When most people purchase a power supply, many are just satisfied if it just gets their computer running.  In my opinion, a power supply should at least provide power to your computer no matter how little or many components I have in my system.  Second, it should be reliable.  Believe it or not, but if a power supply cannot provide stable and correct voltages, it can potentially harm all the other components in your system...your hard disk, video card, motherboard, etc.  Today, we will be looking at the Enermax Liberty 400 Watt Power Supply.  If you have any recent Intel Pentium or AMD system, 400 Watts should be the minimum for the computer.  Any less, and it is questionable whether or not it can provide enough power for your system.
 

Installing a power supply is not difficult at all.  All you need to do is place it in the correct place in your computer case.  If you have an existing power supply there, you will need to remove it in order to install this newer one.  Even though the product box says that this power supply supports the Pentium D processor as well as dual core systems, what is a bit confusing is knowing if this power supply is actually compatible with your own computer.  The product also mentions that this supports ATX12V version 2.2 and above.  I'm sure most people will not know what that really means.  I tried using this power supply on my Intel Pentium 4 Socket 478 motherboard.  One of the power connectors for the motherboard was unable to fit because the motherboard was crowded near the power supply connector.  Not until I tried it on a newer Intel LGA770 motherboard did the power supply work.

To install this power supply, all you need to do is place the power supply in the correct place in your computer and fasten it in with the provided screws.  From then on, it is all about making the right connections.  If you are familiar with installing a power supply, most people will realize how easily tangled up your wires can get.  This is where the useful ports built-in the power supply come in.  By allowing you to customize where you can plug in a wire, it can make it much easier in keeping the wires organized and making your computer look much better assuming you have a window on the side of your computer.
 

It is quite apparent that Enermax really cares about its customers with the extra things included with this product.  Enermax has provided a key chain band and a sticker to place on your computer recognizing that you have an Enermax power supply installed within the system.

I used a program called SpeedFan in order to monitor the voltages in my computer with the power supply installed.  At first, I recorded the voltages under idle load after leaving the computer on for about half an hour.  The power supply is theoretically supposed to provide 12V, 5V, and 3.3V.  At idle load, I recorded the voltages to 12.13, 5.12, and 3.35 respectively.  These voltages prove to be stable with only very minor differences from the theoretical to begin with.  I then started to stress the computer by running benchmarks and playing games.  Under a load, I was able to measure the voltages of 12.15, 5.14, and 3.38 respectively.  As we can tell from the numbers, the voltages barely budged at all even under a heavy load.  This proves that this power supply is quite stable. 
 

As an entry level PCI-Express power supply, I felt that this power supply exceeded my expectations.  The modular design used in the power supply is not a new concept and can be seen in other enthusiast power supplies as well.  One day, I hope that all power supplies are modular.  Using PriceGrabber.com, I was able to find this power supply ranging from $90-$100 which is not bad at all for a quality power supply.  A power supply may not be the most exciting compoent in your computer, but it performs one of the more critical functions in your system.  I would not recommend going cheap on a power supply because you put your other expensive components at risk.

Reviewed by ronald@digitalreviews.net