Power Supply Roundup: 730W to 900W
by Christoph Katzer on November 22, 2007 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Amacrox Freestyle - 750W
Amacrox is well known in the European market, providing good quality at an affordable price. The ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) is FSP, also known as Fotron Source - one of the five largest power supply manufacturers in the world. Amacrox is one of several retail brands FPS uses. The Freestyle 750 has a shiny appearance and contains a 12cm fan on the bottom of the power supply. The packaging is quite nice and gives potential buyers a good view of the power supply in retail shops, since there is a small window that allows a look at the power supply inside. Besides the standard short manual, the box also includes a bag in which you can store unused cables.
We find four 12V rails rated at 20A each, and a combined power of 725W. The 3.3V and 5V rails both provide 30A. The description Amacrox provides about which connectors are powered by the various 12V rails is a nice addition. 12V1 is connected to both of the CPU connectors in form of the 4-pin and 8-pin and ATX connectors, 12V2 handles the first two graphics cards, and 12V3 is for peripherals such as hard disks and optical drives as well as the motherboard. The 12V4 rail keeps the next round of graphics cards running.
Cables and Connectors
All cables are sleeved, with the PCI-E harnesses in orange color instead black. There are several other differences between this PSU and the other units. Amacrox has more SATA than Molex connectors attached while other manufacturers take the reverse approach. The two 6-pin and 6/8-pin PEG connectors (four total) on the 750W unit provide enough power for most graphics configurations.
Opening the unit reveals a standard FSP topology with three heatsinks. FSP uses components that won't generate too much heat, which also results in a better efficiency. The heatsinks can therefore be a little thinner and not quite as large/heavy. We'll see a similar approach in the Seasonic power supply. The Taiwan Oster Corporation manufactures the primary cap, and it seems to be a cheaper offering than what we'll see elsewhere. The secondary side uses capacitors from CapXon.
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tynopik - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
the efficiency charts are fantastic as you can see exactly how all the units compare at a specified wattagebut then you go back and do the acoustics charts by % load? why?
if i want to see how all the units compare at a 500w load, there's no easy way to do that as that might be a 68% load on one unit and a 55% load on another unit
Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
Next time will doVidmar - Saturday, November 24, 2007 - link
Thanks for doing the charts in watts instead of load. I've been asking for that for some time. As has been said here it makes it much easier to find a good unit based upon a known wattage your system uses. Good article.tynopik - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
great!and then once all units are tested to the same baseline, that opens the door for dynamic comparisons
as you build up a database of reviews, you could have a dynamic system where you can choose a 400-500 watt unit you reviewed 9 months ago and a 600 watt unit you just reviewed and it will generate the comparison charts on the fly
something for the future perhaps ;)
Etern205 - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
Newegg is selling the Antec TruePower Quattro 850 at $249 whilethe 1KW version is selling for $299 with a -$80 instant rebate!
850w version
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
1KW version
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
Traciatim - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
Could you please design and test with a machine that actually uses 700+ Watts of DC output?Jjoshua2 - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
I like the old review better. I don't have time to read the whole reviews, so I just read the conclusion and then go over a few interesting paragraphs. I hope you have a longer conclusion next time!Thanks.
Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
Ehm there are 8 pages comparison/conclusion.... not enough?Of course people not appreciating the work and just read the last page find it boring... so next time I write a page about 10 PSUs and that'd be enough? ...
Googer - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
Check the hot deals section of Anandtech forums, a little while ago I posted a $50 price drop of the Silencer 750 down to a budgetable $150.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...=40&...
Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
That would be a really good deal indeed.