XPG entered the affordable PSU market with the Pylon series, which peaked in this category when Corsair decided to withdraw the CX450 model; from the moment the CX450 was taken out of the equation, the XPG Pylon 450 opened the way for it to shine.

At only $50, it is one of the cheapest PSUs available today, and therefore one of the best gaming power supplies (open in new tab) available today.

Starting in 2022, XPG has upgraded the warranty on all Pylon models to 5 years to keep up with the competition. Given the fluid dynamic bearing fans and the reliable platform provided by Channel Well Technology, the warranty upgrade makes sense. However, due to minor rail generation and non-modular cabling, a DC-DC converter is included

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The platform uses a mix of old and new design techniques. The double forward topology on the primary side is outdated, as is the SBR used for 12V rectification on the secondary side. The latest innovation is a DC-DC converter for generating minor rails, which improves efficiency. The bulk caps are of high quality, but a higher voltage rating of 420V would be ideal; the electrolytic capacitors on the secondary side are from Elite and are of high quality, as are the FDB cooling fans from Hong Hua.

The 12V rail can supply the full power of the unit, and the minor rails can supply up to 100W combined.

All cables are fixed for lower cost; ATX and EPS cables are longer, as are PCIe and peripheral cables; PCIe and peripheral cables are also similar;

The FDB cooling fans are also fixed, as are the FDB cooling fans.

Load regulation is tight across all rails, with excellent ripple suppression.

Hold-up times are not long enough to meet ATX specification requirements, but this is common in the budget PSU category, as bulk caps are one of the most expensive parts of a PSU. Nevertheless, the hold-up time is only 0.1 ms away from the target value, and the hold-up time for the power OK signal is 1.3 ms below the limit.

Normally, inrush currents are much higher with 230 V input.

The double-forward topology of the primary does not allow higher efficiency levels; the PSU cannot exceed 60% efficiency at 2 percent load as required by the ATX specification.

From the graphs, it is clear that the 5VSB rail is highly efficient, and the energy required by the PSU during standby is minimal.

The transient response is mediocre at 12V, good at 5V, good at 5VSB, and worst at 3.3V, with most PSUs in the same category not achieving good results.

As for protection, the trigger points for overcurrent protection at 12V are set correctly, as is the overpower protection (OPP). On the other hand, the OCP point on the 3.3V rail could be much lower.

Relative performance is high, losing only to the Corsair CX450 and Asus TUF-450B, which use the same platform offered by Great Wall Corsair has decided to use a platform with similar specifications as the two OEMs in its CX line. and therefore the CX450 also uses the CWT platform.

Average efficiency is roughly in the middle of this category, but it is not a noisy PSU. Now that the (more expensive) Corsair CX450 has disappeared from the game, the XPG Pylon 450 is one of the best options in the lower capacity category, offering good performance and increased reliability thanks to the proven CWT platform it uses and its compact size

Non-modular.

A non-modular cable design would not please most users, but modular cables would significantly affect the final price, so it had to be modular. Given that this PSU has a low capacity and therefore does not require that many cables, the non-modular design would not be a major issue. Finally, the 5-year warranty offered by XPG is the finishing touch to this product.

If this PSU is not available near you, look for the Asus TUF-450B-Gaming instead. This PSU also performs very well in our tests.