The cooperation between Kingwin and Super Flower seems grow as time passes and the latest outcome of this partnership is the Kingwin Absolute Platinum line, which consists of two Platinum units that won't break the bank. Today's review sample, the Kingwin AP-550, performed excellent in almost all of my tests. It has not only the affordable price going for it, but it also achieves truly amazing efficiency throughout the whole load range. PSUs that peak at over 93% efficiency and provide 85% efficiency at 40W are unique. So far I haven't seen any PSU register such high efficiency levels at ultra low loads, so this unit will be a dream come true for systems with low energy demands.

On top of that voltage regulation at +12V is tight, ripple suppression is excellent and output noise is almost non-existant, since this unit goes fanless most of the time, even at higher ambient temparatures. Here I should note that since the fan, even at full speed, is really quiet I would liked an option to constantly engage it because personally I don't feel so comfortable when the PSU works fanless at 60% load and over 35°C ambient. This means excess and unnecessary stress on the internal components, especially the caps, for which 10°C hotter means 50% shorter lifetime

To sum up, Kingwin managed to provide a bargain offer to users that don't mind non modular PSUs. Currently it is sold for mere 100 bucks at Newegg (was $119.99) and for those of you that desperately want modular cables you can take a look at the Kingwin LZP-550 whose price has been greatly reduced lately and right now costs only $20 more than the AP-550.