Enermax ECO80+ 350w ATX PSU

 

As you’d expect from a 350W PSU, the number of cables and connectors on the ECO80+ is quite limited. A total of four SATA and four Molex plugs are provided over three cables with one of the cables actually featuring a combination of both connector types. This could potentially be useful if your system has an assortment of SATA and IDE hard disks in close proximity to each other, but despite Enermax’s best efforts to be innovative here, I think most people would rather the connectors be kept on separate cables.

 

 

To prevent the inside of your PC from looking like an Indian telephone exchange Enermax has sleeved all of the cables in their trademark black and gold braiding. For most of the cables, the braiding extends right up to the first connector before being finished with heat shrink, but for some reason the EPS12v and PCI-E cables missed out on some of the sleeving party and are quite naked from the waist up.

 

 

 

The ATX connector on the unit is native 24-pin with no way of reducing it down to the older 20-Pin standard. This is quite strange as the primary audience for low wattage units is more than likely people who need a new PSU for their slightly outdated hardware. However, some legacy compatibility is provided on the EPS-12v 8-Pin connector which can be reduced down to a 4-Pin P4-12v connector by sliding the connector in two.

 

 

 

With only a small amount of cables entering the unit and no modular blackplane to squeeze in, the internals of the ECO80+ 350w are naturally quite tidy. This also applies to the general layout of the components inside the unit which have been given plenty of breathing space simply because there are very few components that need to be fitted to a PSU of this wattage. In fact, if it wasn’t for the use of a 120mm fan inside the unit, Enermax probably could have compacted the internals significantly and reduced the PSU length by at least 50mm.

 

 

 

 

Spanning the length of the unit are two black anodised heatsinks attached to the PSU’s mosfets. The tops of each heatsink are finned to provide the largest possible surface area for cooling by the 120mm fan while the large gaps along the length of the heatsink ensure that airflow is allowed to reach other components inside the PSU without the heatsink acting as a wall.

 

Sitting in between the heatsinks are two yellow transformers. The larger of the two is responsible for all of the main rails (+3.3v, +5v and +12v) whereas the smaller is solely responsible for for the +5VSB (Standby) rail.