CeBIT 2008 Day 3 - PSUs and Cases
by Christoph Katzer on March 6, 2008 5:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Introduction
Today we will be looking at new products in the power supply and case markets. We have seen many new power supplies from various manufacturers, which is definitely a good thing. Even though we did not find new innovative PCB designs, FSP (Fotron Systems) came up with a clever PCB that will reach higher levels of efficiency. In general, we saw even more companies going with Channel Well (CWT) for their PSU manufacturing; this is not really a good development for the user since we now have numerous high-end brands that now offer similar products, the only difference being a few changed caps and the exterior.
We have heard from several companies that it's currently difficult to find a really good PSU vendor, since most of them have severe problems with ripple and noise for example. Each company needs to tweak their models quite a bit so that they can provide a decent quality level. Still, there were some surprises in the power supply field this year, the chief surprise being quantity. At former shows we never saw so many new product introductions; in the past, nearly all PSU companies already did that online a month prior to CeBIT.
Now let's look at what the various companies had to show this year in the case and power areas.
Cooler Master
Cooler Master introduced a completely new lineup of power supplies. The new products are marketed under the Silent Pro, Ultimate Warranty Protection, and Extreme Power M brands. The Silent Pro series comes with lower wattages of around 450W-700W. A bigger eye-catcher is the Ultimate Warranty Protection series, or UWP.
UWP comes in an innovative design and aims for the higher-end users with around 700W-1100W. The surface of the power supplies comes with a rough texture and could be used as sand paper. Most of the power supplies we saw at the Cooler Master booth were modular, allowing the user to unplug unused cables. The efficiency should also be good, with Cooler Master brochures showing up to 86%. The release date will be in the June timeframe, so don't expect these PSUs for a couple more months.
Corsair
Over at Corsair we met up with George, who explained the hassle of getting a good manufacturer to help produce an even better product. Corsair just released the HX1000W, which is the first 1000W PSU certified for NVIDIA's 3-way-SLI. It of course comes with all the necessary connectors and looks similar to the previously released power supplies of Corsair. It will be available soon (within the next month it appears) and we are looking forward to reviewing our sample.
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Christoph Katzer - Friday, March 7, 2008 - link
I added the last gallery with misc products.kilkennycat - Friday, March 7, 2008 - link
Did Enermax not have a booth? That's weird. Their power-supplies are somewhat popular in Europe.Christoph Katzer - Friday, March 7, 2008 - link
They had but there was nothing new to show in fact. We wrote quite a lot at CES about the new PRO82+ and MODU82+.MGSsancho - Friday, March 7, 2008 - link
first of all their the best.http://www.anandtech.com/GalleryImage.aspx?id=1398">http://www.anandtech.com/GalleryImage.aspx?id=1398
more on that HTPC case? my current htpc is amd 690 based and its just sitting here in pirces. im looking for a nice case. so yeah moer htps cses please :)
PS. im loving the silverthone cse
Christoph Katzer - Sunday, March 9, 2008 - link
That case is actually for the Xbox360 but Lian Li has the same case also for SFF.Freddo - Thursday, March 6, 2008 - link
All the manufacturers seem to be bragging about having xxxx Watt, but I'm not interested in that.300 is enough for me. I just want a really efficient and quiet PSU. A passive cooled one. Looking at the market today, it seems like the last passive cooled PSUs were released 3 years ago. I'm sure if they tried, they would be able to make passive PSUs more efficient today than they were 3 years ago. So where the heck are those? Stoopid companies.
7Enigma - Friday, March 7, 2008 - link
I'm still waiting for these case/psu companies to get a clue and have a properly vented setup. Why do I have a psu that has a horizontal vent out the back with a closed-top on the case? Seems pretty logical to me that the psu (be it passive or actively cooled) should have the intake at the side (as in the highest point in the case), and the outlet at the TOP with corresponding opening at the top of the case to let the hot air out. Put a piece of removable mesh or something to prevent dust from getting in.I've seen some cases with huge 200mm fans on the top of the case, what I really want is a port hole on the top where the PSU is mounted, with a PSU that has its outlet also on the top. This would reduce the need for active cooling under all but the most demanding situations since the hottest air will have easy access to simply rise out of the case the way physics intended.
For SFF or low power/silent setups you wouldn't even need an intake case fan since the escaping heated air would cause a suction at the front (ideally at the base of the case for the coolest air).
Maybe I haven't looked around enough but comon, SOMEONE, make a PSU/case that would address this. Heck I'm about ready to start my own company to produce these!
xsilver - Thursday, March 6, 2008 - link
if you're only after 300w then I think the second hand market is ripe for the picking at the moment.a lot of noob people who are upgrading their 300w-500w fanless PSU's are selling them off for cheap!
JarredWalton - Thursday, March 6, 2008 - link
Did you read the NesteQ comments? Semi-passive sounds like a good compromise: if you don't break a certain threshold, you get pure silence. It sounds like they're working on US partners right now, so I'm definitely interested to see where they go.JarredWalton - Thursday, March 6, 2008 - link
Just an addendum, I recall quite a few people experiencing failures with purely passive designs. If there's no airflow at all (i.e. no case fans or other fans), temperatures can and do get out of control. Without the potential to activate a failsafe fan to cool things down, you run a risk of overheating and failure. Sure, it fails silently, but I think most people would prefer a little occasional noise just to be safe.