Slashdot Mirror

Dell, HP, Alienware and other company will do anything in their power to not comply with this standard. This means less chance to get money out of customers pockets.

Actually, for laptops, I suspect it has less to do about profits, and more to do with simplifying the engineering design specs by having a single, known power source which puts out a specific voltage profile as you increase the amps drawn. We're not talking about a phone which draws a couple Watts at most and can be simultaneously charged and powered via a USB cable, so you can effectively use the battery as a power sink to even out the voltage variances. We're talking about devices whose power draw can range from about 5-10 Watts all the way up to 100 Watts. And not all AC adapters are equal at generating a clean DC current.

they do in depth reviews of psu's
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Review_Cat&recatnum=13

as some people have already mentioned, bigger isn't always better
aim for the hardware you have plus future expansion

i have 1 hdd, 1 ssd, 16gb ddr3 1600, 2 radeon 6970's, amd 1100t@3.8, and 13 fans; 3 92mm for each gpu plus a few 140/120 (low speed)
running off an antec cp-850

Random tale of my friend: He purchased a 450watt cheap PSU and it ran hot for a few months then burned out. He swapped it out for a 250watt namebrand PSU and the system ran another 5 years.

Goto http://www.jonnyguru.com/ or http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/ and read some PSU reviews. HWSecrets has a really good article somewhere on the different ways to measure a PSU.

I now look for low-heat and jitter under above-rated load while maintaining excellent efficiency.

You mean http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story9&reid=207 ?
At the end of which he gives them a "Recommended" award, with grades between 7 and 8 out of 10 ?

Indeed, this looks really really bad ~

Yeah, the weight of the PSU is a pretty reliable indicator too. Although a year ago I found this site: http://jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Review_Cat&recatnum=13

Having a guy who sounds like he enjoys making power supplies blow up and understands how to use an oscilloscope is definetely a good reviewer. Having the guy equipped with a instrumented load is even better.

Now, how do you identify a good PSU?

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article986-page6.html

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=169

Now, how do you identify a good PSU?

JonnyGURU gives you detailed information on the latest power supplies on the market.

Except, of course, for the Antec EarthWatts. And the TruePower series. Both of which are... made by Seasonic.

Not entirely true.
The older EarthWatts were made by Seasonic, the newer ones are made by Delta.
Source: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=110

Argh. I've got nothing against Delta (don't know much about them), but I think the "EarthWatts" model name earned its good reputation by using Seasonic. It's like when LCD models change panel suppliers (and sometimes panel technology), but keep the same model name.

For decent value-priced PSUs, I guess I'll just go with OEM models from Seasonic and FSP Group, which are made by... Seasonic and FSP Group.

Except, of course, for the Antec EarthWatts. And the TruePower series. Both of which are... made by Seasonic.

Not entirely true.
The older EarthWatts were made by Seasonic, the newer ones are made by Delta.
Source: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=110

I can't tell, is that one in with all the other fancy logos on the side of This Allied branded Deer PSU that exploded when jonnyguru tested it?

It's still a very flawed test in so many ways.

You just can't measure things like that using a DMM (much less a non-true RMS one) - they're just not meant for measuring short peaks accurately.

Efficiency at peak usage is just that. It means absolutely NOTHING of how efficient it is at low power levels (if your PC is on 24/7, likely ~16h out of that it's idle). I'd rather buy one that's optimized for high efficiency @ low power (idle), which offers significant savings most of the time. Peak efficiency would be more of a concern for those who use their PC intensively for a few hours (like gaming) and then shut it off.

Your test fails to account for power factors and such (non 100% resistive load - switching PSUs are inductive). So your numbers are likely quite a bit off (not that your peak usage measurement was even accurate in the first place) They make specialized power supply testers for a reason you know...

Most good PSUs have a ~80% efficiency. For decent reviews and meaningful numbers, try http://ww.jonnyguru.com/reviews.php

Obligatory Google cache, though it seems to be largely a picture collection, so it's not too helpful.

According to the news on this page, the URL posted originally belonged to jonnyguru.com. But, unfortunately, the Wayback machine's archive for that site goes back to just after it was displaced, so it appears we're SOL until the server comes back to life.

Oh well...