Enermax hype.

[Doomguy]

We've all been suckered into the Enermax hype. High quality, expensive power supplies. But are they really all they've been cracked up to be?

Lately at the Hardforums and amdmb forums people have been noticing Enermax power supplies deliver very low +5 rail voltages when used with some motherboards. Causing stability problems and low overclockability.

I own an Enermax 350w power supply and have an 8kha+ with an Athlon XP 1800+. No matter how many watts the Enermax power supply has the problem still exist. I have a very bare setup running right now(one hard drive, one cd-rom) and my +5 rail has dropped to 4.78 under load.

Other brands such as Antec, Sparkle and especially Leadman handle the +5 rail with no problems.

The current debate is whether the problem is because of certain motherboards or Enermax power supplies are at fault. Just letting you guys know what's been going on in the exciting world of pc power supplies

 

[XMan]

Hmm.

Well, I have an Enermax 351W, Athlon 1200C overclocked to 1400, 512MB PC2100, a hard drive, two CD-roms, a floppy, an original GeForce (big voltage drinker), NIC, sound, and modem.

I get pretty solid readings on all of the rails. 5V stays around 4.95.

 

[John]

more feedback on the Enermax

 

[flood]

motherboard sensors arent necessarily 100% accurate or consistent

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

Voltage monitoring software not withstanding, my Enermax 431W runs at -5.30v and +4.92v on the 5v rails. This is better than the generic PS that it replaced, but I am still concerned about it. The second fan on the PSU did lower my case temps a few degrees though...

 

[EBM]

My Enermax 431w is sitting at 4.98vdc right now. I have never seen it drop below 4.95. Upgrading to the Enermax solved the random reboot problems I had with my 350w Antec power supply.

 

[junthin]

I believe the problem is more with the Epox motherboards than with Enermax power supplies. I use Enermax power supplies for all my (regular ATX computer) client builds (unless specifically specified not to), and I've only had Enermax problems with Epox motherboards. I've had a few with the 8KHA, but a lot with the 8K7A. I generally find the Epox boards to be picky about their power supplies, and very finnicky with Enermax power supplies. However, as with all things, YMMV.

 

[RazeOrc]

Sorry, my Enermax runs at 4.98-5.03 on my ABIT TH7-II RAID board even with 3 monster hard drives, DVD, CDR, 8 Case Fans, 2 Main board fans, even when I overclock.....alot. I have to say that the 431w is an absoloute tank and well worth the $85 investment, besides it comes with a 3 year warranty, what PS offers that????

 

[Mem]

No problems here with my Epox 8KHA+ and Enermax 431w I get 4.98v on average ,they are good PSUs period .

 

[CraigRT]

Enermax is overrated.. I went with the Antec 400W PSU and it has mind numbing load characteristics, it can handle a ton! it has alot more potential than even my 300W Antec (which worked fine with my setup) but the 400W is even better, with MORE power.. I don't have to worry about a thing, with this PSU.

I chose this PSU over the Enermax because of a few reviews that stated what I did, in the first line of this post. They did not actually say "This PSU is overrated" in the reviews, but after comparing the 2 brands, (or even some others, for that matter) it's certainly what i think..

 

[sharkeeper]

Low readings on the 5 volt rail as observed with the Winbond sensors are a motherboard problem, not a power supply problem. Use an accurate DMM to measure the 5 volt tap on the PS and you will see a pretty large discrepancy.

Cheers!

 

[AkumaBao]

My 431W is at 5.09v right now, but the 12V is at 12.60v.

 

[HappyPuppy]

My Enermax 431 has 5v @ 5.04, 3v @ 3.34 and 12v @ 12.4. This with 1.4 TBird, Radeon 8500, TBSC, modem, NIC, 3 HDD, 16 fans, DVD & CDRW. I don't see how I could ask for any more.

The problem appears to be more with specific motherboards than with the Enermax.

The Enermax is a top of the line PSU. So is the Antec. Why do some people have to bash one product in order to make their product sound superior?

Can't we all just get along?

 

[JackBurton]

+5v @ 5.15, +3.3v @ 3.46 and the +12v @ 12.4. I've got A LOT of fans, two 7200RPM hds, CDRW, DVD, neon lights, GeForce 2 Pro, NIC, SCSI card, SB Live!. But I'm running a P4 and there are 3 power connectors that go to the board.

 

[MasterHoss]

I loaded my Enermax PS pretty heavily (as you can see in my sig.)

My +5 rail is at 4.89V and my -5 rail is at -5.39V (according to the latest version of MBM).

I think those numbers were a little better with the Antec 300W ps I was using before, but I don't notice any difference in stability--still nice and rock solid.

 

[rickn]

I've had no problem with my 350w Enermax and 8k7a + 1.4GHz t-bird, but then again I am not overclocking it *yet*

My +5v generally sits around 4.85v, and dips down to 4.83v under heavy load. There is a +/- 5% variance on the +5v line

 

[Vinny N]

I wonder if some of these people with low 5v rails might have a kink in their ATX power connector cable?

The Enermax's have some ludicrously long ones, especially the older 451VE and 351PVEs.

My system's 5v rail was going and staying as low as 4.76v. I opened up the case, reversed the bend that I had set my ATX power connector cable into, bam. Runs at 4.98v consistently, never drops to below 4.95v

 

[flood]

<< I wonder if some of these people with low 5v rails might have a kink in their ATX power connector cable?

The Enermax's have some ludicrously long ones, especially the older 451VE and 351PVEs.

My system's 5v rail was going and staying as low as 4.76v. I opened up the case, reversed the bend that I had set my ATX power connector cable into, bam. Runs at 4.98v consistently, never drops to below 4.95v >>




these are wires, not hoses!

 

[Vinny N]

I'm serious.

I didn't believe it myself.

I opened up my case, stayed in the BIOS, moved the 20 wire ATX power cable around and watched my +5v rail fluctuate.
If I left it bent in the position it had been in, it sometimes would drop as low as 4.76.

When I reversed the bend, it stayed at 4.98v.

 

[brett1]

Either my 300W enermax or my Epox 8K7A is having trouble keeping up with my 3 7200rpm hdds, 3 case fans, gf3 w/fan, floppy, burner, dvdrom drive, NIC, sound card, and ide controller card. My 5V rail is at 4.68 V and my system shuts itself off if I try to do anything.

 

[Pabster]

I've had mixed results with Enermax supplies of various sizes on various mainboards. Sometimes the +5v rail (which is the usual culprit) is incredibly low -- <4.7v under a full load, especially with the core voltage at 2v+.

Antec's 400W has given me much, much better results. Even with 2.2v to a core, the +5v never drops below ~4.90, and is usually very close to 5.

That said, Enermax certainly makes quality supplies.

 

[Budman]

Hey John, what's your login & pass, i want to check out your link.

 

[Walay]

How is the PCPower&Cooling Silencer 400W PSU compared to Enermax and Antec?
I thought PC power and cooling would be the best since it got a pretty high price tag...

 

[EXman]

personally I agree with you doomguy. Also the enermax wires are thin compared to some PSU's I have had. Also they are long as shiznit. I just think that is a design flaw long thin wires. SitTING FAT AND HAPPY w/ my 400w antec with adjustable pots. 5.15v to my 1.65ghz system

 

[flood]

just wihpped out my multimeter -
bios says 4.87
multimeter says 5.03