Power Supply Roundup: 650W-680W
by Christoph Katzer on February 21, 2008 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Comparison: Cable Length
The comparison of cables shows an average of 50cm (20"). Hiper added 2" and be quiet! yet another 2". The majority of the manufacturers stick with 50cm, which is sufficient for most cases. Of course, other factors such as whether you have a top-mounted or bottom-mounted PSU can impact your cable length requirements. Many cases have space near the PSU up top where you can easily tuck away any unused or overly long cables, and this can be important since long cables can disturb and cooling if you're not careful. Those who have cases where the PSU mount on the bottom will likely want longer cables, however, as reaching all the way to the optical drives and motherboard connections can be something of a stretch. All the power supplies feature a 4-pin and 8-pin ATX/EPS plug to supply the CPU with additional power.
Looking at the PEG connectors, we see major differences between the power supplies. Antec comes with one 6-pin and one 6/8-pin connector, which is sufficient for an SLI/CF setup so long as the graphics cards have require one 6-pin jack each. Alternately, you could use both connectors for one graphics card if the 8-pin connector is needed (i.e. Radeon HD 2900XT).
Be quiet! provides two 6/8-pin PEG connectors and an additional 6-pin EPS connector needed on special motherboards. The length is 60cm/24", which is the longest offering in our roundup today. Hiper takes a different approach and attaches two connectors to each harness. Users get one 6-pin and one 6/8-pin connector (6-pin with two extra pins to convert it to an 8-pin PEG connector) on each of the two harnesses, which is enough to support even a high-end SLI/CF setup.
We mentioned Seasonic already and have to point out that the power supply has been in the market for quite some time, so it's not really up-to-date anymore. It only features two 6-pin PEG connectors, which is fine provided you don't intend to buy any HD 2900 XT cards with an 8-pin jack on it (to date the only GPU that requires an 8-pin connector, though that will probably change in time). Thermaltake offers two 6-pin connectors and one 8-pin connector.
Xigmatek has the best offering, providing two 6-ping and two 6/8-pin PEG connectors. The cable length of 50cm/18" is fine for most cases available. We have to give Xigmatek credit for offering more connectors with a 650W power supply than others. While there are higher-rated PSUs out there that offer many connections, the fact is that a good quality 650W PSU (Ed: not just any old 650W PSU!) is more than enough to run most high-end systems; only systems with numerous hard drives, serious overclocking, and Tri-SLI are likely to break into wattages above 650W.
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23 Comments
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larson0699 - Monday, August 4, 2008 - link
You mentioned that the label on the Thermaltake unit doesn't state maximum combined load of the lower-volt rails.But look, it does. 180 Watts.
BRDiger - Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - link
I kind a wondering because comparing the efficiency level of the Be Quiet! to the testing datasheet on the 80plus.org site it just reaches about 80% at 100% load unlike your results with nearly 84%. Comparing it to the Enermax Modu 82+ review here, it even exeeds its efficiencyJust wondering and it´s not supposed to be an offence...
BRDiger - Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - link
Well, after reading another review it seems that 80plus was actually wrong and the be quiet!s performance exeeds the enermax..strikeback03 - Friday, February 22, 2008 - link
Thermal and fluids was not my best subject in school, but don't fans usually lose air off the tips of the blades, not suck it in? That is my experience with the Zerotherm Nirvana, which seems to make the same claim of sucking air in with its open fan.mo3 - Friday, February 22, 2008 - link
The new Enermax Modular 82+ & Pro 82+ can peak over 700Watts with out a problem; also they have the ATX12v V2.3 and reaching 88% efficiency.Modular 82+ has 2x 12 pin connection embedded for up and coming graphics cards and greater stability.
Just to give the readers a better alternative! :)
Check out more info at: www.enermax.co.uk
crimson117 - Friday, February 22, 2008 - link
Okay... PSU review.. new 9600 GT review... I think anandtech is trying to tell me I need a new computer!NINaudio - Thursday, February 21, 2008 - link
Hi, you mention that the be quiet! PSU is quiet but also runs warmer than the others. Where are the temperature charts that we've seen in previous PSU reviews? It would be good to see the temperatures that you sacrifice for a quieter PSU. Is it a degree, 5 degrees, ten degrees, more?tynopik - Thursday, February 21, 2008 - link
1. include a real stress test like how the units handle rapidly changing input voltagesay load them up to 80% capacity and then connect them to a variac and dip the voltage to ~90V 3 times in quick succession to simulate a brownout or poor electrical conditions and check that
a) it doesn't blow up
b) it maintains quality output while the input if fluctuating
2. include cheapo units for comparision just for the reminder of what a poor quality unit is
3. i really love your connector length charts, far more useful than the usual 'stetch a jumble of cables out and lay a ruler next to it' approach. i just wish you would do the same for the sata/peripheral connectors
4. i'm really like the way you combined all the acoustic and efficiency charts together instead of having a bunch of individual charts
Christoph Katzer - Thursday, February 21, 2008 - link
I just assembled a nice system do to those tests. Once it's up and running I will include it. Will also make a comparison of all cables from now on, thanks.The problem with cheap units is that they are mostly for a specific market. I would need to buy thise units myself since no company would ever send them over. Since I am not in the US I will only have the stuff from Europe which is not even available in the US. But let us see how we could change that in the future...
jtleon - Thursday, February 21, 2008 - link
Chris,You state that at least 100W must be drawn before these units achieve high efficiency. Can you relate this requirement to most normal PC tasks - i.e. browsing the web (reading Anandtech reports of course), answering email, other office based activities (the majority of PC users on the planet), rather than those hardcore gamers that are gaming around the clock (and clearly are independently wealthy!).
It would appear that these PSU's are not going to efficiently reduce the carbon footprint of the majority of PC users on this planet.
Am I wrong?
Regards,
jtleon