2003 Power Supply Roundup Part II: Better Faster Cheaper
by Kristopher Kubicki on July 31, 2003 1:58 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
A great representation of balance between power, price, stability and noise came in the form of Fortron’s FSP400-60PFN power supply. We were particularly pleased this unit was able to produce a great amount of stability, while keeping noise levels way down. Most of Fortron’s power supplies carry the same OEM components as Sparkle and Zalman, so many of their products appear identical.
The unimpressive looking power supply impressed us the minute we turned it because we could not hear it. Whereas some power supplies emit a slight whine or purr of fans, this power supply was literally inaudible. Our only complaint is that the ATX cable was not sheathed. Since this is a relatively inexpensive unit, you should invest in some cable management. The power supply does come with a motherboard monitoring cable, and some units ship with Serial ATA adaptors. The unit is also rated with Active PFC.
Wattages
|
|
3.3V |
5V |
12V |
-12 |
-5 |
+5vsb |
combined theoretical |
actual combined |
advertised total |
|
Fortron FSP400-60PFN |
92.40 |
200.00 |
180.00 |
9.60 |
1.50 |
10.00 |
292.40 |
235.00 |
400.00 |
We can see that the combined rail on this power supply is capable of 235W. This is actually higher than some power supplies in the 500W range. For AMD users, the FSP400 will work well with AMD processors, since the majority of the power from the unit is coming in on the +3.3V and +5V rails.
The FSP400-60PFN retails for under $60. As far as other power supplies go, this is a little higher than what you will pay for a TurboLink or Allied. On the other hand, this Fortron unit comes with respectable features, and good performance. It should be mentioned that Sparkle (SPI) has an identical unit with the same SKU (FSP400-60PFN) for about the same price.
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Anonymous User - Friday, August 1, 2003 - link
1. No amp measurements were listed, a serious deficiency because without them there is no way to know how well each PS met its amp specs, and many brands are known to fall short.2. No overload testing results for shorts, excessive power draw, excessive temperature.
3. Ripple is not just slow voltage variation also short term variation, such as for each AC cycle (60 Hz for the incoming AC, about 60,000 Hz for the output DC). I would have liked to see how the latter correlated with the memory noise test results.
4. I hope you were careful when you tested the PS heatsink temperatures because some heatsinks are live with high voltage.
Anonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
Well for the observent people who can differentiate between orange and blue, its not an issue. Also waiting a full second before clicking it reveals the location on both the bottom left and the mouse cursor. but i can see how it does get annoying.Anonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
yeah those in page advertisements are REALLY annoying...those have got to go. i never know when i'm going to link to another anandtech article or to an ad...i guess that's the point but it's still unacceptableAnonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
I would like to see the review include a Heroichi Electronic power supply, I hear they are very good but I haven't used one.Anonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
Some of your "In Page Advertising" links seem to be missing closing links tags or something so that it results in having a <link> in the middle or end of a sentence. Ex. "We had a lot of troubles with Vantec’s last power supply, the Stealth. We found an error in the production label<link>, which quickly led to a change in all the labeling on all Stealth power supplies."KristopherKubicki - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
#3 and #4, thank you for spotting these errors. I have updated and fixed them.Cheers,
Kristopher
Anonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
I hope the ripple for the PC Power & Cooling 3V wasn't 2.295.. Possibly 3.296??? 1 volt drop is unacceptable.Anonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
The REAL price of the pc power&coolinghttp://www.directron.com/pcpower.htmlAnonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
a little more content per page in some cases would be nice too......but good to see content on the site at all...and seemingly more regularly too...
Anonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
woah guys, the tables need some work...