The Montech Century Gold 650W PSU Review: The New Kid Starts Out Strong

Montech is a relatively new player in the PC power & cooling market. Although they are borrowing experience from their parent company, Telon Co. LTD, Montech was only first established in 2016, making the Taiwanese company one of the youngest computer component manufacturers with an international presence. Today Montech is focused on the production and marketing of PC cases, power supply units (PSUs), and CPU cooler solutions.

The core philosophy of the company, according to Montech, is to provide quality products at a competitive price. Therefore, as expected, Montech is focused on the high-volume mainstream market, threading the needle between navigating an oversaturated market, while still grabbing a little piece of the pie thanks to the the sheer size of the market.

Today, we are taking a look at a product that may be a little outside the company’s core philosophy – the Century Gold 650W PSU. Although it definitely is not a halo product that is designed for top-tier competition, Montech designed the Century Gold series to be the brand’s flagbearer. As a result, the $90 price tag is heftier than what most people would expect from a brand whose focus is cost-effectiveness, and yet the Century Gold 650W proves to be a highly interesting product.

Packaging and Bundle

We received the Montech in a well-designed and sturdy cardboard box. The artwork is captivating enough to draw attention, without being extravagant. Packaging foam and thick cardboard walls protect the unit from shipping damage.

The bundle of the Century Gold PSU is frugal, with the company obviously trying to keep the cost down as much as possible. Only four standard mounting screws, a basic manual, and an AC power cable can be found inside the packaging.

Montech made the Century Gold an all-modular design, allowing for the removal of every DC power cable, including the 24-pin ATX connector. All of the cables are bare, ribbon-like, with black wires and black connectors.

The Montech Century Gold 650W PSU

External Appearance

Montech adhered to the ATX standard dimensions for their Century Gold PSU. The chassis measures 86 mm × 150 mm × 140 mm (H × W × D), making it fully compatible with any ATX-compliant case. The steel chassis is sprayed with a satin black paint that is resistant to fingerprints but scratches rather easily. The finger guard is part of the chassis itself, featuring a hex design with the company logo above the fan’s engine.

The sticker with the unit’s certifications and specifications covers the entirety of the top side. A significant portion of the sticker is yellow and it is likely to dishearten users who do not enjoy striking colors visible through the windowed side panel of their systems. Stickers with the elegant series logo cover the sides of the unit.

A typical on/off switch can be seen at the rear side of the unit, right next to the standard AC power receptacle. About half of the front side of the unit is covered by the connectors for the modular cables, with a basic legend printed above each connector.

Internal Design

Yate Loon supplies the 120 mm fan that is responsible for the cooling of the Montech Century Gold 650W PSU. The D12BM-12 is a simple but very popular fan, with a ball bearing engine and a maximum speed of 1700 RPM. It may not be the best or quietest of options but it is an extensively used and proven quality design.

Montech is using a very popular platform for the Century Gold 650W unit, instantly revealing that Channel-Well Technology (CWT) is the OEM behind the creation of this PSU. CWT is an established designer and producer of PC PSU platforms, with the company primarily focusing on the middle market range.

The filtering stage of the Montech Century Gold 650W PSU is textbook, with a total of four Y capacitors, two X capacitors, and two filtering inductors. The rectifying bridge is placed on a plain heatsink with very little heat dissipation area. Almost the same goes for the active APFC components, which are attached to a much longer but equally plain heatsink across the side of the unit. Nippon Chemi-Con supplies the 400V/390μF APFC capacitor, with a sizeable filtering coil.

Two transistors form a typical half-bridge inversion topology at the primary side of the unit, while six MOSFETs generate the 12V line at the secondary side of the transformer. The 3.3V and 5V lines are generated via the DC-to-DC conversion circuits. This is a very typical configuration for an 80Plus Gold-certified unit. The heatsinks of the active switchers on either side of the transformer are of higher complexity than those used for the APFC circuitry and the primary bridge. All of the secondary capacitors, electrolytic and polymer alike, are provided by Nippon Chemi-Con and Nichicon, both of which are highly reputable Japanese manufacturers.