Terru
10-16-2006, 11:23 AM
Hi all, this is my first post but I have been a long time lurker on XS for a few years, and have now decided to make a post, so introductions are out of the way :)
Many of us have been thinking about setting up new machines recently, especially now that Conroe’s are out and the next gen gpu's are on the horizon and questions about all parts have flooded the forums. Most of the time, these questions are answered quickly and clearly, with only a little bloodshed. :p: However, there is one component that always seems to generate the most questions and really stirs up debate - the power supply. There are probably many reasonable arguments for this, the chief one being that it takes a well educated and experienced professional with some serious hardware to really analyze a PSU correctly, and quite frankly, most of us cannot do that, and have to rely on the words of others and our own experiences. This then leaves the community quite divided when it comes time to choose or recommend a new PSU. Arguments always have links to review sites; someone always has had good experience with a particular brand, and someone else experienced freak explosions and stayed away from said brand.
Several members of the community have come forward in an effort to try and clear up this confusion, by either have comprehensive reviews (JonnyGuru) or tiered levels of products (perkam et al.).
However, as much as these are helpful, there are still some questions left, because during a recent thread about a new enthusiast/gaming machine the debate over power supplies just fell apart into arguments, with no real conclusion!
So, no after this long-winded introduction, my question is this. Is there really a perfect enthusiast PSU? By perfect, I don’t mean the most powerful, or the one with the cleanest rails. Not much beats a Formula 1 racing car for going around certain tracks, but it has serious downsides for use in any other application. What I am looking for here, would be the perfect all-round PSU. Perkams list provides a great source of information for sorting out the good from bad, if based only on performance, kind of like “lap times” if you will. JonnyGuru has wonderful reviews and analysis of supplies, but for reasons I may have missed or overlooked, some brands are missing (PCP&C ?) and it is hard to compare them to each other. What I am trying to do here, is take the top PSU’s, and compare them, in an effort to see if there is any one (or two?) PSU that can be recommended to any potential system builder
The ultimate PSU would, in my most humble of opinions, have to fulfill these requirements.
1. It would have to provide enough power for current and future systems, this means quad core CPU and dual G80/R600, with extras on top, such as Water-cooling, LCD’s RAID arrays, etc.
2. It would have to provide said power in a “clean” manner, with low ripple on the rails, low electrical noise.
3. It would have to do this is a reasonable silent or at least quiet most of the time manner. No tornados here. Industrial grade power supplies are great – for industry. When I work in a server room, I have to wear ear protection. We don’t want that at home for our everyday systems that run 24/7 and in some cases next to our bed.
4. Modular cables help, but are not all-important. Cable management is great, since not all of use every cable, right away and having a huge mass of extra cables can be a headache. Purists claim that modular cables add extra resistance equivalent to a few feet of wire. Seriously, that is not major drawback.
5. Same again with sleeved cables, not a must but always a nice luxury. Sure you can do it yourself, or have someone to pay you but its nice when you drop $200-$300 on a PSU to have a little bit of refinement.
6. This is a strange category, but useful, some PSU’s have strange quirks that just make them undesirable, such as serious electrical interference or noise. Those of us who are audiophiles or have sensitive equipment around really need that extra shielding.
7. Finally, the least important aspect, price. We will pay for quality, but it’s always nice when it doesn’t cost too much :P:
Now, after laying down these requirements, I’ll run the top tier PSU’s through them, as taken from Perkams list.
Enermax Galaxy - Almost a winner here. Enough power, quiet, modular and no quirks and even a “reasonable” price to boot! Why is it not a winner? Because JonnyGuru found some suspicious ripple that just did not cut the muster. Close but no cigar.
PCP&C TurboCool – A fantastic power supply but noisy as a tornado and incredibly expensive. Not for home everyday use, so not quiet ultimate.
PCP&C Silencer 750W – A seemingly great PSU, but no real in depth review (I.e. JonnyGuru), so we have to go on PCP&C’s rep, which is formidable. Good price, good watts and silent? I have a silencer 470 and it’s hard to tell if it is turned on, but the specs for the 750 state that it is louder, but by how much? Also no modular cables, but no biggie. Not ultimate because I am too confused about its silence and not 100% on its quality.
Zippy/Emacs Series – I hate to lump them all together, but I am doing so because they all have an industrial level of quality and reliability, but are seriously noisy by all accounts and are really hard to find. Also, reports say that many versions don’t have sata cables, and are all unsleeved. Not a winner again mostly because of its high level of noise.
Silverstone ZF – Again, like all the others, it seems almost perfect, but only the 850W model seems to have the power for the future, and there JonnyGuru reported some very strange electrical noise – not something that I would feel too comfortable with in my system.
It seems that the conclusion is that there are lots of great PSU’s, but all of them have one fault that puts them away from ultimate. Of course, I have probably missed something, and I am hoping I have, if someone can verify that one of the PSU’s listed isn’t as bad as I made it out, or there is a model I overlooked, then please post away! In the mean time, it looks like we may have to wait for a new PSU, or be stuck the age-old engineer’s dilemma of compromise.
Thank you all for reading my first, and incredibly long-winded and maybe even completely arbitrary first post. XtremeSystems rocks! You guys are all great, keep up the good work!
Many of us have been thinking about setting up new machines recently, especially now that Conroe’s are out and the next gen gpu's are on the horizon and questions about all parts have flooded the forums. Most of the time, these questions are answered quickly and clearly, with only a little bloodshed. :p: However, there is one component that always seems to generate the most questions and really stirs up debate - the power supply. There are probably many reasonable arguments for this, the chief one being that it takes a well educated and experienced professional with some serious hardware to really analyze a PSU correctly, and quite frankly, most of us cannot do that, and have to rely on the words of others and our own experiences. This then leaves the community quite divided when it comes time to choose or recommend a new PSU. Arguments always have links to review sites; someone always has had good experience with a particular brand, and someone else experienced freak explosions and stayed away from said brand.
Several members of the community have come forward in an effort to try and clear up this confusion, by either have comprehensive reviews (JonnyGuru) or tiered levels of products (perkam et al.).
However, as much as these are helpful, there are still some questions left, because during a recent thread about a new enthusiast/gaming machine the debate over power supplies just fell apart into arguments, with no real conclusion!
So, no after this long-winded introduction, my question is this. Is there really a perfect enthusiast PSU? By perfect, I don’t mean the most powerful, or the one with the cleanest rails. Not much beats a Formula 1 racing car for going around certain tracks, but it has serious downsides for use in any other application. What I am looking for here, would be the perfect all-round PSU. Perkams list provides a great source of information for sorting out the good from bad, if based only on performance, kind of like “lap times” if you will. JonnyGuru has wonderful reviews and analysis of supplies, but for reasons I may have missed or overlooked, some brands are missing (PCP&C ?) and it is hard to compare them to each other. What I am trying to do here, is take the top PSU’s, and compare them, in an effort to see if there is any one (or two?) PSU that can be recommended to any potential system builder
The ultimate PSU would, in my most humble of opinions, have to fulfill these requirements.
1. It would have to provide enough power for current and future systems, this means quad core CPU and dual G80/R600, with extras on top, such as Water-cooling, LCD’s RAID arrays, etc.
2. It would have to provide said power in a “clean” manner, with low ripple on the rails, low electrical noise.
3. It would have to do this is a reasonable silent or at least quiet most of the time manner. No tornados here. Industrial grade power supplies are great – for industry. When I work in a server room, I have to wear ear protection. We don’t want that at home for our everyday systems that run 24/7 and in some cases next to our bed.
4. Modular cables help, but are not all-important. Cable management is great, since not all of use every cable, right away and having a huge mass of extra cables can be a headache. Purists claim that modular cables add extra resistance equivalent to a few feet of wire. Seriously, that is not major drawback.
5. Same again with sleeved cables, not a must but always a nice luxury. Sure you can do it yourself, or have someone to pay you but its nice when you drop $200-$300 on a PSU to have a little bit of refinement.
6. This is a strange category, but useful, some PSU’s have strange quirks that just make them undesirable, such as serious electrical interference or noise. Those of us who are audiophiles or have sensitive equipment around really need that extra shielding.
7. Finally, the least important aspect, price. We will pay for quality, but it’s always nice when it doesn’t cost too much :P:
Now, after laying down these requirements, I’ll run the top tier PSU’s through them, as taken from Perkams list.
Enermax Galaxy - Almost a winner here. Enough power, quiet, modular and no quirks and even a “reasonable” price to boot! Why is it not a winner? Because JonnyGuru found some suspicious ripple that just did not cut the muster. Close but no cigar.
PCP&C TurboCool – A fantastic power supply but noisy as a tornado and incredibly expensive. Not for home everyday use, so not quiet ultimate.
PCP&C Silencer 750W – A seemingly great PSU, but no real in depth review (I.e. JonnyGuru), so we have to go on PCP&C’s rep, which is formidable. Good price, good watts and silent? I have a silencer 470 and it’s hard to tell if it is turned on, but the specs for the 750 state that it is louder, but by how much? Also no modular cables, but no biggie. Not ultimate because I am too confused about its silence and not 100% on its quality.
Zippy/Emacs Series – I hate to lump them all together, but I am doing so because they all have an industrial level of quality and reliability, but are seriously noisy by all accounts and are really hard to find. Also, reports say that many versions don’t have sata cables, and are all unsleeved. Not a winner again mostly because of its high level of noise.
Silverstone ZF – Again, like all the others, it seems almost perfect, but only the 850W model seems to have the power for the future, and there JonnyGuru reported some very strange electrical noise – not something that I would feel too comfortable with in my system.
It seems that the conclusion is that there are lots of great PSU’s, but all of them have one fault that puts them away from ultimate. Of course, I have probably missed something, and I am hoping I have, if someone can verify that one of the PSU’s listed isn’t as bad as I made it out, or there is a model I overlooked, then please post away! In the mean time, it looks like we may have to wait for a new PSU, or be stuck the age-old engineer’s dilemma of compromise.
Thank you all for reading my first, and incredibly long-winded and maybe even completely arbitrary first post. XtremeSystems rocks! You guys are all great, keep up the good work!