PC Power & Cooling - Visiting a Legend
by Christoph Katzer on January 23, 2009 8:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Inside PC Power & Cooling
PC Power showed us their facility, which contains of a huge R&D center, an area where they customize power supplies, an RMA area where power supplies are also refurbished, and the warehouse. Several electricians in the RMA area are testing power supplies that came back for whatever reason. The larger area is being used to customize power supplies. PC Power & Cooling allows end-users to get additional cable harnesses or connectors, and if you choose this option it will be done by hand in this area for each customer. You may recall our review of the Turbo Cool 860 that came with six PCI-E connectors and extra SATA connectors. That wasn't something PC Power did specifically for AnandTech; it's a service they offer to any customer (for a price). PC Power has many commercial customers and most of them require customization, which is done here as well.
A small room contains another Chroma 8000 ATE together with a small thermal chamber. PC Power is using this Chroma to perform the R&D work and tests on upcoming power supplies. We saw quite a few power supplies from different vendors that made their way down here for evaluation. We tested a few power supplies along with the new UPC PC Power showed in Las Vegas. Pictured above is the sine wave on the scope from when we were testing the UPC waveforms.
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Phlargo - Saturday, January 24, 2009 - link
For me, whenever you visit a site like this, I really feel I can so much better connect with the purchases I make. To see real people doing their work and seeing the conditions they work under (I noticed almost everyone was smiling, even in the backgrounds). I am far more likely to consider a PCP&C Power Supply for my next one now and I feel like I have a neat little insight into their company.Thanks!
Phlargo - Saturday, January 24, 2009 - link
Okay.. I'm going to make fun of myself here - I just read through what I wrote. It's terrible. The idea is that which I intended to convey, but I fear an 8 year old could have said it better. Sorry.. just wanted to make sure I didn't get away with anything ;-)m3rdpwr - Saturday, January 24, 2009 - link
I've been using PCP&C since the mid 80's.We use to buy the proprietary Compaq Power Supplies all the time from them as they Compaq versions always blew up in the PC's and luggables.
I still have a 400 watt Turbo Cool that's older than hell that I still use today...
-Mario
Conscript - Saturday, January 24, 2009 - link
From the pics, it appears your PC Power&Cooling PSU was likely assembled by an largely overweight mom?StraightPipe - Tuesday, January 27, 2009 - link
I've got to admit that this explains alot.Background: I've always used PCP+C PSU's in the past, great units, great company.
Horror Story: On a recent build I bought an OCZ Elite Extreme 800W for a gaming rig/media server. 2 months later the PSU died, RMA took 3 weeks.
After waiting I finally got a replacement and it too died, after 5 days. This time i did not want to wait an additional 3 weeks, so I paid for an advanced replacement. They charged my CC and gave me an RMA#, but nothing came. Week after week, they said, it's on the way, then eventually they told me it was out of stock. Why was my card charged for advanced replacement if the PSU is out of stock?
6 weeks later i got the second replacement. I'm testing it now to see if it is as bad as the first two.
so far: 8 weeks of uptime, 9 weeks of downtime. 2 bad PSU's...
OCZ is not the same quality as PCP+C
StraightPipe - Tuesday, January 27, 2009 - link
I think the term is "Grossly overweight"MihiAir - Saturday, January 24, 2009 - link
Is the PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W any good, I heard good things about the 750w. I wonder is this power supply any good. I read some sites say its good and some sites say its normal.Christoph Katzer - Saturday, January 24, 2009 - link
The 610 is much quieter than the 500 watts if you care about noise.MihiAir - Sunday, January 25, 2009 - link
Thx for the info~archcommus - Saturday, January 24, 2009 - link
I have that PSU and love it. System is P35-DS3L, Q6600, 4GB DDR2, 8800 GTS 512MB. Very quiet and feels solid.