Performance (40% of the final score) - I must admit I didn't have a lot of hope for this unit, being from the same OEM that completely underwhelmed me the last time I looked at a HEC built product. But, to my delight, this unit did perform pretty well. Voltage regulation could be a little better than it was, and ripple suppression on the minor rails could be improved, but there's a lot to like about this unit. The ripple suppression on the 12V rails was very good to excellent, and you just can't hate a unit that brought a 92.6% efficiency figure to the table. I'm going to give the kitty cat a 9.
Functionality (20% of the final score) - Cougar was thinking ahead when it came to functionality here. There are plenty of cables to do the job, with enough connectors to suit any build that would need a 700 watt model. As a bonus, there are exactly two extra connectors for more PCI-E cables, even though this unit is really too weak to handle more than two video cards at once. But, there was a feature advertised that I didn't get - the delayed fan use on power off. On my sample, it stopped when the unit did. That's not a big deal. Even so, I'll have to pull a half point for that. 9.5.
Value (30% of the final score) - now, this one wasn't easy to pin down. This particular unit doesn't appear to be available in North America right now. What about the Cougars listed at Newegg, you ask? Well... they aren't really the same thing. What we're looking at here is HEC's actual Cougar brand name, not the HEC Cougar units you can currently get at Newegg. Confused, much? Me too. But for this unit, I'm going to have to go all the way to Germany, to hardwareversand.de to find a price. And that price is 129.76 € Euros. And this isn't a bad price at all in relation to some of the other units that site has available. But I really want to see these things being sold in North America instead of these other Cougars that are really different Cougars with names that are too similar to tell them apart easily. Two points off for giving me a cougar sized headache. 8.
Aesthetics (10% of the final score) - I would have gladly given this unit the whole ten on this section had it not been for one little detail - that missing "7" on the one side. Well, that and the garter snake sleeving on the cables. A simple orange and black color scheme would have looked better. 8.
Performance
9
Functionality
9.5
Value
8
Aesthetics
8
Total Score
9
Summary
The Cougar S700 turned out to be a unit that performed very well, and yet at the same time there is some room for improvement. Low level efficiency was excellent to the point I'm sure it can be tweaked to get Gold certification yet, 12V1 ripple suppression could be improved a little more, and the VRMs on the minor rails weren't quite as stable as I would have liked to see. As a result, the score on the S700, when rounded up, just barely squeaks into the recommendation zone here at jonnyGURU.com.
The Good:
fantastic efficiency
very good ripple suppression on the 12V rails
looks fantastic
I found overtemp protection in the unit, even though it wasn't documented on the box
doesn't add much heat to its environment
The Bad:
can't find them in North America yet
VRM stability on the minor rails is a bit lacking
The Mediocre:
when is a Cougar not a Cougar? When it's an HEC Cougar and not an HEC "Cougar" Cougar. Let's fix this, HEC. A confused customer is often happy to go buy from the competition instead.
