Gamers who run mid-range systems don’t need a massive 1,000w power supply, they can rather turn their eye to a slightly less powerful offering with enough features to ensure the PSU will last past the next system upgrade.
The Cooler master silent pro platinum 550w is a feature-rich offering that gives gamers in the market for a 550w power supply all the bells and whistles – let’s find out if it’s any good.
Features
The most impressive feature sported by the PSU is in its name – 80 plus platinum rated certifications. 80 plus certifications show how efficient a power supply is, and the cooler master PSU has achieved the highest rating possible, guaranteeing at least 90 percent, 92 percent and 89 percent efficiency at 20 percent, 50 percent and 100 percent load. This means a lower overall power draw (good for the electricity bill), less wasted energy and less heat generated by the PSU components.
Other noteworthy features include a 135mm fan with hydraulic bearings for silent operation, a single 45A 12v rail capable of 540w, integrated 7v fan ports for 3 or 4 pin case fans, and a modular cable design.
The modular cables offer:
- 1 x 24 pin motherboard cable
- 1 x 4 + 4 pin CPU power cable
- 4 x 6 + 2 PCIe power cables for graphics cards
- 9 x SATA power cables for hard drives
- 5 x Molex power cables for peripherals
- 1 x Floppy drive power cable
- 2 x 3 pin fan power cables
The cables are long enough to fit comfortably in most mid-sized cases, though the power supply may struggle in full sized towers with PSU mounts on the bottom of the case. In our case (pun fully-intended) the cables were just too short for some devices in the Cooler master ATCS 840 with cable management.
Cooler master silent pro platinum 550w
Installation
Installation of the PSU was a breeze as it is a standard sized ATX PSU, rather than the extended length shells used by more powerful PSUs. The cables were good quality and routed around the rear of the case without much hassle. As mentioned previously, the cable length is adequate for cable management in mid-sized cases, and in our NZXT Phantom everything fit as it should. The cable connectors themselves were of good quality, and clipped into peripherals without much force required.
Cooler master silent pro platinum 550w fan
Operation
When Cooler master named this PSU the “Silent Pro” they weren’t kidding, as the PSU is almost completely inaudible over the other components. Even during high load, the PSU was barely audible. High performance hard drives make more noise than the Silent Pro from Cooler master.
The PSU can also handle mid to high end systems with what appears to be ease. To push the PSU we installed it in a test system with the following components:
- Intel Core i7 930 at 4GHz
- 12GB DDR3 2000MHz RAM
- 2 x Nvidia GTX570 graphics cards
- 1 x 128GB SSD
- 4x 2TB Western Digital Black hard drives
- A custom water cooling loop including 10 x 120mm fans
The PSU ran a mix of gaming and synthetic benchmarks for over 24 hours, and did so without producing much heat. While this system will typically be powered by a much more powerful PSU, the Cooler master managed without breaking a sweat, a testament to the quality of the components used.
Cooler master silent pro platinum 550w ports
Bottom Line
The Cooler master Silent pro platinum 550w is a feature rich power supply for gamers with mid range systems. It offers enough grunt to power high end graphics cards and does so efficiently and silently. If you’re in the market for a power supply in this range, you won’t be disappointed by this Cooler Master offering.
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