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About LinkBacksAlthough the PSU is probably the most important component in your system, it's all too often neglected. We take a look at two 500W PSUs with competitive pricing and attractive features - one from Akasa, the other from FSP.
Find out more.
Although the PSU is probably the most important component in your system, it's all too often neglected. We take a look at two 500W PSUs with competitive pricing and attractive features - one from Akasa, the other from FSP.
Find out more.
Last edited by Bob Crabtree; 02-04-2007 at 05:34 PM.
I am a bit confused about the testing - I must be missing something
The same power enters both units
The Akasa is more efficient (i.e. more power is 'throughput' than with the FSP)...
...but when you compare the temperatures before/after load...
...the Akasa gets almost 4 degrees hotter
My imagination - or this does not (quite) make sense ?
If only there were a highly qualified accountant in the house - so that we could get a certified tally on the Watts
It just means it's more efficient at the maximum draw. If efficiency at mid-draw is worse then more heat could be produced.
Interesting comments about the load sharing on the rails - it seems to have taken some manufacturers a while to get away from the idea of super power hungry CPUs. But then again there is the arguement for 'clean power' and by keeping everything on a seperate rail from the CPU they might be gaining stability - could explain the lack of ripple compared to the unit which puts the second PEG on the same rail as the CPU.
Hehe I thought we had seen the last of that phrase at the start of PSU reviews... I think everyone who is involved in computers now is well aware of their PSU choice.Probably the most important component in your system but often neglected
I found you statement about Radeon X1950XTX a little alarming. You meant single card rather than Crossfire yes? I can't imagine hooking up two expensive cards as well as my entire system to a 500W PSU.
Looking in the Hexus.Hardstuff section, you may be surprised at how many are anything but aware of itOriginally Posted by DeSean
I think you'd be surprised what can be run by a high quality PSU.
Alot of the power requirements are over exaggerated by the PSU companies - the inquirer ran a quad core, 8800gtx SLI system on a 500W psu easily without problems
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36066
I admit at the off that I'm no expert on PSUs.
So, I personally don't know how to accurately define what wattage PSU is required in any particular configuration - but I have little doubt that James, Tarinder, Paul D and number of other HEXITES do. Hopefully, someone will be along to comment.
What I do know, from bitter experience, is that if you use an inadequate power supply, then you get all sorts of problems with how the system runs.
Here, on my main PC, I tend to have three or four internal hard disk drives, plus two internal DVD burners, and a whole lot of stuff hanging off the machine from USB and FireWire ports - and some of those ports are delivering power.
I say all this because I was less than satisfied reading that Inquirer piece when I realised that what doesn't seem to have been provided is any proper detail of what's inside the PC or what the total power-requirement of its various elements is (apologies if, somehow, I've missed this).
For instance, we're not informed, it seems, even about how many HDDs or optical drives are in the PC to which the article's eye-catching headline refers.
All we get is this (my itals):
However, I do agree with general theme of what you're saying and that a lower-rated but high-quality PSU is a better option than a higher-rated but lower-quality model....add the usual hard disks, DVD and, well, cool the CPU with some watery stuff so that it doesn't get really hot when fragging enemy soldiers or compressing those HD DVDs and you have the ultimate Xmas 2006 PC present.
I also think that there is a lot in what you say about power requirements being exaggerated but it's more than anything the graphics-card companies that do this, as a lazy way out - instead of saying, get a good quality unit of this rating, they state a higher rating in the expectation that a lot of people will buy cheapo PSUs.
As for the idea of saving energy by having a lower-rated PSU - which is something that Inquirer piece also discusses, well, I don't know if that would actually make a lot of difference, since I'm not even sure whether a PSU always consumes electricity according to the wattage it's rated at or whether, in fact, it only consumes according to what's being asked of it from the PC and its various components.
But if you want to take power saving seriously, there are many diverse strategies you can use, starting, I'd suggest, with one or more power-saving multi-way socket adaptors from OneClick.
One of these will ensure that when you turn off your PC, you also turn off all the power to the external peripherals (including monitor), many of which use inline or plug-mounted power adaptors that would otherwise be using power (and wearing out) around the clock.
I don't think it would be unusual to have five of these adaptors clustered around a single PC for:
* Speakers
* Broadband modem
* Printer
* External HDD
* External DVD burner
But, here, though, I actually have additional devices powered from such external mains-adaptors:
* Wireless router
* Gigabit switch
* Two further external HDDs
* One further printer
* Skype USB telephone adaptor
* Powered USB hub
* Powered FireWire hub
* Old-style modem (in case broadband goes down)
* DV VCR
* DV camcorder
* Analogue<>DV converter box
* Other stuff that comes and goes
Last edited by Bob Crabtree; 02-04-2007 at 06:41 PM. Reason: Add the point about good vs bad PSUs
Hmmm, is it possible a similar kind of confusion might be affecting ATI's engineers, hence the delay on R600I am a bit confused about the testing - I must be missing something
Although they have very similar efficiency figures, the layout and hence cooling inside each PSU are likely to be somewhat different. In addition, the FSP is possibly running its fan slightly faster, as suggested at the bottom of that same page in our review.
Our original statement about running Dual X1950 XTX's and 7900GTX's being fine on a 500W PSU, is based upon our own watt meter readings; whilst testing complete systems such as the Mesh Elite Fire X1950, in addition to running SLI and CROSSFIRE configurations whilst testing graphics cards and motherboards.
In these circumstances we have seen that the entire system is usually only pulling 300-390W depending on CPU used (Dual-core or Quad-core).
As Bob helpfully pointed out, it's not necessarily the PSU manufacturers that are claiming you need these ridiculously high wattage PSU's, but more recently the VGA guys adopting a cover-all policy to account for cheap-ass supplies that don't deliver what they say on the tin.
Like Bob, I'm concerned that the INQ article might give people the wrong impression that they can happily run an SLI 8800GTX setup on a 500W PSU. Although it may run fine for a while, it's likely to be unstable during the summer due to elevated ambient temperature's (unless it's rated @ 50 degrees Celsius for continuous operation. Most aren't), and won't last anywhere near as long as a setup which is only using 80% of the capacity during peak-load.
Therefore using a high-quality correctly rated supply at no more than 80% of its rated capacity is what we recommend.
For example A top-end Dual/Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU system with 2-3 hard-drives (depending on make/model and capacity), and at least one optical drive; with two 8800GTX's running in SLI, would easily exceed 80% of the capacity of a good-quality 500W supply during peak-load.
Last edited by PD HEXUS; 05-04-2007 at 02:45 PM.
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