What would you think of this PSU......

jonnyGURU

jonnyGURU

Technical Marketing Manager at Corsair Memory
Joined
Apr 9, 2005
Messages
4,844
Just a question for you guys....

Is $200 a good price for an 800W power supply? Seems kind of high to me, but when there's 1000W power supplies on the market for $400, it's a question that needs asking.

Here's some of the details:

Four 12V rails. 20A on each. Total combined is 768W sustained, 840W peak.

The 800W rating is actually a sustained output with 115V input. Peak is 880W. With 230V input, the PSU does 1000W sustained and 1100 peak.

Efficiency is good, but not 80%+. I'd say 78% typical.

Truly independent rails, so there is no crossload issue.

Active power factor correction.

The housing is anodized aluminum and is only about 7" deep and is cooled with a pair of coaxial fans.

Thoughts?
 
Well obviously I would go with the magic marketing price of 199.99. Sounds reasonable though.....so long as it performs :D
 
Well I'm still a bit of a psu n00b, but in comparing it with the Zippy 850 it seems like a good deal. The zippy has 60 amps on one 12v and only 71% efficiency. Myaopen.com sells it for $320.
 
It does seem a bit high. $160 - 180 would be better of course. What kind of warranty? New PSU from ULTRA?
 
josanai said:
It does seem a bit high. $160 - 180 would be better of course.
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What would that be competing against at that low of a price?

Obviously, the lower the price the better... but such a PSU doesn't seem to be "cheap enough" to come in at that low of a cost. That's why the question, "is it a good price?"
 
With those specs, it's a fair price IMHO if quality is there. If it is a cheap one, 150$ would be a better price.
 
jonnyGURU said:
What would that be competing against at that low of a price?

Obviously, the lower the price the better... but such a PSU doesn't seem to be "cheap enough" to come in at that low of a cost. That's why the question, "is it a good price?"
Click to expand...

Fortron Epsilon 700 watt PSU's can be found for ~ $160 and Thermaltake Toughpower 750 for ~ $170. I think that these would be competition. I am sure people would buy an 800 watt PSU for $200, but I would possibly go with the Fortron for $40 cheaper than this PSU you speak of. I know I can't say for sure, it depends on warranty and make and if the company has a good track record with PSU's.
 
josanai said:
Fortron Epsilon 700 watt PSU's can be found for ~ $160 and Thermal Toughpower 750 for ~ $170. I think that these would be competition. I am sure people would buy an 800 watt PSU for $200, but I would possibly go with the Fortron for $40 cheaper than this PSU you speak of. I know I can't say for sure, it depends on warranty and make and if the company has a good track record with PSU's.
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But that's a horrible comparison.

The FSP/OCZ 700W only does 680W on the combined 12V rails ASSUMING there's NO LOAD on either 3.3V or 5V rails.

The Toughpower doesn't say what it can do on the combined 12's, but you know if can't be more than 750W and it's more than likely considerably less since 3.3V and 5V need to be taken into consideration.

So it comes down to the educated consumer.... which is a consumer that's few and far between. Someone can have a "900W" that's really a 750W that only has 720W capable on the combined 12V rails, but because it sells for $150 it's a better power supply.... all because of that "900W."

It's a shame that educating the consumer has to be part of selling a better product. No wonder everyone just slaps a label on the same old recycled crap. ;)
 
jonnyGURU said:
But that's a horrible comparison.

The FSP/OCZ 700W only does 680W on the combined 12V rails ASSUMING there's NO LOAD on either 3.3V or 5V rails.

The Toughpower doesn't say what it can do on the combined 12's, but you know if can't be more than 750W and it's more than likely considerably less since 3.3V and 5V need to be taken into consideration.

So it comes down to the educated consumer.... which is a consumer that's few and far between. Someone can have a "900W" that's really a 750W that only has 720W capable on the combined 12V rails, but because it sells for $150 it's a better power supply.... all because of that "900W."

It's a shame that educating the consumer has to be part of selling a better product. No wonder everyone just slaps a label on the same old recycled crap. ;)
Click to expand...

I guess I didn't read the specs close enough. I thought the 768 watts sustained was for ALL combined rails, not just for the 12V rails. 64 Amps for the 12V rails is pretty impressive. So yeah, the PSU you speak of would seem to be a better PSU than either of those that I mentioned. So when will we hear more about the PSU you are talking about? Have you been able to test it on your SunMoon's?
 
Yes, I have. It gets my seal of approval. But that doesn't mean jack sitting on a shelf at Fry's or on ZZF's site. ;)
 
competition, silverstone 750 watt psu? Price range looks pretty close, I don't know how the silverstone does, but from some of the other reviews probably pretty decent at least.
 
ST-75ZF does 720W on the combined 12V's and sells for about $175, so that is a very good alternative.

Ok... So $175 would be the price to beat. Damn... That's going to be tough. ;)
 
jonnyGURU said:
Just a question for you guys....
Is $200 a good price for an 800W power supply? Seems kind of high to me, but when there's 1000W power supplies on the market for $400, it's a question that needs asking.
Here's some of the details:
Click to expand...

First you'd have to define coaxial fans; you mean squirrel cage? Secondly, I'd need to know exactly how loud it is at that price point - squirrel cage and blowers tend to be noisier than axial.
What's the regulation? Better than +-5%?
Can the 12V rails be combined for >20A loads?
What exact temperature were these ratings taken at, and what's the operating range?

On the surface, sure, 'sokay. But I'm very, very picky about PSUs when it comes to customer systems.
 
50C.

By coaxial, I mean

co·ax·i·al (ko-akse-el)
adj. "Having or mounted on a common axis."

Meaning, a pair of 80's mounted front to back, push to pull.

And the limiters are set to 20A to adhere to ATX12V and SSI standards. But with a quad 12V rail PSU, I personally see no reason to exceed 20A per rail.
 
jonnyGURU said:
Thoughts?
Click to expand...

My first thought - Topower TOP-800P9 :D

Second thought, the price seems ok for high end Topower, but no way would I grab one if the Silverstone ST75ZF is cheaper.
 
Topower?

Bite your tongue.

They're slowly losing ground on my list of recommended PSU's.
 
Heh - t'was worth a shot. The specs line up, anyway. Topower's been losing ground on my list ever since two P6's in a row failed to hold up to even Tom's testing ;)
 
THIS JUST IN

I just "found" these inside JonnyGuru's office. If anyone sees him, don't tell him that you know anything or he'll bite off your head.

Here's the secret pre-production sketches. No one tell him where I am :eek:


profile.jpg


psu.JPG


ultra-x-finity-600-tit-2.jpg
 
jonnyGURU said:
50C.
Click to expand...

Now we're getting close-ish. If op range doesn't extend to 55C minimum, no dice though.

By coaxial, I mean
Meaning, a pair of 80's mounted front to back, push to pull.
Click to expand...

... well, we were getting somewhere. :rolleyes:

And the limiters are set to 20A to adhere to ATX12V and SSI standards. But with a quad 12V rail PSU, I personally see no reason to exceed 20A per rail.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's only (ha, ONLY) 240W per rail. This doesn't work so hot when EMI/RFI reasons force you into a 330W+ rail and a itty bitty rail for your noise-heavy cooling systems. (And thus the reason I prefer the custom 1KWs so much is revealed. Drat!) :D

Oklahoma Wolf said:
Heh - t'was worth a shot. The specs line up, anyway. Topower's been losing ground on my list ever since two P6's in a row failed to hold up to even Tom's testing ;)
Click to expand...

Wait just one fucking second.
Since when did Tom's actually do any TESTING beyonds making sure the check didn't bounce?
 
AreEss said:
Since when did Tom's actually do any TESTING beyonds making sure the check didn't bounce?
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They ran two OCZ PS600's up to full load as specified on the label, at 25 degrees or less. One shut down properly but well before it should have IIRC, the replacement worked but started blowing lab breakers. While I have no problem agreeing with anyone dismissing Tom's methodology as pretty much useless, combined with the other complaints I had been hearing against this model these particular results caught my attention on that particular day.

I have no intention whatsoever of getting into an argument on whether or not Tom's knows what they're doing, because I'd probably end up just agreeing with about every point made against them :p
 
Oklahoma Wolf said:
I have no intention whatsoever of getting into an argument on whether or not Tom's knows what they're doing, because I'd probably end up just agreeing with about every point made against them :p
Click to expand...

Yeah. We're going to stop here before I laugh myself to the hospital. What'd they do, put them in a fucking freezer? Gods.The Checkbookmarking at Tom's will never cease to amaze.
 
AreEss said:
What'd they do, put them in a fucking freezer?
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lol - not quite that bad. They put them on a bench in an air conditioned room for 24 hours on the load testers.
 
Oklahoma Wolf said:
lol - not quite that bad. They put them on a bench in an air conditioned room for 24 hours on the load testers.
Click to expand...

Maybe if they stuck the PSUs right up against the ducts... yeah, that would let them run at 25C internal temperature. Then again...
Yep. You guessed it. Faaaaaabricated. Again. When will they learn?
 
Actually, 25 degrees was the ambient temp... they also had internal temps listed but I don't recall any specific results on those. Didn't really care, what with them testing at unrealistic ambient temps.
 
Bbq: I think you have WAY to much time on your hands. :)

That was funny, though. I think I'm going to steal that for my blog.

FWIW: My handwriting is a LITTLE neater than that. ;)
 
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