The Montech Century Gold 650W PSU Review: The New Kid Starts Out Strong
by E. Fylladitakis on July 19, 2022 8:30 AM ESTHot Test Results (~45°C Ambient)
For a product of this class and price range, the Montech Century Gold 650W PSU is extremely resilient to high environmental temperatures. The performance of the PSU was largely unaffected while it was operating inside our hotbox, with the average efficiency drop being just 0.2%. The degradation at maximum load was slightly more substantial but still remained negligible. This suggests that the components of the Century Gold are barely getting thermally stressed, even with the PSU operating at maximum capacity in our hotbox.
The thermal control circuitry of the Century Gold appears to be very basic but also highly effective, with the PSU increasing the speed of the fan almost linearly depending on the load. Regardless of the simplicity, the internal temperatures of the PSU are very low for a unit producing that kind of power. Montech could be less strict with the thermal control circuitry but the very low component temperatures directly affect the longevity of the PSU.
Despite the simple thermal control, the Century Gold has its fan spinning at low speeds even while the ambient temperature is high and increases the speed of the fan (and, in extend, the noise) alongside with the output power of the unit. If the Montech Century Gold 650W PSU is found operating under a very high ambient temperature, the Yate Loon fan will be almost silent while the system is idling, clearly audible at half load, and loud while the unit is operating at maximum capacity.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
12 Comments
View All Comments
Threska - Tuesday, July 19, 2022 - link
Well they could stand out by offering optional short cables in a carrying case so a person can mix and match with approved cables. That would stand out since most PSU companies don't. Also notice that that PSU would be good for cases that have a back vent instead of venting near the power switch.DanNeely - Tuesday, July 19, 2022 - link
IIRC a few OEMs sell shorter cables as optional accessories. I don't see a full second set ever being bundled with a PSU due to the increased cost and confusion/complaints from people who're upset they can't use both sets of GPU/peripheral cables at the same time. I suspect similar concerns about the increased support load from people who don't pay attention also stands in the way of a second package containing only short cables instead of long ones.Bigger specsheet numbers stand in the way of including peripheral cables with variable numbers of plugs on them despite the fact that the days needing all 3 plugs on a string of 3 is increasingly unlikely. (Even though a mix of 2 and 3 plug cables used to be common years ago when they were all hard wired.) Some sort of modular setup built around splitter cables with 1 short and 1 long branch on a Y cable seems possible, but I haven't seen anyone actually do it.
Leeea - Tuesday, July 19, 2022 - link
It feels like every year or two there is a new PSU brand that shows up offering X, Y, Z, and it is gone in another two years.Makes a person a bit leery.
artifex - Friday, July 22, 2022 - link
It helps that this author points out the OEMs involved in the actual manufacture of components.5j3rul3 - Tuesday, July 19, 2022 - link
Is there any 850W version review?Montech Centry 850W ONLY sales 100USD in Taiwan, R.O.C.
Leeea - Tuesday, July 19, 2022 - link
Wow!That would be a very good price for the quality of the components shown in this review.
edzieba - Tuesday, July 19, 2022 - link
Sounds like they omitted 'premium' features (RGB, bundled bags, cable sleeving, extra cables, fancy case design, etc) in favour of spending that money on higher quality components. I can get behind that philosophy.bill.rookard - Tuesday, July 19, 2022 - link
Agreed. So can I as most people don't see the PSU anyhow. Omit the fancy stuff, stick with a solid design and specify high quality parts and you'll have a good psu. Heck, that applies to almost anything these days.Threska - Tuesday, July 19, 2022 - link
I don't see the bag as a premium feature for the simple reason people keep stuff like PSUs for a long time* and they don't always use everything (the benefit of a modular PSU).*Goes along with the ten year warranty.
Samus - Tuesday, July 19, 2022 - link
When you mentioned the phrase "PC Power & Cooling" I had to pour one out for the GOAT.