2003 Power Supply Roundup Part II: Better Faster Cheaper
by Kristopher Kubicki on July 31, 2003 1:58 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
We took the time to put our power supplies under a multimeter to determine the extreme values of each power supply
We came under a little scrutiny in our last review because we used hard drives to perform our “stress testing.” Well all you EE folks can eat your hearts out because we built our own resistance platform out of junk found around our lab and the local university basement. After several power supplies and ECS motherboards later, we came up with something capable of putting our power supplies under 300W of load (60W on the +3.3V, 100W on the +5.0V, and 140W on the +12V rail).
Below is a table of the Voltages we recorded while the system was under load. Using a multimeter we measured the power supplies from the ATX cable. The highest and lowest values demonstrated were recorded.
Measured Voltages
|
|
+3.3V Low |
+3.3V High |
+5V Low |
+5V High |
+12V Low |
+12V High |
|
Allied AL-A400ATX |
3.260 |
3.280 |
4.965 |
5.005 |
11.780 |
11.880 |
|
Antec TrueControl 550 |
3.275 |
3.320 |
4.970 |
5.015 |
11.880 |
11.990 |
|
Antec TruePower 330 |
3.280 |
3.315 |
4.980 |
5.030 |
11.920 |
11.995 |
|
Enermax EG465AX-VE FCA 460W |
3.295 |
3.330 |
4.980 |
5.040 |
11.960 |
12.020 |
|
Enermax EG651P-VE FMA 550W |
3.300 |
3.325 |
4.985 |
5.045 |
11.965 |
12.030 |
|
Enhance ENS-0246 460W |
3.290 |
3.320 |
4.950 |
5.040 |
11.895 |
11.980 |
|
Fortron FSP400-60PFN |
3.280 |
3.320 |
4.985 |
5.025 |
11.895 |
12.000 |
|
Kingwin KWI-450WABK |
3.300 |
3.340 |
4.985 |
5.040 |
11.990 |
12.220 |
|
PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 475 |
3.295 |
3.310 |
4.990 |
5.005 |
11.990 |
12.050 |
|
Sparkle FSP350-60PN |
3.275 |
3.320 |
4.980 |
5.035 |
11.925 |
11.995 |
|
ThermalTake PurePower 480W |
3.280 |
3.335 |
4.945 |
4.995 |
11.860 |
11.970 |
|
TTGI/SuperFlower 520SS 4Fan |
3.300 |
3.355 |
5.005 |
5.080 |
11.995 |
12.235 |
|
TTGI/SuperFlower 420SS |
3.305 |
3.350 |
4.990 |
5.045 |
11.990 |
12.225 |
|
TTGI/SuperFlower 350SS |
3.295 |
3.365 |
4.995 |
5.040 |
11.995 |
12.195 |
|
TurboLink 420W |
3.250 |
3.295 |
5.010 |
5.035 |
11.790 |
11.895 |
|
Vantec Ion 400W |
3.270 |
3.320 |
4.925 |
5.040 |
11.880 |
11.940 |
|
Vantec Stealth 520W |
3.260 |
3.335 |
4.925 |
5.045 |
11.890 |
11.945 |
|
Zalman ZM400A-APF |
3.285 |
3.320 |
4.985 |
5.035 |
11.895 |
11.990 |
Our table confirms the reverse of the previous interference test. Again, the sturdier constructed power supplies ended up performing with the tigheset specifications. The TurboCool 475 performed incredibly well; even with our high expectations we could not believe the performance. It is our guess that the PC Power & Cooling engineers really know what they are doing.
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Anonymous User - Monday, August 18, 2003 - link
I cast another vote for us to be able to get a copy of the modified version of memtest86. I'd love to check to find out how much bit-flipping is happening over time on my various PCs. In addition, it seems to me that it would be a good way to see if ECC memory is actually doing what it should be. (If a bit gets flipped on a board with ECC memory that's supposed to support ECC memory then there's obviously something wrong).Also, you should give a copy of your modified source to the memtest people so that they might include the long delay time as an option in a new version.
Anonymous User - Sunday, August 17, 2003 - link
Any chance of a review of the silentmaxx fanless 350W. This thing has no fans so in theory it should be 0Dba! Not sure where the poewsupply is up to the job though on the poewer front - a review owuld be great. Cost as you probably guess is on the high side...http://www.silentmaxx.net/silent_products/power_su...
Anonymous User - Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - link
To me the most interesting data from this roundup was the instability a PS can cause to a system. I think this subject is worth a dedicated article. Also how can we reproduce this data at home? Where can we get the modified memtest86?Anonymous User - Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - link
Hello!!??? Seasonic power supplies?? These have to be the quiestest power suplies I have ever (NOT) heard. Appears to be pretty well constructed. These should realy be included in any decent, comprehensive power supply round-up.Anonymous User - Monday, August 11, 2003 - link
They didn't look at the seasonic brand. recommended herehttp://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.php?op=modlo...
Anonymous User - Monday, August 11, 2003 - link
I got a PC P&C Silencer 300 a while back, and I was very unimpressed with its noise level. It was hardly quieter than the cheapo PSU it replaced. My Enermax 365 and Antec Truepower 350 are much better.How about reviewing Seasonic? I hear they're super quiet. A little hard to find, though...
Anonymous User - Monday, August 11, 2003 - link
Untill all power supply manufacturers get it together and sheath their cables, we are pretty much stuck with what they offer. I solved this in my window case with some electrical conduit from the auto parts store. there are a few color choices including your basic black, but any of them make a world of difference hiding those unsightly P.S. cables. That and a little electrical tape over the white connector and they almost disappear.Anonymous User - Monday, August 11, 2003 - link
Another extremely happy user with a PCP&C Silencer power supply. I do have to question just a bit why the reviewer didn't find out about their existence on his own, noise being the primary complaint in his review (though I imagine the sheer number of power supplies being reviewed and perhaps deadline pressure could have been factors).Anonymous User - Sunday, August 10, 2003 - link
This is actually the third power supply review on Anandtech. Not the second as you wrote.Anonymous User - Thursday, August 7, 2003 - link
#16, please check out http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_power_consumptio... for information on power consumption of several common CPUs (especially AMD).