PC Power & Cooling - Visiting a Legend
by Christoph Katzer on January 23, 2009 8:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
From Humble Beginnings to Huge Success
Before success comes hard work. That holds true for every company earning money today. Doug was the driving power behind PC Power & Cooling over the years, and their success came with a lot of hard work and some good ideas. We got some old pictures that show some of the history behind the company.
Here's a picture of Doug Dodson in 1992 at his Comdex booth in Las Vegas. Note how large the power supply is in the chassis. Also notable are the freebies under his left hand. Those are actually the same caps they are still using on some power supplies today.
Here's another booth at a convention with Doug showing what he has to offer. Notice the poster of a cooler on the right side of the wall. That was one of the first CPU coolers available at a time when all CPUs were passively cooled.
Which company claims to have had the first 120mm fan in a power supply? This photo shows PC Power & Cooling already had such a fan in 1986. Note the name of the power supply: Silencer. Can you imagine this name is already 22 years old? Today, the Silencer series - including the 750 Quad - is still one of the best power supplies available.
Here's the first Turbo Cool power supply from the successful series. This power supply made PC Power & Cooling what it is today. When other companies had bad ventilation and only one small fan, PC Power decided to use two fans that blew fresh air onto the components. Since the 5V rail fed most of the components back then, it was rated at a then massive 20A. In contrast, the 12V rail only supplied up to 8A. Another advantage PC Power had over the competition was the angled fans; the competition blew air straight at the components while PC Power angled the fans to improve airflow. There was simply no competition for these power supplies, which is where the company started its huge success.
The difference between the two power supplies in the above gallery is easy to see. While other manufacturers used very simple designs with few components, PC Power provided more - and better - components. Innovations such as these helped pave the way for modern power supplies.
That wraps up our visit with PC Power & Cooling in San Diego. Thanks to Doug and James for their time, as well as a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
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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.