseline for the reviews and price/performance rating.
The AX-400 and AX-500 for value were great (and still are), though efficiency may be outdated. The blue series should be the one to compare to right now.
I've used the same AX for years through many upgrades, and it now powers a relative's workstation. I have the BlueStorm II 500 powering my new gaming rig, and now there are the FX-600-GLN and FX-700-GLN with even higher efficiency ratings.
High quality well priced components that deserve the comparison and recognition.