Performance (40% of the final score) - on the strength of its 80 Plus certified electronics, the LS550 did ever so slightly better performance wise than big brother did. Regulation was marginally better, efficiency was better, and not surprisingly ripple and noise suppression was better too. At 550W, this platform really shines, giving us a decent if unspectacular showing. There's really not much too complain about here, so I'm going to give this unit a half point more than big brother, or an 8.5.
Functionality (20% of the final score) - its inability to drown out the Irish Rovers aside, this little unit offers little to complain about here too with just enough connectors to do any job a 550W unit would be good for. The sleeving is just as well done as big brother's, but I regret that the color coding did not make its way down to this model. So, I'm going to take off a half point for that. 8.5.
Value (30% of the final score) - as I type this, the LS550 comes in at $81.83 at Provantage. For a mere four pennies more than that, the same retailer offers the Corsair VX550. This means, unfortunately, that the poor LS550 suffers the same lack of competitiveness that big brother does, although the price issue is somewhat more forgivable this time. Still, I'm going to have to revisit that 7.
Aesthetics (10% of the final score) - I'm sorry, but those silver screws in the black finish are just too distracting. Otherwise, the LS550 looks pretty slick with its matte black finish and cool embossed BFG logos. 8.
Performance
8.5
Functionality
8.5
Value
7
Aesthetics
8
Total Score
8
Summary
Once again, BFG's value oriented LS series aims to give us a well performing unit at a decent price, and once again it just barely misses the mark. I do hope there's room in the future for the price to come down some, because these really are some decent little units, but when you're competing in price with independently regulated units like the Corsairs while using old group regulated designs... sorry, but that's not a hard choice for me to make.
The Good:
80 Plus certified
5 year warranty
good performance from a group design
excellent ripple suppression
quiet
The Bad:
price not very competitive
The Mediocre:
ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty hours or more until the Irish Rovers get out of my head. Next time I'll name drop Sarah Brightman, maybe, and save my sanity.
