The fresh V650 is a good PSU, but at its price, someone can find products with better load regulation and performance with transient loads. The V650 also failed to be as amazingly efficient as its smaller sibling, the V550, at light loads. While the V550 is among the most efficient PSUs in the 40-100 W load range, losing only to its predecessor, the VSM550, the V650 doesn't stand out from the crowd, taking a lower place in the corresponding efficiency graph. Cooler Master also equipped the V650 with the same number of PCIe and EPS connectors as the V550 and only increased the number of SATA and peripheral connectors, which is a huge drawback. Two PCIe connectors are very few for a 650 W PSU and restrict its usability. The V650 should come with four PCIe connectors and, why not, an additional EPS cable. The good news here is that there are two free sockets on the modular board, so someone could easily increase the number of provided connectors by purchasing additional cables. With that said, Cooler Master should also provide these additional cables since this PSU is quite expensive and many users will not want to spend even more money on additional cables.

Regarding this product's price, the difference between the older VSM and fresh V units is huge, and I believe that it isn't fully justified by the new fan, fully modular design, and exclusive use of Japanese caps. The V650 cost $130 at the time of review while the EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G2 went for $100 bucks and the Corsair RM650x for $110. Both EVGA's and Corsair's units perform better than the V650 and come with longer warranties—10 years for EVGA's and 7 years for Corsair's offering. As I see it, the most important advantages of the V650 are its high quality fan with a lifetime of 160,000 hours, ultra-compact dimensions, and silent operation under normal conditions. Currently, only SilverStone offers fully modular PSUs of similar capacity that are only 14 cm long (i.e. ST65F-G), so your choices are limited. Should you want to invest in a Cooler Master PSU, I would advice you to take the V550 over the V650 for a mid-level system. The V550 is much more efficient at light loads and comes with the same number of PCIe and EPS connectors out of the box. In my opinion, Cooler Master should lower the prices of its new lower capacity V units soon in order to increase their performance-per-dollar score, which would make them more appealing to users. Given that the competition is strong, constantly reducing their offering's prices, this unit's small dimensions aren't its most crucial selling point, and, as such, not enough to have these new V units survive in such a tough marketing arena.