Enermax Gold: Modu87+ and Pro87+

Pricing and Availability

The prices in Europe are at first sight unbelievably high: 120/150€ for a 500W power supply? Yes, we are not kidding. These prices are MSRPs, so bear in mind that street prices are frequently lower, especially with better availability and more competition. We should see drops of up to 30€ within a few months since several other manufacturers will be introducing efficient 80 Plus Gold certified power supplies at CeBIT in March.

In case of direct competition, you won't find any at the moment since there are no other manufacturers with a really high efficiency 500W power supply. The next ones are certified with 80 Plus Bronze and go for around 70€. If you calculate how many years you would need to run your system to justify the 50€ to 80€ price premium, you will recognize that even your kids might have to use this power supply in their lifetime. If the prices really fall 20€ to 30€ within the near future, you might want to consider one of those units.

In the 600W region you will have the same thing. 146/175€ is simply too much and Enermax shows clearly that they are taking advantage of the market exclusivity they currently enjoy. You can get 80 Plus Bronze certified units from several other manufacturers for 90€ or less. That's half of what Enermax wants to have for their Modu87+. Seasonic's X-Series with 650W is also available for around 145€ and comes with the 80 Plus Gold certification.

The suggested price of 185/210€ for the 700W units is at least getting close to other units. Other manufacturers have similar products with 80 Plus Silver certification for around 130€ (e.g. the Cougar S700 and the Silverstone Element). If you look again at the Seasonic X-Series you can get the 750W units for 170€. These two units from Enermax will need to get down to similar price levels to compete, and if they do you definitely want to consider the new Enermax models with their very compelling features.

The prices in the U.S. will be similar to what we see in Europe. $130/$150 for a 500W power supply is simply too much and we hope that Enermax will bring in some really good MIRs (mail-in rebates) or other incentives to make these units affordable. Since the 500W models don't actually have a real 80 Plus Gold competitor right now, we need to go down to the Silver level where we can find PSUs like the OCZ 550W Z-Series for around $86 at Newegg (after rebate), or right now we even see a stellar price of just $50 after MIR at Zipzoomfly. You get similar performance and it will cost you $80 less, since it doesn't have any cable management. If you take another step down to 80 Plus Bronze you will have several more choices priced around $100 (sans MIR).

The MSRP of the 600W units is $155 and $175. The main competition is the Seasonic X-Series, just like in Europe, since it comes with similar technology and offerings. The 650W X-Series currently goes for $170 on Newegg, which is the same price as the Modu87+. Dropping to a Silver certification we have again an OCZ Z-Series as a direct competition; it goes for around $90 after $20 MIR, and again Zipzoomfly has a $30 MIR for a final price of $60 - it's also available at TigerDirect for $80 after rebates. With a Bronze certification you will have tons of other manufacturers and all kinds of flavors for you to choose from. There are units from Antec, Thermaltake, Silverstone, Seasonic, Corsair, OCZ, and Cooler Master to name just a few companies. Prices range from $70 to $180 so it seems Enermax wasn't completely unreasonable when they set the MSRP at $130 and $175. If we see the 600W Modu87+ at around $140 it might be worth considering.

The 700W units are priced at $155 and $210 respectively. You can already get the Seasonic 750W X-Series for around $190 and it comes with a similar overall package and technology. Alternately, you can get the Seasonic S12D 750W for around $115 if you are okay with an 80 Plus Silver certification instead of going for the Gold (and you don't care about cable management). Again, there are tons of manufacturers with lower 80 Plus Bronze certification and if you do not care about getting the latest technology you can likely find a better product at a reasonable price among those.