Cyonic AU-650x 650W Compact Power Supply Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Cyonic AU-650x 650W Compact Power Supply Review - You are likely unfamiliar with the Cyonic brand of PC power suppliers, much like ourselves. It is always exciting to get a new PSU brand as we have no idea of what to expect. Before you scoff, let's keep in mind that this PSU is built by Seasonic, so we may have something here in a very small package. And their logo is pretty cool...
 
The issue for me is why would I take a chance with a rebranded Seasonic from a company that is new when I could buy a EVGA 220-G2-0650-Y1, or a Seasonic X650, I will even include the Corsair RM650 because they have worked well for me in the past which both have better warranties and IMHO are better PSUs with companies that have a good track record for support.

It seems like you came to the same basic conclusion and its a great review, I appreciate you looking into new brands. Maybe we will see them rise to the top eventually, but they clearly have some work to do.
 
It will be hard for the company to enter an already crowded market place, on the enthusiast level. That said, Seasonic actually brought this unit to us for review, which is odd, being this is the first time I have seen this behavior. So it makes me wonder if this is a Seasonic "sub-brand," or actually another company. Seasonic however did represent Cyonic as an OEM customer and not a sub-brand.

That all said, if Seasonic is helping with a push at the distributor and retail level, with its solid packaging, and solid performance, it has a chance to do well in North America.
 
THis is a very interesting PSU for an HTPC, mini ITX or micro ATX build. Many times the length of a PSU can get in the way of cable management in smaller cases, and having a shorter PSU by a few inches could make such a build go MUCH easier.
Also:
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Kyle, so in PSUs, it works like this (?)-
Seasonic makes PSUs. They make them based on a set and finite number of platforms. Then a bunch of smaller companies buy their PSUs, badge them up, maybe pick a new fan etc, and sell them off. This structure makes sense for me in the GPU market, since there is a ton that the board partners can do (because all Nvidia/AMD supply is the gpu; different PCBs, cooling systems, power systems, software etc) to add value.
In the PSU industry, what's the point? Or does seasonic build per the brand's specifications within the confines of a particular platform?

That being said, this unit seems like an outlier: it's not based on an existing platform and has significant differences (not to mention the weird underneath heatsink), as if Cyonic ordered a custom product from a company that to date doesn't do custom products. This would seem to indicate that Cyonic may indeed be more of a in-house, but also third-party brand.
 
Modred189 said:
Kyle, so in PSUs, it works like this (?)-
Seasonic makes PSUs. They make them based on a set and finite number of platforms. Then a bunch of smaller companies buy their PSUs, badge them up, maybe pick a new fan etc, and sell them off. This structure makes sense for me in the GPU market, since there is a ton that the board partners can do (because all Nvidia/AMD supply is the gpu; different PCBs, cooling systems, power systems, software etc) to add value.
In the PSU industry, what's the point? Or does seasonic build per the brand's specifications within the confines of a particular platform?
Click to expand...

the short answer is a little of both, but among OEMs Seasonic seems to keep a bit tighter control on the amount of variation. Clearly that helps in some ways and may be less helpful in others.

being said, this unit seems like an outlier: it's not based on an existing platform and has significant differences (not to mention the weird underneath heatsink), as if Cyonic ordered a custom product from a company that to date doesn't do custom products. This would seem to indicate that Cyonic may indeed be more of a in-house, but also third-party brand.
Click to expand...

It is circulating with other users but we have not reviewed it before today.
 
Excellent article. I was particularly interested in you comments about quietness, so somewhat disappointed to not see that quantified.

I did pick up one grammar error at the very end (bottom of p9): you write 'but we wish it was' when that should be 'but we wish it were'. You need to use the subjunctive.
 
I don't see what is so cool about the box this otherwise overpriced, mediocre PSU came in. :confused:

Thermaltake,Antec,Coolermaster and even Seasonic make quality PSUs in the same category for 5 to 30 dollars less.
 
So this is just a Seasonic sub-brand basically. I don't see why this product needs to exist. Why not just buy a regular Seasonic?
 
magoo said:
I don't see what is so cool about the box this otherwise overpriced, mediocre PSU came in. :confused:

Thermaltake,Antec,Coolermaster and even Seasonic make quality PSUs in the same category for 5 to 30 dollars less.
Click to expand...

what an odd comment. this psu is par for the course, but not "mediocre" or "overpriced". this is the same unit internally as EVGA's 550 and 650 GS. they are a "new" or at least a heavily modified version of the Seasonic G platform (basically the best mid range psu in it's class) modified to fit a smaller footprint and it's working as this is 10mm shorter than the EVGA versions. as for the other brands, thermaltake's offerings right under $100 aren't as good, period, Coolermaster's VSM 650 has half the usuaul pci-express cables and the price isn't stable, the Antec Edge based on the Seaonic G is the definition of overpriced and Seasonic's own offerings are not fully modular, particularly focused on quiet operation or ultra compact like this and the CM VSM units.true this psu is nothing special, but being that literally all the best psus in it's class aside from Coolermaster's VSM are all based on this or the G platform from seasonic, it's hard to make this stand out and keep the price competitive.
 
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