Lepa B-Series 850W - The Leopard Attacks
by Martin Kaffei on December 15, 2011 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- PSUs
- Lepa
- Enermax
- 850W-950W
Lepa B-Series 850W—The Leopard Attacks
Lepa is a new brand in the computer components industry, currently selling power supplies and peripheral equipment such as external storage (HDD/SSD) cases. For our first look at the company, we'll be torture testing their B850-MA power supply, one of the best products Lepa sells. Enermax has close ties with the company, and the idea behind Lepa is to offer inexpensive solutions and leave Enermax products to focus on the high-end (and higher cost) markets. Let's see what the B850 has to offer and if it can meet our expectations.
The package includes a power cord, four screws to mount the power supply in the case, a user guide, and a 15cm long FDD adapter. A plastic bag protects the power supply from dust and dirt. Noteworthy features include the already mentioned 80 Plus Bronze certification and the separate +12V outputs for the CPU connectors. In addition Lepa offers a 3-year warranty on their PSUs (two years less than Enermax, which is one more area where they can work to reduce the price).
The PSU has four +12V outputs with a maximum current of 20A or 30A. Together these outputs can provide 750W. The combined 180W of the +5V and +3.3V output is quite powerful; most current power supplies use a DC-to-DC converter that can't deliver more than 150 watts. Whether this is good or bad depends on the PC system. +5VSB can handle up to 3A.
The 135mm fan is an RL4Z B1352512H from Globe Fan. This model is used in many power supplies that are manufactured by Sirtec (High Power). With a maximum of 1500RPM it has a moderate speed within the RLXX series, and it can reach a sound pressure level of approximately 29 dBA. However, since the fan output starts at 6V the noise levels are usually not that high. The fan uses 0.33A and consists of 11 fan blades with rough edges.
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IvanChess - Friday, December 16, 2011 - link
I had to buy a 4" 4+4pin to 4+4pin extender for my power supply when I bought a new case with a bottom mount. Fortunately I can route that cable behind the motherboard tray so you never see it.JonnyDough - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Enermax Liberty PSUs die right after the 3 year mark, almost within a month of each other....I'll be sticking with higher end PSUs, and going for the 80+ gold. For the money, they are well worth it.
Sabresiberian - Friday, December 16, 2011 - link
Others will disagree, and I don't blame them; you could spend double the amount on a high end 850W PSU. Three times the $80 figure.However, when I'm building a rig that requires I use a PSU with this much capacity to supply power, I'm not looking to save money as my first priority; I'm looking to supply the highest quality power to components I'm going to push hard through overclocking. I'm looking to install 2 (at least) high end video cards. My philosophy is that it's worth another $100-$150 to have the best available in that situation.
For a build that's never going to see parts pushed hard and doesn't require more than 600W, I can certainly see saving some money with a budget PSU you have read a decent review of .
I give Lepa large amounts of credit though for producing a PSU that will be attractively priced to builders that may not know better than to judge by anything but price, and still give them a decent PSU. Every good one helps put the bad ones out of business.
;)