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X-Connect 500W Modular PSU
VL writes "Sure, power supply reviews aren't all that interesting, but we take a look at one nice PSU that delivers power where it counts, and best of all, it is the best modular setup we've seen in this market segment."
so, come on, what's the deal?
* Posted by CmdrTaco
* by VL, viperlair, the company selling these PSU's
NEWS for Nerds or STUFF for Nerds? If I need stuff for nerds I go to my local PC supplier or I go to thinkgeek but this is a lil bit over the top not ?
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
"According to specifications, the fans will generate 34 dB of noise at full speed, which is certainly far from silent."
I was kinda psyched a while back when I replaced my old power supplies on two boxes w/ 400 watters. (the biggest i had heard of at the time). Stupidly, I failed to realize how much louder the new power supplies were. I don't know how many dbs exactly, though they verge on annoying.
TODO: come up with a clever sig
...is one of these for my Shuttle. Thing's too small for the excess wires running about.
(what I'd really like to see is a departure from the ATX connector on the Shuttles, moving to something smaller with less wires and higher amperage rated connections, but that's beside the point.)
Karma: Negative (Mostly affected by dorm trolling)
In case you didn't notice, this very nice review was brought to you you by a nice dotcom that has absolutely no interest in making you visit them....
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
...but how many rock tumblers can it power?
Nerd: I need an outlet for my rock tumbler.
Bart & Lisa: Plug it in! Plug it in!
Nerd: What, the rock tumbler or the TV?
Bart & Lisa: The TV! The TV!
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
can it deliver 500W for years and years ?, how reliable/quiet are the fans ? easy to replace (why cant they make them with passive heatsinking and using a modern switching PSU ? eg like some prosound amps do (instead of having a bulky/hot copper wound transformers))
if these companies looked at technology further than flashing neons they would see they could make some real power supply development progress, until then they are still just ugly metal boxes with minor variations on a 70yr design but now designed to last about 3yr
I wouldn't label this as a "top of the line" "only the rich have" item. I dropped $90 on an antec PSU at 480 watts becuase the no name one I had didn't cut it. I can not stress enough the importance of buying a quality PSU, because it is such a hard thing to reconize when it is causing trouble. So exspect to spend around $100 on a quality power rig PSU. Another point of intrest to me is that that is a really inovative idea with the modular plugs. Seriously, when was the last time you saw something change in PSUs and it made you say "wow, that is really something different."
404
I mentioned this place as originally supplying their own modded PSU's. Now they're supplying the new ones so you can get them without the mfgr's warrenty invalidated. Now if they'll supply external jacks so we can power external devices. And 120mm fans would be nice.
How much do you think it cost VP to post this story?
The article says, "There isn't such a thing as too much power though..."
This article has no place on Slashdot. It is written by someone with no knowledge who quite likely was paid to say such things.
Despite all the bitching about this article being a paid ad, this PSU looks fairly useful.
The other day when I was blowing all the dust out of my case, I saw all those unused power cords strung about all over the place and wished I could get rid of them.
Since we're getting rid of bulky ribbon cables with S-ATA, it would be nice to get rid of all that other spaghetti too.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
Those power connectors have always been the weakest part of any power supply, they often fail causing intermittent connections which result in lockups or worse. I find I have to crimp down each socket with some needle nose pliers if I remove them... and now there's TWO per connection..
I'm hoping more devices move to SATA style power, so far it seems to have far better contact.
"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots." George HW Bush
The power supply is the weak point on most modern PCs. They are under-reviewed and most reviews just parrot what the marketing specs say. This is not useful information. This review goes a step further and measures the output with a multimeter. Good on them.
We need more information than this, though. I'd love to see some reviews that actually go a step further and actually measures the maximum output of the PSU to prove it's actually capable of the stats on the side of the damn box without melting down. I'd like to learn what their overload protection is and such.
He didn't even push the PSU, yet say that it was more than able. Eh? He had one HD... How about 4 drives in a raid (so they're all active), and then see how it fares playing some games (so the gpu is taxed too)?
The modular connections looked like something I might want though.
Each connector provides additional resistance in the circuit leading to voltage sags and heat build up in the connectors.
I'd be more interested if this PSU offered high efficiency and Active PFC. (Active PFC opens the way for more efficient PSU designs). Current PSUs offer an electrical efficiency of about 68% - on a high-end system, the PSU could be pumping out over 100 W of heat itself, making it even more of a space heater than the CPU - and requiring substantial fans too.
Modern industrial SMPSs can achieve electrical efficiencies which are much higher. I've seen telecoms grade 400W PSUs claim efficiency of over 95% - so the technology exists to mass produce these things today.
Also, this review made no mention of protection systems:
Incredibly, the safety features listed above, are not standard on all PC PSUs - only a very few offer crowbar protection.
This is just the kind of stuff that I like to see on slashdot... a new idea for PSUs, okay that's cool to read about! Considering I don't normally read ViperLair, this is interesting and new to me!
BTW, I think the reason the 3.3V line "sags" during their test (it's still in spec; 3.16V is within 5% of 3.3 [4.24% for those who care]) is because there's no load on it. What uses 3.3V these days?
My other car is first.
Uh... since when has /. had anything to do with journalism?
Unused cables cluttering up the case?
I always have a shortage of cables, need to use splitter cables to connect everything.
IMHO, the extra connectors at the PSU side are a waste of space, series resistance, and reliability.
Depends. First of all, get brand-name PSUs. It doesn't have to be a super high profile brand like Antec or Enermax, there are equally good/better, cheap PSUs by other manufacturers, but no-name PSUs are horrible. Or at least they used to be - the rule was that any brand-name PSU was more powerful than a no-name PSU of twice the rating. Looking around on the net is a pretty good idea, although most PSU reviews really suck.
That said, most people I know buy way too powerful PSUs. 350W really gets you a long way - as I'm writing this, my 350W hec PSU powers a GF4 Ti4200, an XP 1800+, three hard drives and one optical drive. I'm fairly certain there's still room for more, I think a 300W PSU would be sufficient for this system. I'm curious whether it'd break if I installed a cutting edge graphics card which at some point were claimed to require a 450W PSU.
Buying a PSU that is too powerful for your system isn't a big deal, though. PSUs run most efficient when they're being used close to their maximum rating, but I don't think the efficiency difference is that great. So you can't go wrong if you buy a 400W PSU - you'll just spend more than you have to, for one thing.
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
Is anyone else appalled by how sloppily cabled the reviewer's case was with either PSU? As a system builder who takes great pride in doing a very neat job, I'm shocked that anyone would consider themselves qualified to evaluate how neatly a PSU can tidy up the case insides, yet put together a rat's-nest monstrosity like that!
He didn't even take amperage of his test system. While the cabling was cool, that power suppy only had one 12v rail, the review was limited. Definitely not woth a /. posting.
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. -Confucius
Even Antecs aren't all they're cracked up to be. I had a simple setup with 3 hard drives, 2 cdroms, 3 case fans and a pair of UV blacklights running for awhile. Eventually the machine started freezing or rebooting mysteriously. I pulled one of the UV blacklights and it was back to normal. Not enough power from the PS which was a 350W jobbie. Later on it started acting up again and I pulled another UV light. Fine again.
Eventually I got sick of all this crap and when I upgraded to a new motherboard and an Athlon 2800 I bought a new 500W power supply. What about the Antec? When I opened the case on it, I found nearly all the capacitors blown and leaked their precious guts. Some capacitors had layers of dust over their leakage showing that they had popped and oozed a long time ago. This PS was barely 2 years old.
So there are definitely better power supplies than Antec, either that or I was asking too much of mine.
A power supply with a built-in battery, or at least hookups to attack a battery.
Really. It would be so much better than a UPS. With a UPS, you convert 120V->12/24/48V (depending on model), then back to 120V, then your PS converts it back down to 12V yet again. You pay for all of the switching and conversion twice, lose efficiency in all of the conversions, have more parts to fail, and rely on the UPS to switch to battery quickly (which they don't always do).
With a battery in the power supply, you'd convert from 120V->12V->3.3/5V. You've got less than half of the parts to fail, and there is no switching time. The cost of the power supplies would probably rise no more than $5 if done in volume to have hookups for the battery. You supply a deep-cycle marine battery, and for about the same cost as a low-end UPS, you've got something that will keep your PC running for a very long time.
steve
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
Just a thought, the article says " Basically, if you do not need all the available power, the PSU will reduce the voltages. ", well I don't know about you but I don't want my 5 volt stuff running on 4 volts :), obviously this reviewer wouldn't know a ripple if they saw one!
For really good power supplies, try PcPowerAndCooling.com really well made quality stuff.
"I don't know, I couldn't say, at least not today!"
I believe this company is offering the same sort of cable modularity as in the Antec NEOPOWER line (looks rather new):
http://www.antec.com/us/pro_details_powerSupply.ph p?ProdID=24480
The Antec version appears to have some interesting features, not the least of which is the fully open-back grill on the back of the unit. The dark brushing alumnium/steel finish is rather cool too. However, the Antec product does not offer the same sort of sleeved cables as the one in the originaly article. They are, instead, bundles of molex connectors -- two to three connectors per bundle.
Here's a flyer PDF link on the Antec product:
http://www.antec.com/pdf/flyers/NeoPower.pdf
Tom's Hardware also review this Antec product on July 20, 2004:
http://www.tomshardware.com/firstlook/20040720/ind ex.html
Also, if you're interested in EXTREME modular PSU options, visit Frozencpu.com and look under the Power Supplies area for a slew of their own customized PSUs with modularity options included. It's almost to a point of overkill, including plexiglass casings, UV wiring, LED fans, laser cut fan grills -- all for a friggin' power supply.
IronChefMorimoto
"All the cables are sleeved with a tinned copper braid, which act to shield the rest of the PC from EMI." How cables that transmit DC power going to generate EMI? If if a device's current draw is fluctuation enough to cause RF propagation the device needs to be replaced, not sheild the DC transmition cables.
Oh yeah ... im running a 200w PSU and I have a Hardcano 9 Fan controller controlling 2 fans (both the nice LED ones) I have a 12v Black Light in my case, 2 HDD's a CD ROM, 2 fans on the CPU's (little P1 fans) and a big fan on the bottom of the PSU. My PSU runs HOT but still works fine. People getting 500w is over rated. I know im working this one WAY too hard but im sure a 350w PSU will do the trick and probably be much much cheaper then a 500w one.
I have one more thing to put on to this machine. 3Dfx Voodoo 5, I got a quick question tho. Does the Voodoo 5 only use the Molex power for the fans or for the operation of the card. I got a temprature sensor and I wouldn't mind slapping the fan controller on the voodoo. (this way I wouldn't need the card rip'rarin all the time) since this machine likes to idle for days and days at a time.
Solosoft.org - Your Online Resource to Nothing
Total bullsh**. No power supply would reduce voltages "if you do not need all the available power". What decreases is the total power output, but that is determined by the amount of current being drawn on each line (power is equal to the product of voltage and current) rather than the power supply itself. The voltage outputs are always regulated as closely as possible. Changes in voltage can cause malfunction (for example, I once was running 4 hard drives off an old power supply, and they would often spontaneously reset or fail). The only case in which the voltage would actually significantly decrease is in an overload situation, and with a modern 400-watt supply, this is pretty unlikely to happen in any normal computer.
It apparent that the reviewer has very little knowledge of electronics and is not qualified to write such a review. This also raises the question of why this article would be posted when hundreds of pertinent stories are rejected every day.
I've got a system almost identical to yours; XP 1800+, 3 HDD's, and 1 optical drive, but my video card is a Radeon 9600 XT, and I also have an SB LiveDrive in the machine. And a slot fan. My power supply? A five-year-old, 250 watt PSU. The whole system is rock-solid.
I guess it's because of this experience that I have serious doubts about the benefits of these ridiculous 500 watt PSU's. I've yet to see anyone reliably demonstrate that they actually NEED more than 350 watts on a top-end enthusiast system.
Well the review states the inner components are high quality and it can provide solid 500watts through-output, unlike cheap junky psus that can only reach their advertised power in peaks.
So, if your only problem then is with the aesthetics, sanding off the shiny finish can solve the problem.
I would buy this PSU, if only for the modular cabling
No sig for the moment.
If a connector on this breaks, you can always replace it. If you break a cable or connector on a non-modular PSU, either you fix it with some solder and electric tape, or live without the connector. Spending a few bucks for a new connector pales in comparison of paying up to $100+ because you broke the motherboard connector beyond repair on a non-modular PSU. Also, I doubt that the modular cables are significantly less efficient. They claim an approximately 70% efficiency, which is on par with most high-end supplies. Also, the voltage readings under load are as good or better than the NeoPower 480 (well within the margin of error for the test equiptment, I'm sure). Plus, if would be so great to reduce all that clutter!
Too bad it's $150USD...
--- At my sig, unleash hell.
IMO, modular is where you can stack two or more power supplies for added amperage or failover as is the case with some of IBM's AS/400 servers. I don't see where this power supply fits the 'modular' category unless one of those cables can uplink to another power supply for added amperage.
Maybe I am missing something, but then again i did read the article and it didn't say anything about it. The issue of 'excess cables hanging in the case' has never been an issue for me as I always clean up my installs with tiewraps and shrink wrap.
If I'm going to pay $130 for a power supply, I'm going to go with an Antec case while I am at it. Those usually ship with 400w P/S and are really reliable.
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Recieved it from FrozenCPU last week, its extremly quiet, and probably cut the noise of my PC in half. Also, the chrome and silver/black connectors look very clean. You can get a 500w power supply for a lot less, but it wont look this nice and probably doesn't have the performance (nobody ever reviews cheap PSUs). Its been running an XP3200+, 2 vid cards, 3 SATA hard drives, 2 optical drives and 3 fans without any hickups. Another review here.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Personal experience follows, not a paid solicitation ;)
I just bought one in my latest upgrade system, and I'm totally amazed at how quiet it is. I can barely tell my computer is on! The fan is not on the back, it's on the bottom of the PSU, allowing Antec to use a larger fan (meaning it can move more air at lower RPM = quieter operation).
I guess the modular connectors are an ok idea, but saved me no space as I needed to connect all of them anyway [4xhdd, 2x(DV-C)D]
I gotta second this. I've been fixing mine and relatives and friends computers for sometime now, and recently started doing it for $$ freelance. And I've seen at least 4 cases, and one I suspect, where the system was way to wonky (technical term for unreliable :) ) for even a year old win95a install. Replaced power suply with a good one (after testing many other usual suspects) and watched the issues magically dissapear. The one I suspected but can't be shure on is where the guy INSISTED on replacing with the exact same make and model becuase 'that's how it came, I don't want to risk somthing else', and he had me upgrade os to xp as well (from win95-osr2) and eigther could have been to blame.
Another thing to remember is just because it says it's a 400w PS doesn't make it so. A few months ago one of the HW sites (toms? anandtech?) built a test rig and load tested several brands and many failed before they hit thier advertised rating, one even caught fire before it got to it's listed rating. Antec and one other not common around here made it. One of the brands even got past it's rated level before calmly shutting down, to start back up fine when they tried a few minutes later.
Mycroft.
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
" had a simple setup with 3 hard drives, 2 cdroms, 3 case fans and a pair of UV blacklights running for awhile......Not enough power from the PS which was a 350W jobbie."
I don't think this is antec's problem. Unless you had a low power cpu and vid card and the other components were all very low draw, your pulling a bit much for a 350w there. Of course it's possible you should have had enough power, without knowing the draw of the components it's hard to say.
Also you can create problems by drawing too much from one sub-component of the output. A psu isn't usually designed to put most of it's power on just one line. I Know a 350 wouldn't a simular setup I had (one more optical drive, one less hdd) without the extra 5-15 watts pulled by lighting and such. admitedly this was a generic (came with generic case) psu, but was brand new. replaced with a >400w antec about 2.5 years ago and haven't had the problem since.
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
Or even the sun ...
But it certainly is shiny! Time will tell if it is truly useful.
In a related story, the IRS has recently ruled that the cost of Windows upgrades can NOT be deducted as a gambling loss.
Whenever I find I have 'too many cables' somewhere in my computer, I use it as justification to buy something new to put in the case.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
It amazes me how many people will go to great lengths to spec out a system, and then thrown in any old power supply.
Clean power drives your system. Clean power increases stability, decreases failures. Most importantly, if a cheap power supply fails, it can destroy every other bit of computer equipment in that case.
I try to buy somewhat expensive, name-brand power supplies, and hook them up to a UPS.
Has anyone here not heard of the PC Power and Cooling Turbo-Cool 510ATX? This is a supply that reaches 500 watts at an ambient temperature of 40 degrees Celsius (that's about 110 Fahrenheit) rather than the typical 20 celsius. This seems to be a forgotten unit, when, IMO, it was the first, not this one. It appears that people don't seem to know anything about that other unit - it peaks at 600 watts, and you would have to have your system in a freezer to get a temperature that would allow such a peak.