Chieftec Smart A8 GPS-450A8
 | Outdated Product Power: 450; Cooling system: active; MB/CPU power supply: 24+4; Manufacturer's warranty: 2 years; |
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Durability Loud, the wires are unattractive and stiff.  Egor: use Chieftec GPS-700A8 more than year |
Good block, nothing special. That's what time-tested means! Very quiet and always cold (it truly is cold both in winter and summer, which is a huge plus) I could nitpick that the wires aren't braided, but since the unit is from 2013, I can overlook that. Ruslan: use Chieftec GPS-700A8 few months |
Took a 700-watt power supply for my setup with Ryzen 2700 and GTX 1080. In the system, there is also just 1 SSD and 1 HDD. Everything was fine until I started running benchmarks designed for weaker graphics cards, and this also happens in games where FPS reaches 150 and above (i.e., in all games where the graphics card doesn’t struggle with graphics, although I haven’t tried such games yet, and I think there are very few). The power supply starts to squeak and whine, and both the processor and the graphics card may be almost not loaded, but for some magical reason, the high FPS in applications causes this effect in the power supply. Moreover, the higher the number of frames, the louder and higher the pitch of this squeal. I specifically tried to run something very undemanding with an unlocked frame rate (CS:Source was the first at hand). The system delivered 1200 frames, and the power supply was squealing as if a drill was being used. The only solution I found for myself is to artificially limit the number of frames to 120 where this effect occurs. This doesn’t eliminate the issue, but at least it reduces the squeal to a less noticeable level in the overall background. The unit produces ~ 640 honest watts on a 12 volt line, the cooling is quite quiet Perhaps I got a defective unit, but it whines louder than the women in old horror movies; The cables at the base are tangled (i.e. the cable bundles at the ends are soldered to the ports as needed, but at the exit from the unit, these cables may be tangled, and the only way to untangle them would be to cut off the pins); The cable for the processor is quite short, partly due to the previous problem. In a case with a bottom-mounted unit (Raidmax Gama), I barely managed to stretch it. Mihail: use Chieftec GPS-650A8 less than month |
Chieftec Smart A8 configurations
| Price for Chieftec Smart A8 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Chieftec Smart A8 GPS-400A8 | from £35.99 | 1 offer | |
| Chieftec Smart A8 GPS-500A8 | from £40.99 | 4 offers | |
Popular budget power supply
When choosing a power supply, it’s important to remember that inexpensive models are always about trade-offs and cost-cutting. Perfect options for $40 simply don’t exist. The Chieftec Smart A8 GPS-450A8 is no exception.
450 W with 80% efficiency
The 12 V rail here is split into two virtual rails — the current on one can reach 21 A (which corresponds to 252 W), and on the other 18 A (216 W). In total, the two rails can deliver up to 360 W, which is 80% of the unit’s overall power. However, under heavy loads the power draw rises and the real efficiency drops to 70% or even lower. Basically, the “80+ 230V Only” sticker on the box says the promised efficiency is valid at 230 V — beyond that, your mileage may vary. So be especially careful if you’re speccing components with little to no headroom. This is 100% one of those cases where it’s better to pay a bit more and choose a higher wattage. On the other hand, in testing the +12 V, +5 V, and +3.3 V rails stayed in pretty good shape: no major voltage droop or ripple was observed.
EMI filter and power factor correction module
There’s a dedicated 8-pin (6+2-pin) connector for a graphics card. As you can see, some 450 W models don’t even have that. Another plus is the input EMI filter and active power factor correction module. The regulator, however, didn’t impress, which is why it wasn’t always possible to get the promised 360 W on the 12 V rail. As for downsides, the most common complaint online is about noise. Some units produce a noticeable high-pitched whine even under moderate loads, while others have audible electrical crackling where the unit meets the power cable.
Processor: AMD FX-6300
Graphics card: GeForce GTX 780
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P v1.0
RAM: Kingston HyperX KHX1600C10D3/8G x2
Hard drive: SEAGATE ST1000DM003 1TB
SSD: Samsung 870 EVO 500GB
I've never had any problems with it until recently when I decided to play The Witcher, and it started crashing periodically. After overclocking, it would crash immediately after starting the game. I decided to lower the graphics card frequencies, and the problem was solved. No more crashes. I suspect the PSU because the +12V line sags significantly under load, almost going beyond 5% (down to +11.5~11.4). But, after all, it's already 10 years old.
If I'm mistaken in my conclusions, please correct me - I'd be happy to solve this problem.