We've preached to our readers time and time again about the importance of selecting a good, quality power supply when either building a new system or swapping out a dated or dead unit. We've reviewed an array of various PSU units from Antec, Raidmax, Zalman, SilenX and more to see what works, what doesn't, and how well they actually perform in real world conditions compared to the manufacturers rated specifications. One manufacturer that has long been missing from our PSU coverage, and not to mention a popular favorite among power users, is Enermax. In the case of today's review, we're going to be looking at the EG485P-VHB SFMA supplied to us by Coolergiant, a USA subsidiary of Enermax Group.

Power supplies are the unseen workhorses of the PC world, without them, you're going nowhere; but just because they're a “required standard”, does that mean they have to be left on the back burner of innovation? Now granted, some of this lacking innovation stems from the fact that power supplies are much like moles; usually just tucked away in a dark corner of the computer, never to see the light of day again until a fan bearing goes out or the unit fails. But when it comes to innovation, we're not just talking about good looks or a pretty smile, not everything important is just skin deep. But what can you really introduce to a cramped metal box of various electrical components whose sole purpose is the regulation of power and the dissipation of heat generated by this process?

In the case of Coolergiant, they came up with the idea of implementing a self-contained blower fan inside the unit allowing it to pull air from inside the case and exhaust it out the back, without any bleed off or additional heat added to the PSU component area. The theory behind this is that if the PSU is sitting directly, or near by, the CPU heatsink and fan, the hot air can be carried via the blower out of the system, rather than it being pulled up into an already hot environment within the PSU and then pulled out. The benefit here is two fold, not only are we adding a close, air moving source to pull heat from system components like the CPU and MOSFETs, the PSU can run cooler as there won't be as much runoff heat absorbed.

The extra features don't stop there, Coolergiant has also introduced a second 12V rail; one specifically for the motherboard / ATX lead and the other for peripherals (HDD, CD-ROMs, lighting, etc). This configuration ensures that even if there is a power hungry device or two installed, that there is always a stable current provided to the motherboard. And just to make sure the components are properly cooled down after use, the fans in the unit will continue running for at least an additional 2 minutes after powering down of the computer.

And with that said, let's get this review started and get to the heart of the matter, “Is it worthy of my pocketbook?”