The Enermax Liberty - Getting long in the tooth, but still worth a look
by Christoph Katzer on July 30, 2007 1:40 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Conclusion
There is frankly no need to buy this power supply today since there are better performing units in the market. With this review we mainly wanted to show what the Enermax Liberty is capable of since it was a popular unit for a long time - it was also one of Germany's top selling power supplies. From the quality perspective it is still a very fine product that is relatively quiet and very stable. The efficiency is behind the top units of today, but if you own already a Liberty there is no need for a change (unless perhaps you're looking at quad cores, overclocking, and HD 2900 XT CrossFire).
Comparing the efficiency of the Liberty 500W to the other power supplies we've tested, it ranks at the bottom of the chart right now. However, it's important to clarify that we take the highest efficiency reached during testing for this graph, regardless of load or input voltage used. This is how most manufacturers rate their PSUs, but for a more realistic look at efficiency you should read the individual PSU reviews. At 81%, the Enermax still does quite well, relative to many inexpensive units. It doesn't reach 85% or higher efficiency, but we don't really expect that from older models.
One of the great things about the Liberty - particularly for anyone that already owns one - is that Enermax has provided a reasonable upgrade path by creating new cables. Purchase those separately, and you can be PCI-E 2.0 compliant. With the two 6-pin PEG connectors you already have a decent amount of support for high-end systems, and the upgraded inclusions take that a step further. In our version we had the new 6/8-pin PEG cables, which will be the case for all packages purchased this year.
All the DC outputs have been stable within the specified area and only came close to the lower limit during high performing tests combined with high temperatures. We have been surprised about the very stable 12V rails which have been generally within 0.2V of the ideal voltage. From the acoustic point the Enermax Liberty is surely not silent since you can clearly hear it at medium to high loads. However, as our graphs show it is well cooled inside and this protects the PSU from overheating.
Today, the Enermax Liberty has an average price of around $110 USD or 84 EUR. At a cost of $110 it starts to encroach on the realm of modern high-end power supplies, which in some cases are newer and slightly better in terms of performance and efficiency. Newegg currently has a $10 mail-in-rebate, but even at a price of $100 we would recommend looking around at some of the latest offerings from competitors. The Liberty 500W isn't a bad PSU by any means, but neither is it really class-leading in any area.
There is frankly no need to buy this power supply today since there are better performing units in the market. With this review we mainly wanted to show what the Enermax Liberty is capable of since it was a popular unit for a long time - it was also one of Germany's top selling power supplies. From the quality perspective it is still a very fine product that is relatively quiet and very stable. The efficiency is behind the top units of today, but if you own already a Liberty there is no need for a change (unless perhaps you're looking at quad cores, overclocking, and HD 2900 XT CrossFire).
Comparing the efficiency of the Liberty 500W to the other power supplies we've tested, it ranks at the bottom of the chart right now. However, it's important to clarify that we take the highest efficiency reached during testing for this graph, regardless of load or input voltage used. This is how most manufacturers rate their PSUs, but for a more realistic look at efficiency you should read the individual PSU reviews. At 81%, the Enermax still does quite well, relative to many inexpensive units. It doesn't reach 85% or higher efficiency, but we don't really expect that from older models.
One of the great things about the Liberty - particularly for anyone that already owns one - is that Enermax has provided a reasonable upgrade path by creating new cables. Purchase those separately, and you can be PCI-E 2.0 compliant. With the two 6-pin PEG connectors you already have a decent amount of support for high-end systems, and the upgraded inclusions take that a step further. In our version we had the new 6/8-pin PEG cables, which will be the case for all packages purchased this year.
All the DC outputs have been stable within the specified area and only came close to the lower limit during high performing tests combined with high temperatures. We have been surprised about the very stable 12V rails which have been generally within 0.2V of the ideal voltage. From the acoustic point the Enermax Liberty is surely not silent since you can clearly hear it at medium to high loads. However, as our graphs show it is well cooled inside and this protects the PSU from overheating.
Today, the Enermax Liberty has an average price of around $110 USD or 84 EUR. At a cost of $110 it starts to encroach on the realm of modern high-end power supplies, which in some cases are newer and slightly better in terms of performance and efficiency. Newegg currently has a $10 mail-in-rebate, but even at a price of $100 we would recommend looking around at some of the latest offerings from competitors. The Liberty 500W isn't a bad PSU by any means, but neither is it really class-leading in any area.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
26 Comments
View All Comments
swaaye - Saturday, August 4, 2007 - link
I've bought a few AX400s and an AX450. On the surface, they seem to be great PSUs. Very quiet with that 120 mm fan. I don't think they have very good efficiency. Newegg only says >65%. I would like to see a review of one of them as well.miahallen - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
A8N-SLI DeluxOpty 165 @ 2.5GHz
8800GTX @ 621/999
4x SATA2 HDD
Antec P180b
I bought the Liberty 500W about a year ago and it has served me very well. I am very picky about noise, so I swapped the fan for a low noise Yate Loon model...best change ever. Now I cannot hear it at all!!!
It's interesting you mention good reliability, there seems to be lots of unhappy users on forums around the web having had problems with the Liberty series (mostly the 620W version from my experiance). I also replaced my 500W 6mo after purchase, but not because it failed, it just developed a rattle that drove me crazy. Enermax was very prompt at replacing it with a brand new one! Speaking of failures, I have a good friend who bought the 620W on my recommendation, and his blew up last week?! Whoops! Anyhow, thanks for the great review, you've endulged my confidence in the investment I made :)
JarredWalton - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
So I'm not sure I understand... you bought the 500W and swapped the fan for a Yate Loon, but then the PSU developed a rattle and you got a new unit? I don't know what causes a rattle in a PSU, but usually it's the fan, which you had already replaced.... Since you had already opened it, wouldn't it have been easy to just fix the issue yourself? Or was there something else causing a rattle? (I'm also surprised any manufacturer would replace a PSU that you had opened to swap fans.)Anyway, one of the unfortunate aspects of PSUs is that a company can make an excellent product in one market and a lousy one in another. Sounds like the 500W Liberty might be great but the 620W has issues. I know I had a test system (from ABS) where a 620W failed during the two weeks of stress testing and benchmarks. They sent a replacement, which seemed to work fine, but long-term I couldn't say whether it was really stable.
xsilver - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
just goes to show that old psu's are not outdated by any means.its funny that psu's are one of the few (only?) components that dont drop massively in price years after release.
is there a review of the corsair hx520 in the works? thats the psu that most people seem to be recommending for higher end systems and I feel will be the benchmark for performance/value
Final Hamlet - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
What I am really longing for is the review of the new 1TB-F1 hard-drive by Samsung. Any ETA available?Thank you.
Le Québécois - Monday, July 30, 2007 - link
Any chance you could review one of the newer Enermax model from the Galaxy or Infinity series?Great PSU reviews btw, keep them coming !