Apexgaming AG-750M

[testman78]

Introduction

Apexgaming is not top of mind when considering the purchase of a PSU, but with a 10 year warranty it seems worth seeing how it fares on our test bench. Although Apexgaming has entered the mainland market shortly and is rarely known, there are indications that the company, which started in 1988, has a solid economy, technology and capacity. From the point of view of production and sales, Apexgaming's power products are self-produced and not produced by OEM, so it is possible that the design is also self-developed. Apexgaming's AG line consists of six members ranging from 650W to 850W. In addition, it features fully modular cabling. You should also know that those models have the 80 PLUS gold certification. This time, the PSU that is brought to us is Apexgaming AG-750M.



A quick look at the specifications:




Packaging & Contents

The AG-750M power supply comes supplied in a large, strong cardboard box. On the front is a three-quarter shot of the PSU with its modular panel exposed. The blue and black color palette looks nice. The front side mainly introduces several important characteristics of this power supply. The upper and lower sides of the outer box are printed with the brand name and model, the manufacturer's contact information, the power cord form, the product barcode, the official website URL and the safety certification mark.



The back of the package is an introduction of the main selling points. The main selling points include support for INTEL's latest 7th generation, 8th generation processor, support for 10 years warranty, 80PLUS gold certification, conversion efficiency up to 92% under 220-240VAC load, using top Japanese capacitors, 140mm low noise fan, multiple protection design and so on. There is also a description of the included cables and connectors. The type, number, and size of the modular cables are clearly marked.



It also provides a wealth of data information on all sides. On the right side of the package, there are detailed parameters about the power supply of the AG-750M. Among them, the most important one is to support a wide voltage of 100 to 240 volts, the peak power can reach 950W, and the average time between failures is up to 100,000 hours.



The energy efficiency curve and fan noise curve are also provided on the left side of the package, which can be used as a reference for daily use. It can be seen from the energy efficiency curve that the AG-750M can achieve energy efficiency conversion of up to 92% under 50% load, and it can ensure more than 90% energy efficiency in the 40%-60% load range with more daily contact.



The PSU is wrapped with a plastic bag and placed in two pieces of cardboard. The cardboard might be sturdy enough, but a couple of foam spacers would protect the supply from rough handling.



In addition to the power supply the package includes a power cord, mounting screws, synthetic cloth pouch with modular cables, safety information paper, certifications papers and the warranty guide paper.



The AG-750M provides a total of 8 modular cables, in addition to the necessary 60-pin motherboard power supply line up to 60 cm and the 6+4 PIN CPU power supply line of 65 cm long.




A Closer Look-Outside

In design, we can see that the Apexgaming AG-750M is not very different from most power supplies. The power supply is finished with plain black paint which means it will suit a wide variety of systems without becoming a visual eyesore. The paint does attract fingerprints, but they are easily removed with a quick wipe. The main body of the power supply highlights the brand LOGO and product model, as well as the 80PLUS Gold certification. In addition, there are two grooves designed to correspond to the e-sports of this power supply.



The direction of the sticker is changed according to the power installation position.



You can also clearly see the fully modular design of the AG-750M.



The Apexgaming AG-750M has a power supply length of 16cm, which is slightly longer than the standard 14cm ATX power supply. The power supply adopts a 14cm diameter 7-blade cooling fan. We can see a branded LOGO decorative medal in the center. Through the vents, we can see the internal components and fan of the AG-750M. The three stickers are: tamper sticker, quality inspection sticker and HI-POT pressure insulation test OK sticker.



Apexgaming AG-750M power supply adopts single +12V output design. The highest current is 62A, which is equivalent to the highest 744W output power. +5V and +3.3V pass DC. The to DC circuit converts output from +12V, the maximum current is 25A, and the combined output of the two combined outputs is 150W.



There is AC power connector and switch on the back. The advantage of this design is that it allows the user to easily disconnect the power supply.



The rear of this power supply is quite busy, with nine connectors for the modular cables placed next to each other in two rows. The bottom left is printed in white to indicate the type of connection, and the lower right is brand LOGO.



The provided cables are flat and of good quality. We definitely prefer flat cables over round-shaped ones since they block less airflow inside the chassis. On top of that, you can route them more easily, simplifying cable management. Some of you might prefer individually sleeved cables. But they're much more expensive and it's harder to route them.



Two graphics cards double 6+2 Power supply cables are available in lengths of 60 cm and 75 cm, and there are two 4-pin SATA cables, as well as a 4X4PIN plug cable for fans, plus a small 4PIN patch cord.



18AWG specification cable.




A Closer Look-Inside

Let's go further, unpack the shell and see what's going on inside!



Apexgaming AG-750M power supply is manufactured by Solytech. It is based on active PFC, half-bridge LLC resonance and synchronous rectification plus DC to DC architecture. This architecture is commonly used in 80Plus gold or above. It uses Japanese capacitors and Taiwanese capacitor materials.



The primary EMI of the power supply is soldered to the AC socket through a separate PCB. There is one X capacitor and one pair of Y capacitors. The fuse is also on this separate PCB. The secondary EMI circuit is placed on the main PCB, including 1 For the Y capacitor, 1 X capacitor, and 2 common mode conductors. The MOV and NTC are complete, and the NTC is located next to the PFC inductor.



The main capacitor of the power supply comes from Rubycon. There are two configurations, the specifications are 400V/330μF/105C and 400V/270μF/105C. The parallel connection is equivalent to a total capacity of 600 μF, which is sufficient for a power supply with a rated power of 750 W.



The rectifier bridge of the power supply is a single GBU1506 with a specification of 600V/15A. The power supply uses an active PFC+LLC half-bridge resonant architecture. The PFC switch tube shares a heat sink with the main switch tube, while the PFC diode uses a separate heat sink. The model of the PFC switch tube and the main switch tube are both AP65SL190DWL, 650V/ 12.3A. The PFC diode is CREE C3D08060A, 600V/8A.



+12V output is filtered with solid capacitors.



The +5V and +3.3V outputs of the power supply are designed with DC-DC. Each output is equipped with 3 MosFETs, all of which are QM3004D. The specification is 30V/ 40A@100C/8.5mΩ, and the APW7159C is used as the control IC.



The power module interface is also equipped with an electrolytic capacitors for filtering.



The soldering looks good. It might not be up to Delta's or Flextronic's level, but it's definitely a step forward for Apexgaming. We carefully examined the PCB and didn't find any incomplete joints or problematic leads.



The 14cm diameter 7-blade ball bearings fan is from Shenzhen Zhiyu Technology. The model is AV-F14025MB, DC12V/0.25A. It uses a maximum speed of 2000 RPM and a maximum airflow of 107 CFM.




Test System

In order to review power supplies the right way i needed some key pieces of equipment. Briefly those pieces of equipment are shown below.



SunMoon SM-8800 SMPS ATE
CSI3710A Programmable DC load (+3.3V and +5V outputs)
CSI3711A Programmable DC load (+12V1, +12V2, +12V3, and +12V4)
Extech MultiMaster MM560 digital multimeter
Extech 380803 Power Analyzer
SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa)
Oscium iMSO-104 signal oscilloscope
Oscium WiPry-Combo peak power meter and spectrum analyzer
Sperry DT-506 4 Channel Digital Thermometer
Powerstat Variable Autotransformer, 1.4 KVA, 0-140 VAC


Voltage Variance

Load regulation rates as a pass. I have seen much better results from other 750 watt units although there is nothing here to raise any major concerns.




Cross Load

The unit dealt with the cross loading test however there was quite a lot of movement on the +5V and +12V rails.




AC Ripple

Ripple suppression is decent, although far short of the best we have tested in past years. The +12V rail peaks at 75mV under full load conditions which is a little higher than we would like to see.




Efficiency

The overall efficiency of the Apexgaming AG-750M power supply is very good and meets the criteria for 80Plus Gold certification, even while operating on 115 VAC and at elevated temperatures.



For those interested, we measured efficiency when stressing the unit to breaking point. 89.94 percent efficiency at 757W … hardly practical, but interesting regardless.




Temperature

The 140mm fan is peaking at an 11c above ambient threshold when fully loaded.




Noise Level

At 375 watts demand the large fan starts to spin up a little, hitting a noise rating at close to 31dBa. When the fan spins up in the last 250 watts of power delivery, the noise levels increase noticeably.




Final Thoughts

The Apexgaming AG-750M is a decent power supply created to meet a very specific price point. The appearance of the AG-750M is relatively simple, with only the classy paint job and the fully modular design separating this unit from generic builds. The AG-750M is a very friendly power supply for small cases, and it also features a flat cable design that makes it easier to route in a space-constrained installation environment. In addition, this power supply also uses a rectangular honeycomb design, the heat dissipation hole on the top of the power supply is dense, and the heat dissipation performance of the 140 mm fan is also excellent. Technically the unit is unremarkable. Load regulation is acceptable, however it exhibits noticeable droop via both +5V and +12V rails. Ripple suppression falls within rated industry tolerance levels, however the +12V rail hits 75mV at full load which is a little higher than we would like to see, even from a budget oriented unit.The 140mm fan does the job adequately, although in the last 200 watts of power output, it does spin up noticeably, emitting a fair bit of noise. The efficiency of the unit is actually very good, and we recorded close to 92% at 50% load which is a great result.



The 10-year warranty is absolutely sincere. If you change a computer for 5 years, then this power supply can be used for two cycles. 80 PLUS Gold certification is also good in terms of energy saving, using Japanese capacitors, flat modular cables, and various work protection. Overall, the quality of power provided is acceptable, but not top notch, which makes sense at it's $89 price point. Many 750 watt 80 PLUS Gold certification units we have tested are priced closer to $100. The Apexgaming AG-750M power supply is a decent option for those who want a very efficient power supply at the lowest possible price.