34 PSU Roundup -Taoyuan 2005

[Steve]

So with Computex looming large, we went out and bought a whole bunch of power supplies and had them shipped out to Taoyuan City. PD and I then flew out to Taiwan a week before Computex started to test as many of the supplies as we could in the 5 days we had in the lab, to see what would shake out. The results were surprising, especially given our testing methods. Read on to find out what supplies we bought and shipped, how we used and abused them and how they all stood up to the intense scrutiny.

http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews...lld19JRD0xMzU5

Paul 'danger, high voltage' Dutton showing Rys how it's done. Note the sandals.

[nev_payne]

looks like a sentinel is poised to strike fro m the shelving

[DR]

Incredible work guys

[shiato storm]

you actually had one blow up!! hahaha! got to love those qtec's...perhaps a note to the mfr.s and all shops that sell them? surely its a real health hazard to have something like that in your home! glad I dont

well done for the mammoooof challange. 34 PSU's..! must have taken a while.

[Rys]

Took me five mins to test and writeup, no worries

In reality, that's by far the biggest article HEXUS have ever published and for the poor monkey (aaahahaaaaaaaaa PD!) that had to do the testing and write it all up, it was a definite labour of love. I love technical writing but at times it tested my patience.

It took over 50 hours (seriously!) of writeup and that's after analysis of the results born from the 5 days of testing. Then there's PD's time spent, David's week-long logistical nightmare in actually getting the 30 odd PSUs out to Taiwan for me to abuse and Bob's spent some time looking at it too. Team effort, despite my name being on the top of it.

What hopefully fell out at the end is a PSU roundup that rocks and it's certainly one I'm very proud of. Hopefully it'll educate and provide a nice buying guide for those looking to buy a new PSU. Please try and read as much of it as you can!

Anyway, one for the CV when I try and climb the HEXUS ladder

I did have my slippers off, but only because I was teetering on the edge of a desk snapping photos. I never found a pair that fit properly, so wobbling my fat frame around on a desk edge wearing not so good footwear might have resulted in an very injured monkey. Hilarious for pics, not so hilarious for me.

[Gordy]

Great work! Must have been a right pain to do that but well done

[unrealuniverse]

love that video. over 1KW just to provide 450W thats crazy. I think it proves a point. if you want a cheap firework for bonfire night then get one.

[[OK²]Pihrana]

Hmmmm...... I dont want to put a downer on anything here as what you have achieved is monumental, and i am VERY pleased with the sheer number of PSU's which have been analysed !!!

However........ I am now even more unsure about what to believe and what not to believe !! I know how many people love to DIS Tomshardware and on some things i concur !! But their LIVE PSU stress test recently really got me interested and to some extent, rebuilt a little trust i had in their opinion again !!

Their roundup praised the Enermax series of PSU's and showed the Enermax Noisetaker EG701AX-VE to be a very good PSU indeed. Then moving to the Hexus test the same PSU has issues !! How can 2 different hardware sites have two very different opinions on the same PSU whilst both seeming to have very good Testing methodology? Is it, that two seemingly identical PSU's from the same Manufacturer are not actually the same? Can this situation be compared to CPU's. (Ie CPU X and CPU Y are both the same and are tested in the same PC sub-system, but CPU X O/C's better than CPU Y because as we all know, O/C'ing CPU experiences can and will vary !?!)

I own a DFI NF4 SLI-D mobo and had my fair share of problems with what PSU to choose (and the 400W i have is by DFI's standards non compliant as u have to have at least a 480W PSU to be fully compliant !!), having checked through DFI-Street and being a relatively active member on their forum, many people trust and praise the HIPER series of PSU's. Yet TOMS if i recall had problems as did Hexus with at least one PSU from the HIPER range......

Thats the sort of testing i would like to see as an addition to this sort of test. Which PSU allows a common PC setup to overclock more? (Ie Part 1 complete, now take the PSU's which passed and see what they give to a system built for O/Cing). So my Question is, whens part 2 start? - Hehehehe

[apesoccer]

LOL...i've been looking for reviews on my Enermax EG565...<cries>...well i have been having power related issues with it...especially with my 6800s. They clock down after 3-10min depending on how hot it gets in there.

I've been in the act of looking for a new one...been everywhere looking at reviews...Still a little unsure. Down to the (decided the single 12v line was where i wanted to be so...) Zippy HP2-6500P, OCZ520ADJ, and the pc p&c 510. The 510 is a bit expensive...

Rats...can't figure out how to use the insert image button...oh well.

Anyway Nice review. <Fav'd>

[Mike89]

Why was Antec excluded from these comparisons? They have always been top notch power supplies and are worthy to be there.

[Rys]

Why was Antec excluded from these comparisons? They have always been top notch power supplies and are worthy to be there.

They weren't excluded, just they didn't make the trip out there. If we could have nabbed a couple, we would. As I told a reader earlier via email:

We could only take so many PSUs out to Taiwan from the UK for logistical reasons. PSUs that were easiest to obtain and represented the spectrum of units we wished to cover made the cut.

Dozens of other PSUs didn't make it either and it's just a simple matter of logistics.

Hopefully Antec will make it into the next roundup we do.

[DudeMiester]

I do hope you include PC Power & Cooling next time. They blow away the competition in the high end. I recall one professional electrical engineer over at xtremesystems.org describing them as near medical grade. They already have a 850W PSU and a 1000W one is on the way. They are all tested at 50C, while most other PSUs are tested at 25C, which can cause up to a 30% difference in overall wattage. In fact, they were the first PSU manufacturer certified by Nvidia for use with SLI. Clearly, it would be a shame if you don't include them.

[jnm21]

Hopefully Antec will make it into the next roundup we do.

Here here! I must say that it was the first name I looked for, but hats off to Hexus for making the effort to take & test 30 PSUs.

Others I'd like to see next time are Antec, Silenx & PCP&C.

Perhaps a UK lab will become available, then you could invite mfrs to stump up the cash to buy 5 of each model they want included - fancy testing 1000+ PSUs?

Anyone fancy a Qtec?

[Rys]

I do hope you include PC Power & Cooling next time. They blow away the competition in the high end. I recall one professional electrical engineer over at xtremesystems.org describing them as near medical grade. They already have a 850W PSU and a 1000W one is on the way. They are all tested at 50C, while most other PSUs are tested at 25C, which can cause up to a 30% difference in overall wattage. In fact, they were the first PSU manufacturer certified by Nvidia for use with SLI. Clearly, it would be a shame if you don't include them.

I hope I've got a couple of their models to test, too. Again, simple logistics stopped us from taking everything that we wanted. Next time!

[oralpain]

Nice and useful review. However, I would have liked to see ripple tests.

I can confirm the pattern you are seeing with the Enermax PSUs. They defianlty list peak, not continuous power. My EG425P-VEis very quiets and runs quite cool, but I have run into some overclocking problems beacuse of the somewhat misleading amp rattings on the rails. When I put 3.2v through my memory at very tight timings and high overclocks I can sit in the BIOS and watch my memory voltage gradually drop as I am drawing more than the PSU can supply consistently on the +3.3v rail.

[Reaps]

I bought a Hiper 560w based off the review here of the lower models and one of the modular connectors 12v supply is dead I tested it with a multimeter and only +5 is working off the far right one... time to take it back and get a refund. If it comes to it i'll buy the akasa as alternative as it looks just a nice.