Crystal Power supply

GprophetB

Platinum Member
Jun 20, 2003
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link

Anyone have exp with crystal power supplies?

Thinking about picking this up to power a

Athlon xp 1800
4 drives total (2 HDDs, 2 optical)
9800xt
Pair of UV lights
6 80mm Fans
Fan controller
External case lights

EDIT: CORRECTION this is made by LOGISYS (i thought crystal was the main brand/manufacturer)
 

GprophetB

Platinum Member
Jun 20, 2003
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Wow, looks like i got my own answer! This thing performs like a champ and besides the semi crappy sleeving job looks great.
 

aatf510

Golden Member
Nov 13, 2004
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A $80 PSU with 16A @ +12V? Definately not worth the money. Plus I have heard enough horror stories with Ultra PSU.
Also, a xp1800 might bottleneck you 9800xt.
 

GprophetB

Platinum Member
Jun 20, 2003
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yeah i realize, ill probably be in the market for a barton2500 that i can slam to 3200 speeds.

we will see though

So the crystal may be a good buy then?

EDIT: sweeeeet rig btw taottrett
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
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Regarding PSUs, I have noticed several things.

Most "enthusist" PSU are really way over priced. I have used Antec, A-open and other "Highend" PSUs in my day and have used no name brands like Wintec, I currently use one in one of my systems for 3 years straight, many devices, never had an issue with the Wintec 450w.

I recently purchased an Aspire Concord 500w PSU for 59 bucks, and you know what? Compared to my very expensive (150 buck) Antec, the Aspire blows it way. This thing is solid black alluminum, has enough connectors to power my 6 HDs, Vid card, DVD Burner, CDRW/DVD drive, CPU fan, 3 case fans, Diskette drive and I still have a one SATA and 2 Diskette drive connectors left over without using any Y connectors, and upon looking in the chassis, which has 2 fans and even gives you a free case fan and controller for 4 more fans, I notice it has 2 excellent looking heatsinks inside. So with all my crap attached I ran monitoring tests and this thing rocks. I am never spending big $$$ on an overratted PSU again! :)
 

GprophetB

Platinum Member
Jun 20, 2003
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wow, can you link me to where you bought yours? Are the cables UV sensitive at all?
 

jonnyGURU

Moderator <BR> Power Supplies
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Oct 30, 1999
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$49 for a 500W power supply made of Acrylic?

I'm scared. Seriously. SCARY.

I've got the Ultra myself and when I worked PC retail, we had about a 1% RMA rate. That 16A on the 12V rating is wrong, though. Well... Not wrong. Just not fairly presented. MOST power supplies give you their peak rating on a rail. Like when Antec tells you that the NeoPower does 18A and 15A on the 12V, that's Max load, not continuous. That 16A is the continuous. The Ultra X-Connect actually does 34A on the 12V rail (unless you have the Euro model. Then it's 28A or something like that.) Check the spec with Ultra's website or one of the many reviews.


 

jonnyGURU

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Hmm.. Too bad that review didn't take better pictures or took apart the acrylic shell. I'm curious to whom really makes it.
 

jonnyGURU

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I don't know man... It's $50! I've yet to see any decent 500W power supply for only $50. Never mind one that's made of acrylic and has two LED fans.

I'm half tempted to buy one just to take it apart! :)
 

jonnyGURU

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WHEW! Took this long, but I FINALLY found a vendor that had the damn rail specs!

From: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=PS500AC

# +3.3 V, 28 A
# +5 V, 34 A
# +12 V, 14 A
# -12 V, 0.8 A
# -5 V, 0.5 A
# +5 Vsb, 2 A

That's less amperage available on it's ONLY rail than most dual rail 500W power supplies have on EITHER of their two rails. I'll pass.
 

KamiXkaze

Member
Nov 19, 2004
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Originally posted by: Oyeve
Regarding PSUs, I have noticed several things.

Most "enthusist" PSU are really way over priced. I have used Antec, A-open and other "Highend" PSUs in my day and have used no name brands like Wintec, I currently use one in one of my systems for 3 years straight, many devices, never had an issue with the Wintec 450w.

I recently purchased an Aspire Concord 500w PSU for 59 bucks, and you know what? Compared to my very expensive (150 buck) Antec, the Aspire blows it way. This thing is solid black alluminum, has enough connectors to power my 6 HDs, Vid card, DVD Burner, CDRW/DVD drive, CPU fan, 3 case fans, Diskette drive and I still have a one SATA and 2 Diskette drive connectors left over without using any Y connectors, and upon looking in the chassis, which has 2 fans and even gives you a free case fan and controller for 4 more fans, I notice it has 2 excellent looking heatsinks inside. So with all my crap attached I ran monitoring tests and this thing rocks. I am never spending big $$$ on an overratted PSU again! :)


yep same here I have a antec in one and the other one came with a generic brand and so far the generic has been holding up.

KxK
 

GprophetB

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Jun 20, 2003
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hmmmmm, well crap i dont wanna drop 50 on a powersupply and have it die, and i sure dont want to spend more than 50 bucks
 

jonnyGURU

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Actually, Acer and AOpen power supplies are very well made. Yeah, they're not flashy... but very stable.

We built about 20 small servers with AOpen 350W power supplies and they've run 24/7 without a hitch.
 

jonnyGURU

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Probably the best < $50 I spent on a power supply was the TTGI/Topower/SuperFlower 520W. It has 18A on the 12V and comes in four colors. As long as you don't have an SLI video card and a Pentium 4 together on the same motherboard, you should be fine. ;)
 

Patrick Wolf

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Jan 5, 2005
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My recommendation goes to Ultra X-Connect

Pics of mine.

Reduce Case Clutter. - I *might* add wire ties later.

Not Bad For $109 - Blue shines out back of the case too, pretty cool.

I should also mention this is the first PSU I've ever bought. My older one was a Chieftec 340W, some stupid thing Alienware put in my PC when I got it 2+ years ago.
 

jonnyGURU

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He didn't want to spend $109, though. $50 is the "target price." ;)
 

jonnyGURU

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Originally posted by: GprophetB
That original link i put up said this thing is solid, and yes 50$ target.

I'm not putting down the reviewer or the review site. That original link is a site consistent with reviewing case mods, not torture testing power supplies. The test rig specs were never listed and there's no mention of any kind of load testing.

I've got an Antec PP300V that'll power an Athlon XP 2800+ with 512MB of RAM and an FX5200 if that's all you want. It's probably not any worse than that Crystal. ;) $20 shipped and it's yours! :)
 

GprophetB

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Jun 20, 2003
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nah i think ill get an X-connect actually, doing some more reading and this seems like the way to go

i hate spending that much but the modular cables are a big time strong point (and that crystal only has 4 stock molex connectors) (* i know i know theres splitters to get but id rather get a modular PS anyways)

Ill post pics in a few weeks when the build comes together