550W Roundup: Three PSUs at Different Prices
by Martin Kaffei on October 28, 2010 4:00 PM ESTAntec Noise Levels and Efficiency
| Sound Pressure Level | |
| Load | dB(A) |
| 10% | 18 |
| 20% | 18 |
| 50% | 20 |
| 80% | 23 |
| 100% | 27 |
| 110% | 32 |
At high loads, Antec is louder than OCZ, but they are very similar overall. When you play games (one of the few times you would be likely to come anywhere near the 550W output), the noise isn't that important anyway, as the GPU/CPU fans are also more audible. The silence at low loads is crucial, and both the OCZ and Antec units do well.
Efficiency and PFC
| 230VAC, 50Hz | ||
| Load | Efficiency | PFC |
| 10% | 78% | 0.852 |
| 20% | 84% | 0.907 |
| 50% | 88% | 0.933 |
| 80% | 87% | 0.948 |
| 100% | 86% | 0.956 |
| 110% | 85% | 0.958 |
| 115VAC, 60Hz | ||
| Load | Efficiency | PFC |
| 10% | 78% | 0.957 |
| 20% | 84% | 0.973 |
| 50% | 86% | 0.988 |
| 80% | 84% | 0.989 |
| 100% | 83% | 0.995 |
| 110% | 82% | 0.993 |
As expected, the Antec is more efficient than OCZ, and the Techsolo is well behind the pace set by 80 Plus. The efficiency and power factor could still be better at low load (for example, Seasonic achieved more than 80% at 10% load), but both are good enough for 80 Plus Bronze and there's not much to complain about.
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Gonemad - Wednesday, November 3, 2010 - link
I had a Thermaltake ThoughPower (can't remember exact model) that performed fairly for 5 years. It operated non-stop for 1 year in-between that time. I bought it separately from a Thermaltake Case, that had several fans. Worth every dime, both of them.But...
I had to replace an original case fan, so I decided "what t'e hell' and slapped a cheap-o-dozen fan in its place. VERY. BAD. IDEA.
The whole thing worked fine for 6 months, then the ASUS metering software showed steady voltage dropping, curiously on the 3.3V rail as I later found out. Then it alarmed in an intermittent fashion, for no apparent reason, as it got to 10% Low Voltage on that rail.
Guess what? The fan LOCKED, and effectively pushed the PSU to 110% or above (who knows?), FOR FREAKING 6 MONTHS.
THE PSU DIDN´T QUIT ON ME.
As I opened it for regular maintenance (hey, 6 months, remember?) I found the locked fan, and a funny smell that could be felt only very near the PSU vent. You know the smell, don't you? That's the smell of a dying PSU. The fan almost burned my hand when I touched it, proving that the PSU was not at fault; in fact, it performed above and beyond any expectation, and possibly avoided a fire hazard. It was still operational when I removed it, but the smell was ever greater each time it was turned on, even for a few minutes, proving the whole thing had collapsed after all that operating time. The fan didn't short out, which would have triggered any safety (fuse, probably?) on the PSU, it just didn't rotate anymore on its bearings, and became a power drainer on the circuit, eating away the average life-time of the component.
The good PSU purchase decision not only proved a wise decision, it avoided me lots of hassle and grief. The cheap fan, on the other hand, destroyed a perfectly good piece of equipment.
"Caveat Emptor" indeed.
gurboura - Saturday, November 6, 2010 - link
It seems right from the start that you have something against TechSolo, you also talk about how it was loud at almost 30dbA, but yet, the Antec is at 32 and the OCZ tops at 26, still close to that 30dbA level."If you want to have a silent computer, please buy another power supply and protect your ears." Couldn't this have been said the same for the Antec since it was actually louder than the TechSolo?
When doing doing these type of articles your supposed to have an unbiased opinion and its pretty obvious from the start that that wasn't true.