Power Supply Roundup: 730W to 900W
by Christoph Katzer on November 22, 2007 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Product Comparison - Cable Length
As you can see below, we have a new cable length comparison chart now. This should make it easier to compare the various PSUs with all of the test units in each roundup appearing in each chart. We will have multiple images for the various connector types to keep things manageable. We've color coded the background from red to green as an indication of how well the cables will work in full-size towers. Naturally, if you have a smaller case and prefer not to have extra cable snaked into the crannies, you might prefer a PSU with shorter cables.
All of the test units in this roundup have a minimum length of 50cm on all harnesses, making them a good match for larger cases. Hiper and Cooler Master have slightly longer cables on some or all of the ATX harnesses, with a length of 60cm or 24".
The graphics power connectors (also called PEG connectors) present a very different approach from the companies. Hiper includes one long and one shorter harness, which make sense as the two graphics cards are above each other and therefore you won't need the same length for both of the harnesses. Unfortunately, the 730 and 770W models don't include any 8-pin PEG connectors.
The 880W unit has two harnesses with two connectors each. The first one is an 8-pin connector and the second is a 6-pin. The problem with this approach is the amount of power delivered on the individual wires. If the user attaches both connectors to a demanding GPU, you end up with a potential for 225W to come across a single rail - potentially enough to cause problems, though testing proceeded without incident. While no current graphics cards require this much power, a modified design would be appreciated.
Seasonic also has an odd design. Their PEG harness only has six cables, but they still utilize an 8-pin PEG connector at the end. Two of the wires serve double duty and connect to two pins, but ideally and 8-pin PEG connector would have eight wires from the PSU. Whether these cables are a higher gauge in order to deal with the additional demands is not clear, but again testing proceeded without any noticeable difficulties.
All the other units have real 8-pin PEG connectors to power up the latest graphics cards. Silverstone wins the longest 6-pin cable competition with their 70cm/28" harness, though the other three connectors are a more modest 50cm length.
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tynopik - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
the efficiency charts are fantastic as you can see exactly how all the units compare at a specified wattagebut then you go back and do the acoustics charts by % load? why?
if i want to see how all the units compare at a 500w load, there's no easy way to do that as that might be a 68% load on one unit and a 55% load on another unit
Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
Next time will doVidmar - Saturday, November 24, 2007 - link
Thanks for doing the charts in watts instead of load. I've been asking for that for some time. As has been said here it makes it much easier to find a good unit based upon a known wattage your system uses. Good article.tynopik - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
great!and then once all units are tested to the same baseline, that opens the door for dynamic comparisons
as you build up a database of reviews, you could have a dynamic system where you can choose a 400-500 watt unit you reviewed 9 months ago and a 600 watt unit you just reviewed and it will generate the comparison charts on the fly
something for the future perhaps ;)
Etern205 - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
Newegg is selling the Antec TruePower Quattro 850 at $249 whilethe 1KW version is selling for $299 with a -$80 instant rebate!
850w version
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
1KW version
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
Traciatim - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
Could you please design and test with a machine that actually uses 700+ Watts of DC output?Jjoshua2 - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
I like the old review better. I don't have time to read the whole reviews, so I just read the conclusion and then go over a few interesting paragraphs. I hope you have a longer conclusion next time!Thanks.
Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
Ehm there are 8 pages comparison/conclusion.... not enough?Of course people not appreciating the work and just read the last page find it boring... so next time I write a page about 10 PSUs and that'd be enough? ...
Googer - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
Check the hot deals section of Anandtech forums, a little while ago I posted a $50 price drop of the Silencer 750 down to a budgetable $150.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...=40&...
Christoph Katzer - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
That would be a really good deal indeed.