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
Except for the specifications, the EG651P was very similar to the EG465. It came with the same glossy finish, copper sheathed ATX cable, and rear variable fan controller.
Undoubtedly, Enermax has the best power supply cable management capabilities available. To combat interference, the ATX and +12V cables are copper meshed with rubber sheathing. This copper shielding extends all the way into the power supply housing, where the rails are also shielded in copper. It is no wonder why this power supply is also one of the heaviest.
This is the only other power supply in our review to display the ATX12V 1.2 compliance. For those of you not familiar, this is the published standard that assures stability with Intel and AMD systems. This particular standard makes sure the +3.3V rail is not neglected when increasing the wattage on the +12V rail, but also assures tight specifications on the lesser used -5VSB rail. We can see that the specifications on this unit are not skewed only to the +12V rail, so this unit does make sense for an AMD system builder as well.
Wattages
|
|
3.3V |
5V |
12V |
-12 |
-5 |
+5vsb |
combined theoretical |
actual combined |
advertised total |
|
Enermax EG651P-VE FMA 550W |
118.80 |
180.00 |
432.00 |
12.00 |
5.00 |
11.00 |
298.80 |
200.00 |
550.00 |
Specifications alone speak volumes for this power supply. The +12V rail has an advertised rating of 36A, or 432 watts. This puts the EG651 way above any other non-Enermax component. However, since mathematically the power supply can only sustain about 330watts on that rail, the advertised 432 is probably the peak output. Even at 330W, the EG651 still towers over most power supplies.
The EG651P-VE is one of the pricier units in our round up. Most online retailers are carrying this unit for around $135, but with rebates and deals you might get it as low as $120.
We thank MaxPoint for rushing us the two Enermax power supplies to us before the deadline for this article.
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Anonymous User - Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - link
I personally thought the Antec True Power 330 was shining a little bit in this review. With 31.0 - 34.5 dBa noise, 26.5 - 33.8 C temp, on the lower end of memory errors, and a little tighter voltages than the average, it seems like it gives you the best combination of all categories. The only thing we're missing is some of the wattage testing. What do you guys think? And what about some of the other True Power product line - perhaps the 430 since 330 is at the lower end of PSU size that I would like to get for the power usage of any new computer (the True Control 550 is in a different product line than the True Power).Anonymous User - Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - link
Seasonic Super Silencer 400 would be interesting to test later - see if their claims of efficient, cool and quiet are accurate.abr27440 - Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - link
does it strike anyone else as odd that their memory if flopping bits left and right on their test? Dont know about you but i would prefer NO bit flips. :)Anonymous User - Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - link
A few clicks of my calculator indicate that only the Zalman ZM400A-APS and Fortron FSP400-60PFN did significantly better than average on the Interference Test, and only the TTGI/Superflower 420SS and TTGI/Superflower 520SS 4Fan did significantly worse.What were the results when different memory modules were tried, preferrably other makes of modules with other makes of chips? I'd like to know because the error rates indicated are roughly 10,000 to 1,000,000 times what memory manufacturers claim in actual systems.
Anonymous User - Monday, August 4, 2003 - link
I'm a bit confused over what it takes to be a good power supply? You slammed the Antec TruePower 330 for its "modest" +12 volt rail (204 watts). Yet you give the Frotron FSP400 your editors award and it only pumps 180 watts on the +12 volt rail. I would think this is a very important part of the formula for your pick since so many systems by your readers have high demands on the +12 volt rail due to the popularity of high end video cards. Comments?Anonymous User - Monday, August 4, 2003 - link
Another agreement with #15 and #18. If you want quiet, go for the silencer series. They are the same PS with different cooling.I discovered this when I found out what an outstanding company they are. My first PCP&C supply was a silencer 235, which is still running perfectly after 8 years. However, it wasn't enough juice for a P4 system. I wanted a new silencer with more power, but I balked at the price of the 400. I bought the turbocool 350 and boy was it loud! I called PCP&C and told them of my dilemna: what I really wanted was a silencer 350, which they didn't offer. NO PROBLEM! They put together a custom, full-warranty 350 silencer for me for $10 extra and shipped it right out.
Anonymous User - Monday, August 4, 2003 - link
The page on the TruePower 330 says the power on the +12V rail is 'extremely modest'. Did you mean to say the "+5V rail", rather than the "+12V rail"?KF - Monday, August 4, 2003 - link
The startling part of this review is that every power supply produced memory errors within six hours. It would seem every PC is unrealible and therefore worthless, regardless of the power supply. The cause could just as easily have been junk (noise, spikes, drop-outs, oscillations) on the power supply leads as electromagnetic interference. Or maybe it was a problem with the motherboard.Another interesting fact is that all the power supplies preformed insignificantly different under the loads used. Good news for people using cheap power supplies.
It would be interesting to know what the loads on the different voltage supplies are for real PCs by actual measurement. Not guess, not calculation from the labels. Monitor the currents while you do some of those stressful mobo benchmarks. How much on 12V, 5V, 3.3V? Without numbers, it is impossible to gauge what realistic power supply specs should be.
Anonymous User - Monday, August 4, 2003 - link
Erm, don't know of any mobo using the +3.3 as source rail for an AMD cpu; perhaps you might look at the +5.0 as a candidate.What 'theory' is behind that "theoretical combined" value? Meaningless, except to show a lack of understanding of how a 'standard' PSU is constructed (the only PSU where this would be comprehensible are the non-standard design Truepowers, where, of course, the value was ommitted).
A multimeter (or mobo sensor) gives only vague 'averages' of the madly fluctuating voltages that occur as millions of transistors switch on and off on each clock cycle; these broad values are only useful as an indicator of capacity/quality by the amount of sag between idle and load. You need a trapping 'scope' to nail the maximum variations to see the quality of the regulation (also to actually measure ripple).
Generally speaking, about 20W are consumed by the control (-) voltages, so that the total actual capacity of the three power rails is less than the claimed power. I have never seen a manufacturer claim a wattage not rounded to 5W, and just as the individual +3.3 and +5 wattages can 'sum' to a value greater than the TCO, so can the TCO and +12 wattages 'sum' to a number greater than the combined +3.3 +5 and +12 total wattage capacity. All of this leads to the impression that some table values (+12 in particular) were 'calculated' under some 'theory', and not the manufacturers' specs.
Anonymous User - Monday, August 4, 2003 - link
/RANT ON HOW THE MODS MODERATE...IF you mods want to play the PC card, they play it fairly or don't play it at all.
Why is a thread locked, when a person mentions a "blackie is aggressive, or these "africa americans are always aggressive".
Yet when another individual makes a similar thread, but this time ranting on "hispanics are all crazy etc etc" it doesn't get locked on.
Or this one is my favorite, i just saw a thread where someone mentioned his "retarded neighbour" lit fire to a paper roll or something. Now i thought calling someone retarded is not Political correct.
Like i said if you mods want to play the Political correctness game, then play it fairly or stop choosing at your will which threads offend you personally.
I assume this message won't get thru, because its sent from an anonymous. oh well.