Cougar LX 500w Bronze Fully Modular Power Supply Review

Introduction

Cougar LX 500w

While Cougar might be reasonably newcomers to the world of PC parts and components, they have very quickly attempted to grab themselves a slice of cake in what is a very crowded party. At present they offer many components from gaming mouses to system chassis and even dabble in some of the luxury gaming items such as headsets and gaming chairs. In this instance though, we take a look at one of their newer entries in the world of power supplies.

We have reviewed Cougar power supplies in the past and most recently an earlier STX line. In truth, as much as we wanted to like it, we were not fans. In the LX though, it seems that Cougar may have learned from their mistakes. Unlike the STX line, this new version is fully-modular and in addition, it also has achieved a bronze rating in power efficiency. While the STX was 80 plus rated, it did not perform well enough to achieve a bronze rating. In fact, our testing at 100% load found it only barely squeaked even at that 80 plus requirement.

Therefore, with a new model, so far, this sounds like music to my ears in terms of improvements.

Some notes before we continue!

Despite this being a new model, Cougar has retained some of the features from the previous designs. This includes the unusually back set fan location and, in addition, the small compact design. While this might ring some alarm bells, I’m actually not that worried. Why? Because those aspects were not the ones that needed changing.

As such, I am confident from the improvements advertised on the box, this will not only be a strong improvement, but a vastly significant one. Why? Because they are all exactly what I would have changed if I worked for Cougar.

At this point, I can’t wait to see how much of an improvement has been made. Inevitably, I will be making comparisons to the prior STX model as we go along, but I’m confident that the LX will have nothing but positives.  Let’s check out the Cougar LX 500w power supply!

Features

The Cougar LX power supply features a single 12V rail which, although fairly common for modern power supplies, is still a great feature more need to adopt. This does, of course, also come with a lot of other impressive features including the bronze rated power efficiency and the plethora of safeguards for protecting your power supply.

• • Fan Curve Fine Tuning Advanced technology for better cooling quality.
  • Impressive Operation at 40°C Powerful performance at 40°C/104°F ambient temperature
  • 80-PLUS® Bronze Certified Efficiency up to 88% power conversion for reducing your electricity bill.
  • Compliant with ErP Lot 2013 Energy consumption in standby is <0.5W: Extremely eco-friendly.
  • Support Multi-GPU Technology Supports PCI Express 3.0 graphics cards with 6+2pin PCI-E connectors
  • Single +12V DC Source Massive outputs for high power devices
  • Strong Safeguards: OCP, OPP, OVP, UVP & SCP Maximum safety for your key system components
  • Optimized over Current Protections Your components will operate stably and protected from any harm

Inside the box, you will find the power supply in a protective foam casing, all the cables, the product manual and warranty information (which incidentally, is 3-years). Alas, as Cougar is a brand known for budget rather than bang, the cables are loose with no bag to keep them in.

Specifications

For in-depth specifications, please visit the official Cougar LX  product page here.

What Cougar Had to Say

LX is a high quality fully modular compact PSU. Its modular structure will allow you to use only the cables you need and minimize the cable clutter; the HDB fan in it provides smoother cooling, with better performance and less noise; and its DC-DC power conversion technology guarantees and regulates a stable voltage output in all situations. – Cougar

Cables

Fortunately, the people at Cougar know what information to give and as such have provided this fantastic chart and visual description of all cabling with is provided with their LX 500 model. Please note that for the alternative 600w model, this does differ.