The trend of creating a complete ecosystem for PC systems has been very popular, we have seen it from major component manufacturers in the world such as ASUS, Gigabyte with a wide range of products and services. full. MSI and ASRock are also on the verge of developing and perfecting their ecosystems by collaborating with several other manufacturers.
MSI has announced its "venture" for its PC ecosystem, entering the PC power supply market with the latest MPG GF Series. MPG GF Series product line currently has three main models including: A650GF, A750GF and A850GF. As the names of the models, they are available in 650W, 750W and 850W respectively.
According to MSI, these power supplies are of good quality, high performance and well support the latest graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD, including the RX 6000 Series and RTX 3000 Series.
The MPG GF series features flexible power distribution for CPU and graphics cards. During use, the MPG GF power supply provides users with excellent electrical connectivity when they can be flexible in the use of power supplies for the components of the computer system. Similar to the high-end devices of competitors among the best power supplies, the MPG GF series boasts 80 PLUS Gold certification which is packed with advanced features, such as A. PFC, LLC Half Bridge Topology structure with DC-DC module and 100% high quality Japanese capacitors rated 105 degrees C. The protection modes are also very complete including OVP, OCP, OPP, OTP, SCP and UVP.
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The MPG GF series is designed in a modular form with flat cables to help increase aesthetics as well as utilize space. The modular control panel is designed to look pretty standard. MSI has designed the packaging in black and gold color, the power supply image occupies most of the front of the case. On the back and sides describe the product's features. Opening the box, it is clear that the product is packed very carefully with a plastic bag containing the product combined with shock and impact-resistant foam pads, next to the included cable module and power cord bag. As a new Full Modular PSU, all cables of MSI A650GF and A750GF use flat type to increase aesthetics and easy wiring, and comply with 18WAG standard with high quality.
The sticker details the capacity of the product, we can see the 12V supply line is correct with the nominal value outside the product. A small tip to know if the product is good or not, is to look at the capacity of the 12V line supplied to the product. The closer the value of the 12V line is to or equal to the rated power value, the product is of good quality or equipped with DC to DC.
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Modern high-performance PSUs (Gold, Platinum, Titanium) in addition to being designed according to the new platform also use high-value and quality components. This makes the space in the PSU more open, while also being much lighter when the heatsink aluminum heatsinks are used with less density due to the significantly reduced heat generated. MSI A650GF, A750GF are no exception, the internal design is simple and smart, so the overall look of the entire board is clean and neat, providing outstanding performance. The cooling fan of all MSI PSUs used is the Hong Hua HA1425M12F-Z (12V, 0.36A, Rifle Bearing Fan) which provides the best cooling performance with negligible noise. This is a common fan used by many brands on high-end PSUs, such as Corsair's RM 2019 series also uses this type of fan.
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MSI A650GF, A750GF product lines are manufactured from Channel Well Technology (CWT) based on the famous GPU Platform. This is a platform that is mass-produced by CWT for other well-known brands and has earned a lot of trust. GPU Platform also has many similarities with GPS Platform of the same company. In fact, when dissecting the inside, it was found that there was no difference between the two PSUs other than the change in the component values of some components. The difference of MSI A750GF compared to A650GF mainly comes from the following components: Diode bridge rectifier, Main capacitor, Mosfet for 12V line to raise the power level higher than juniors.
Components to limit sparks on the plug, as shown in the illustration, you will see the Y capacitors located on the pins, the Y and X capacitors located next to the inductors. EMI and MOV noise filtering circuits are of course still equipped in the product.
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Technically, power supplies when shutting down or turning on the machine make a click, that is the sound of the Relay (also known as a relay). This relay supports the NTC thermistor, reducing the inrush current that occurs during the starting phase of the PSU. When a PSU has this relay, the cost increases, but besides the small performance increase, it also allows rapid cooling of the thermistor, thus increasing the protection level of a power supply. Medium, high-end or large-capacity power supplies in big brands we will often see this Relay. This is a great advantage and shows that the power supply in use is a genuine power supply and the MSI A650GF is also equipped with this feature.
The MSI A650GF's DC voltage filtering quality for the PFC power input is ensured by a Japanese Nippon Chemi Con main filter capacitor with a capacitance of 470uF / 420V rated 105 degrees, a lifespan of 2000h. Nichicon is currently a Tier 1 capacitor brand, capacitors manufactured by this brand are often used in high-end PSUs. The higher the power level from 750W to 850W, the capacitance level of the capacitor also increases, this ensures that the Hold Up Time level is within the ATX standard and consistent with the product power level.
The GBU1006 bridge diode pair is mounted on the heatsink for the most efficient heat dissipation, this pair of bridge diodes has an operating rating of 600V, 10A @ 100°C. The operation level of this bridge diode is more than enough for the 650W power level of the MSI A650GF. As a PSU with A.PFC Full Range, the MSI A650GF uses a pair of Infineon IPA60R190P6 mosfets – 650V, 12.7A @ 100°C along with a boost diode STMicroelectronics STTH8R06FP (600V, 8A @ 130°C). For the A750GF power supply, the bridge diode pair is replaced with the GBU1506 type which has a better value than the GBU1006.
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The DC to DC circuit is designed on a separate module, after the +12VDC rectifier diodes. The heavy-duty module lowers the voltage from +12VDC to two lower voltages of +3.3V and 5V, and plays the role of voltage stabilizer for these power lines. Current new PSUs are usually equipped with this DC to DC circuitry. MSI uses an Anpec APW7159C PWM controller with Fets QM3006D 30V, 75A @100 degrees C and QM3016D 30V, 68A @100 degrees C).
The PFC stage is controlled by the Champion IC CM6502S (this controller is quite common in LLC designs) included with the Green IC CM03X. The PWM/LLC stage is controlled by Champion CM6901. The 5VSB circuit uses TinySwitch-LT TNY177PN (Max 18W). The MSI A650GF's +12V output line area is equipped with 4 Sinopower SM4021NAKP Mosfets (40V, 100A @ 100°C) which are attached to the underside of the main PCB and cooled by silver heatsinks on the side of the transformer. main pressure. Meanwhile, in the 750W A750GF version, MSI has equipped these 6 Mosfets to increase the operating power level.
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The MSI A650GF / 750GF IC Supervisor has the presence of a pair of Sytronix ST9S429-PG14 & Weltrend WD7518D ICs, ensuring full protection modes for a high-end power supply including: OVP, OCP, OPP, OTP, SCP and UVP.
It is worth noting that both use filter capacitors of the same type and size for the secondary to filter. In which the main capacitor and the secondary part, including solid capacitors, use the high-quality brand of Tier 1 capacitors from Nippon Chemi-Con and Nichicon.
To properly test the performance of a PSU, it takes a high-end and expensive dummy load system and experienced engineers. In Vietnam, there is currently F14Testlab, which is a place full of factors to evaluate the best and most professional PSU. In the framework of this article, I can only evaluate the product through the full load test of an electric power system, and measure the 12V line through the DMM power meter to give an initial look.
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Specific test configuration:
- Gigabyte Aorus Z490 Extreme
- Intel Core I9 10900K set BIOS in CPU Package 280W
- Noctua D15 . Heatsink
- RAM ADATA D10 2x8GB bus 3600Mhz
- Gigabyte RTX 3090 Edge
- SSD Sandisk X300 250GB
- Furmark, Prime95 and Win 10 Pro software .
- As a result, when running in no-load mode, Kill A Watt reported AC power only ~ 80W, 12V line voltage about 12.00 to 12.01.
- When loading the system to the highest level by using Prime95 and Furmark (res 4K) to squeeze the system out within 1 hour, Kill A Watt reported AC ~ 720W, 12V 11.84V line voltage. If considering the efficiency level of the PSU is 90%, then the DC power received is more than 650W and exceeds the nominal power level of the power supply. One point to note about the voltage 11.84 achieved by the product is that I used a module wire for VGA with 2 ends of 6 + 2 batteries, this will cause a voltage drop on the conductor compared to using 2 separate 6+2 head.
- The temperature of the power supply under heavy load, measured with the FLIR One thermal measuring tool, shows that in the hottest area ~ 54 degrees with an ambient temperature of 29 degrees C. At 720W load, the fan is only a little noisy.
Conclusion: MSI entered the PSU manufacturing market and of course became a breath of fresh air. Their appearance has created an ever fiercer competition for the high-end power supply segment. With the choice of CWT as an OEM unit and based on GPU Platform which is well appreciated in the market. Therefore, the outstanding quality of PSU A650GF / A750GF products is not surprising at all.
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The product competes significantly with competitors such as RM / RMx from Corsair, or Seasonic Focus or Cooler Master MWE Gold V2… Apart from some disadvantages such as a slightly noisy heavy-load fan, there is no semi-passive fan mode. with the rear throttling switch, this doesn't stop MSI from entering the market with the best PSUs on the market.
The last thing, hopefully a suitable price from the company and NPP, enough for MSI's PSU products today to compete fairly with competitors in the high-end segment. And to fully appreciate the product's functionality, hopefully one day these PSUs will be broadcast on F14Testlab.
