OCZ GameXtreme power supplies

[VirtualLarry]

There's currently a hot deal for some of these link , and I was wondering how they were. I'm only familiar with the StealthXtreme and ModXtreme, and not very familiar at that.

Who OEMs the GameXtreme platform? Are they any good?

Reviews at Newegg on the 850W version are so-so. link Several reports of exploding capacitors, which I found interesting. Also, quite a few DOAs or of PSUs that appear to be underpowered and malfunctioning.

The hot deal is for "recertified" PSUs. I wonder if some monkey just plugged them into a PSU tester and saw a green light, so they went back out again, or if they actually put them under a load and actually diagnose and replace components. They're so cheap it makes me suspicious. For example, that 4-port USB 1.1 hub that they're selling for $0.50 on SVC's clearance section - it doesn't actually work. I bought $20 worth to resell, and it turns out that every single one of them is defective, and gives "unknown device" errors on every single PC that I've tested them on.

 

[HOOfan 1]

OEM is FSP...they are built on the Epsilon platform Just like the StealthXstream units above 400W and the old non-Pro ModXstreams. They are mediocre. If you push them beyond 500W the ripple starts spiking and possibly may even go out of spec.

If I needed an 850W unit, I wouldn't even consider the GameXstream. 600W and below are decent values.

They aren't terrible, but at the price OCZ USUALLY sells them (mostly the highly overpriced 850W) you can get much better.

 

[gorobei]

the general consensus of the more in-depth review sites that i'm taking away was that the whole FSP epsilon is a bare minimum design that provides decent power for the ratings that ocz and zalman advertise. but as Hoofan mentions the ripple on those units gets big pretty fast. the hardware secrets guys tend to knock the design for omitting the MOV and some other stuff at the initial filtering stage.

chances are the 700W models will be fine as long as you limit your system to 70-80% load and keep the system temps well below 40.