Cougar: About the Company

In the ever-evolving landscape of PC hardware, the power supply unit (PSU) often plays the unsung hero, silently but reliably delivering the lifeblood to every component. Among the myriad of options available, Cougar has carved out a respectable niche, offering a blend of performance, reliability, and value. Their Atlas 650W Bronze power supply stands as a prime example of this philosophy, providing a robust solution for a wide range of PC builds. To truly appreciate the Atlas 650W Bronze, it’s essential to understand the company behind it and then delve into the technical intricacies that make it a compelling choice.

Cougar, a brand that evokes imagery of strength and agility, is a subsidiary of HEC Group, a prominent Taiwanese manufacturer with a long history in the power supply and PC chassis industries. Established in 2007, Cougar quickly gained traction by focusing on high-quality PC components, including cases, power supplies, cooling solutions, and gaming peripherals. Their mission has consistently revolved around delivering “ultimate gaming gear” to enthusiasts and casual users alike. This commitment is evident in their product design, which often balances aesthetic appeal with practical functionality and a focus on durability. Cougar has built its reputation on providing components that are not only capable but also accessible, bridging the gap between premium performance and reasonable pricing. Their dedication to research and development, coupled with stringent quality control, has allowed them to establish a strong presence in the global PC hardware market, earning the trust of countless builders.

Introducing Atlas 650W Power Supply

The Cougar Atlas 650W Bronze power supply embodies the brand’s commitment to reliable and efficient power delivery. As its name suggests, it offers a continuous power output of 650 watts, a sweet spot for many mainstream gaming rigs and productivity workstations, allowing for the integration of mid-to-high-end graphics cards and multiple storage drives without concern. The “Bronze” designation signifies its 80 PLUS Bronze certification, a crucial benchmark for energy efficiency. This certification guarantees that the PSU operates at a minimum of 82% efficiency at 20% load, 85% efficiency at 50% load, and 82% efficiency at 100% load. In practical terms, this translates to less wasted energy as heat, resulting in lower electricity bills and a cooler, quieter system.

Main Capacitor

Specs Label

Secondary Capacitors

PCB-1

with SM-8800

Circuit Topology

Box Front

Features

Beyond its wattage and efficiency rating, the Atlas 650W Bronze boasts a comprehensive set of specifications that contribute to its robust performance. It typically features a single, powerful +12V rail, designed to deliver stable and ample power to the most demanding components like the CPU and GPU. This single-rail design often simplifies power distribution and minimizes the risk of overloading individual rails. For protection, the unit is usually equipped with a suite of industrial-grade safeguards, including Over-Voltage Protection (OVP), Under-Voltage Protection (UVP), Over-Power Protection (OPP), Short-Circuit Protection (SCP), and Over-Temperature Protection (OTP). These mechanisms are vital for protecting valuable PC components from unexpected power fluctuations or surges, ensuring the longevity of the entire system.

Furthermore, the Atlas 650W Bronze is generally designed with a focus on cooling and noise reduction. It commonly incorporates a large, temperature-controlled fan, often around 120mm, which intelligently adjusts its speed based on the PSU’s thermal load. This smart fan control minimizes noise during lighter workloads while providing ample cooling under heavy loads, contributing to a quieter computing experience. Connectivity is also a key consideration; the unit typically provides a standard array of connectors, including a 24-pin ATX connector for the motherboard, 4+4-pin EPS connectors for the CPU, and multiple 6+2-pin PCIe connectors for graphics cards, alongside SATA and peripheral connectors for storage and accessories. While often a non-modular or semi-modular design at this price point, the cable lengths are usually sufficient for routing in most standard ATX cases.

Interals

Open removing the top cover, we have access to all of the internals of Atlas-650. Looking up closely we see a fully implemented EMI filtering, an MOV along with a fuse is visible right after. There is an NTC Thermister present as part of the inrush current protection circuit. A single GBU-1008 Rectifier is visible with a small heatsink applied to it, whose thermals we’ll see later into the review. The primary capacitor is TEAPO LG 450V 390uF 3000Hrs rated at 105 Celsius, while all the secondary capacitors are CapXon KF 16V 3300uF 2000Hrs rated at 105 Celsius. There is an onboard DC-DC circuit present which provides lesser senisitivity among the interdependancy of rails with varying loads. We’ll see how well this combination of components plays out once we get to extensive testing of PSU quality parameters according to 80 Plus as well as ATX certifications.

Cougar Atlas 650W Testing:

Once again, we’ll hook the Atlas 650 to SunMoon SM-8800 testbench and start the loading by directly applying 50% load. Our primary objectives of this testing are verification of 3 quality parameters which are efficiency, ripple characteristics and regulation on application of certain loads.

50% load observations

Now, at 50% load which is of 325W, we measure the efficiency to be 89.8% while the bare minimum for 80+ Bronze certification is 88% of efficiency at 50% load. The power factor is observed to be 0.984 which is perfectly well above 0.9. The regulation is observed to be 12.1V, 5.00V, 3.27V on the 12V, 5Vsb & 5V and 3.3V rails respectively. The ripple on 12V, 5V, 5Vsb and 3.3V rails is observed to be 28.83mV, 18.24mV, 15mV and 18.24mV respectively which is well within the maximum limits of 120mV, 50mV, 50mV and 50mV. At this load we check the temperatures inside the PSU by means of Uni-T UTi32 thermal imaging camera and found out the hottest point inside the PSU to be 45.3 Celius while 35 Celsius on rectifier, 39 Celsius on primary MOSFETs.

100% load observations

Applying 100% load, we’ll wait for the usual 5 minutes for the internals to reach a stable electrical and thermal performing point so we may take stable readings. At this loading point, 80+ Bronze certified PSU has to provide a minimum of 85% efficiency for 230V input. We observe the efficiency in this case to be 86.4% at power factor of 0.996which is very good. The regulation is well within the specs with 12V, 5V, 5Vsb and 3.3V rails at 11.99V, 4.97V, 4.94V and 3.22V respectively. The ripple also qualifies with 40mV, 17mV, 14mV and 16mV respectively. Measuring the temperatures inside by means of the thermal camera we see the hottest visible point inside the PSU at 57 Celsius with rectifier being at 42 Celsius.

110% load observations

Increasing the load further to 715W and, again after waiting for 5 minutes, we observe the efficiency to be 85% although it is not to be considered as qualifying for any standard as 80 Plus only dictates efficiency limits till 100% load. The power factor is at 0.996. The regulation for the respective rails stays stable at 11.95V, 4.96V, 4.93V and 3.21V as well as ripple at 43.2mV, 18mV, 14mV and 16mV. Observing the temperatures, we found the hottest point in the PSU to be at 61 Celsius while rectifier at 46 Celsius.

Safety feature verification

We run our automated testing configuration by switching the SM-8800 to PC automatic testing mode and running the SM-8800 software which would run preliminary tests again for 20%, 50%, 100% and 110% loads as well as run the safety tests for short circuit protection, over current protection, over-power protection and find no anomalies in the PSU behavior while the test were passed without any abnormalities.

Cross-loading tests and quality verification

For the cross-loading tests we have two methods. The first one being minimum load applied on the 12V rail while the minor rails are loaded near higher loading points and the later being maximum load applied on the 12V rail while minor rails are at minimum load.

The first cross loading test passes on the regulation without any issues and  with ripple on the rails to be 20mV, 15mV, 24mV and 15mV respectively on 12V, 5V, 5Vsb and 3.3V rails.

In the second test we applied just 1A each on the minor rails and apply maximum load on 12V rails which is rated to be 650W alone. Again, the regulation was foudn to be A-okay with ripple being 32.5mV, 14.4mV, 22.8mV and 13mV.

Conclusion

Cougar Atlas 650W Bronze power supply stands as a testament to Cougar’s commitment to delivering reliable, efficient, and well-protected power solutions. With its roots in the experienced HEC Group and its focus on the needs of PC enthusiasts, Cougar has cultivated a brand known for its practical innovation. The Atlas 650W Bronze, with its 650-watt output, 80 PLUS Bronze efficiency, robust protection circuitry, and thoughtful cooling, offers a compelling package for anyone seeking a dependable foundation for their PC build. It’s a silent yet powerful component that embodies the “roar of efficiency” Cougar strives to achieve, ensuring that your system has the stable power it needs to perform at its best.

PC build recommendations

Considering a standrad 4-fan PC Case, 90W max PPT, standard A / B / H series motherboards we recommend a standard PC configuration having at best an RX 7800 XT paird with this system while nomial PC builds may consider adding RX 6800 XT, RX 6700 XT, RTX 4070 in a PC build. For the PCs built at our shop, we follow a rule of thumb of having atleast 30% power headroom within the maximum power load to compensate for spikes and high-power short-time windows of performance. the 90W max PPT processors would be upto AMD Ryzen 7 5700X from AM4, while the standard non-X CPUs from AM5 7000 series or even a 7800X3D as well as the Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 series from AMD 9000 AM5 series of processors.

Testing Video: