PS 12v rail at 11.75v A8N SLI Deluxe

[maluckey]

The Antec that I had, died after two days, I got another via RMA, it died as well. The third was running, but was VERY unstable, and not up to the demands of ANY of my setups. I finally ditched it.

I switched to FSP server PSU's, and never had another issue, despite the heavy draw that I have on a few of my setups. I have 1 setup with 4 x 7200 RPM drives, 2 x DVD R/W combos, 1 GB of BH-5 and a 6600 GT card. not one of the three main rails on my FSP dips as much as the Antec did on the slower setup with minimal hardware.

Check Xtreme Systems Forums about Antec. They are NOT well spoken of as a high performance PSU. For stock, middle of the road setups, the True Power 430 is OK. My father uses one on his Socket 7 setup without issues. The PSU is simply not a powerhouse, despite it's ratings. I consider it a middle of the road, and slightly overpriced PSU.

Check out the Zippy, upper level FSP (steer clear of the Aurora units), PC Power and Cooling, Tagan, TTGI etc if you want a good, underrated PSU.

 

[Lyfer]

Originally posted by: BouZouki
That psu is garbage for a high end system, I had it, OCZ 530 is the way to go.

Your garbage. That PSU is fine, as long as your system isn't rebooting and shutting down for no reason you are fine.


BTW do you have an older TruePower 430w? The old one has 20A on the 12v, whereas the new ones have a hefty 26A.

 

[fstime]

Your garbage. That PSU is fine, as long as your system isn't rebooting and shutting down for no reason you are fine.


BTW do you have an older TruePower 430w? The old one has 20A on the 12v, whereas the new ones have a hefty 26A.

Numbers speak for themselves, i'm sorry I affended your hardware rofl.

 

[fishmonger12]

show us some numbers. ?

or are you afraid we wont take the time to read them?


P.S. i'm serious too i've got 6 of those psu's i posted in my system they power the fridge i have built into the side of it.

 

[Gamingphreek]

This is ridiculous.

i agree completely with bouzouki. that antec is CR@P.
here's a REAL power supply. it's got bouzoodles of power!@!!
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=17-162-111&depa=0

You dont have a CLUE what you are talking about. That PSU is HORRIBLE. Probably has a lot of EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) as well as voltage spikes and POOR rail regulations. 24A on the 12V rails for a 600Watt PSU is horrible as well. Also why dont you spell your words out. What in the world is "Joo" , or "den".

Yes, we know what you're saying. The problem is, YOU ARE WRONG.
Look here: AnandTech's 4 way shootout between Antec, Vantec, Enermax, and Thermaltake's PurePower:
http://www.anandtech.com/casec...howdoc.aspx?i=1774&p=9
Guess which Power Supply was the BEST PERFORMER?
If you guessed "Antec", you are RIGHT!
Like I said, stop talking before you do any more damage.

Do you know how OLD that PSU Round up is. The Antecs are FAR from horrible PSUs. However they are very outdated and have weak rails by todays standards. They are still very good stable PSUs. People swear by the TRUE Power PSUs.

A lot of you have your facts messed up and a lot also have no clue whatsoever whatyou are talking about.

Today they top tier the absolute most powerful PSUs you can get (consumer wise) are the PC Power and Cooling, the OCZ, and the Zippy. THat is the high end, NOTHING else has that amount of power. THe 700Watt Zippy has 45A on the 12V rail. The mid range PSU's are Enermax, Antec, Tagan, etc...
Then there is entry level where i would put the Thermaltakes, and low end units that aren't bad but just not powerful. THose are still WAY ahead of the Generic brand PSU's like the one mentioned above.

Now to answer the OPs question:

You are probably fine with that PSU however when you use SLI if you do, you will be pushing the limits. The Antecs are very solid PSUs however they just do not deliver enough power for an SLI system (that is why the TruePower 2.0 is coming out soon ). Stick with that PSU for right now, and if you feel like adding anything or upgrading then get a nice PSU. Honestly if you can afford SLI you can afford to spend money on one of the most important components in your system. (Are you looking for a quiet PSU or more power?)

I know someone is going to say that im full of sh!t so here are some sources:

OCZ 420Watt: Incredibly powerful and has a peak power rating of 520Watt

OCZ Victory

On the link above the PCP&C trounces all of the competition.

Zippy Review

Anything else?

-Kevin

Edit: Also there is no 530Watt OCZ PSU. There is a 420 a 450 a 470, 2 different 520s and a 600.

 

[fishmonger12]

you're full of sh!t.

rahahahah.

on a more serious note... the psu he has now can definitely do the job for his current system. so it wouldn't exactly fall under the category of "garbage." maybe... "normal"? that's pretty much the normal wattage for a brand name psu that runs his stuff, maybe 1 less hard drive. i have a 350w psu that came with my cooler master case, and it runs 2 optical drives, 1 hard drive, 1 9800 pro, 1 sound card (not sure how much power these things consume :\). if a 350watt generic can run this stuff, i think a 420 name brand would be able to run his. but i agree, he's pushing it a little.

if he gets another video card, he would have to upgrade. but that's WHEN\IF he gets another video card... no reason to buy for the future in this case.

oh yeah gaming phreek i was joking with that psu just fyi X_<

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: fishmonger12
you're full of sh!t.

rahahahah.

on a more serious note... the psu he has now can definitely do the job for his current system. so it wouldn't exactly fall under the category of "garbage." maybe... "normal"? that's pretty much the normal wattage for a brand name psu that runs his stuff, maybe 1 less hard drive. i have a 350w psu that came with my cooler master case, and it runs 2 optical drives, 1 hard drive, 1 9800 pro, 1 sound card. if a 350watt generic can run this stuff, i think a 420 name brand would be able to run his. but i agree, he's pushing it a little.

if he gets another video card, he would have to upgrade. but that's WHEN\IF he gets another video card... no reason to buy for the future in this case.

You really have no clue what you are talking about. Wattage isn't everything. I also said it probably has poor voltage regulation, as well as spikes. I HIGHLY doubt it can deliver anywhere near 600Watt and the 12V rail is very weak for its rated power. It would not be fine for his sytem and it is NOT entry level. It is a POS Generic powersupply.

I dont even know why im wasting my time trying to explaint his to you.

oh yeah gaming phreek i was joking with that psu just fyi X_<

Sure :roll:

-Kevin

 

[fstime]

I will repeat my self again, I did not mean to say its garbage, its an average psu for a simple mid range system but something a bit more powerful should be used for a A64/SLI seting and his voltages show that.

 

[fishmonger12]

lol. you can think whatever you want.

if i were to recommend a psu for an sli system, it would be one of these:

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: fishmonger12
lol. you can think whatever you want.

if i were to recommend a psu for an sli system, it would be one of these:

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/

Do you even have an opinion or a clue what you are talking about or are you simply feeding off of other peoples posts.

-Kevin

 

[fishmonger12]

sure kevin, i have an opinion.

the antec's seem to run well in my limited experience, i personally know 4 people using them in systems right now and they have caused them no trouble. i don't see any reason why a decent wattage antec couldn't run the original poster's setup. i realise the wattage doesn't really matter if you're moving from brand to brand, but staying within the same name brand... i think the wattage does matter. first and formost comes the quality of the output (how much ripple it has, how tight the voltages are, w/e), but staying within the same (good) name brand, wouldn't the quality stay relatively the same? another person here on campus had a high wattage generic psu that came with his case go up in smoke after burning dvds for 12 hours... it took a hard drive and a video card with it. that goes to show a lack of quality. also to take into consideration is the quality of the cooling of the power supply. if it doesn't have a good heatsink\fan assembly inside of it it's liable to get pretty hot.

anyway, i wouldn't go so far as recommending stuff like zippy for every person who has a normal rig (and you would have to admit that a 6800gt, 2 hard drives, and 2 optical drives is pretty normal.)

 

[fstime]

Thats good for you, all we are trying to explain is his current psu is not providing him with the proper voltages and he needs a more powerfull psu, in which I reccomended the OCZ 530.

 

[SunSamurai]

Its a timebomb. Dive for your life man.

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Do you know how OLD that PSU Round up is. The Antecs are FAR from horrible PSUs. However they are very outdated and have weak rails by todays standards. They are still very good stable PSUs. People swear by the TRUE Power PSUs.

A lot of you have your facts messed up and a lot also have no clue whatsoever whatyou are talking about.

Today they top tier the absolute most powerful PSUs you can get (consumer wise) are the PC Power and Cooling, the OCZ, and the Zippy.

Doesn't matter, the point was the point, and it still stands. A 550 - 600 Watt Power Supply from any company that's well known will work fine for a top end system. Enermax, Antec, Vantec, OCZ, PCP&C are all in the same league. It's all about amperages and watts.

Hell, half of PCP&P's lineup are rebadged Fortrons and Seasonics, which, by the way, will also both be fine for most systems, although Seasonic sometimes tends to be stingy with the amps.

Bottm lines we're getting back to: Antec is a great maker of PSUs, as good as any of the other top-tier brands.

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: BouZouki
Thats good for you, all we are trying to explain is his current psu is not providing him with the proper voltages and he needs a more powerfull psu, in which I reccomended the OCZ 530.

Then say that, instead of "Antec is crap".

If you'd simply told him that his PSU wasn't powerful enough for his desired setup, we wouldn't have had any misinformation to correct.


EDIT: And anyone who can't see that Fishmonger's first 3 or 4 posts here were a joke must be blind.

 

[fstime]

Originally posted by: Insomniak

Originally posted by: BouZouki
Thats good for you, all we are trying to explain is his current psu is not providing him with the proper voltages and he needs a more powerfull psu, in which I reccomended the OCZ 530.

Then say that, instead of "Antec is crap".

If you'd simply told him that his PSU wasn't powerful enough for his desired setup, we wouldn't have had any misinformation to correct.


EDIT: And anyone who can't see that Fishmonger's first 3 or 4 posts here were a joke must be blind.

I never said it they were crap. I said it was not a good psu for his system and that I was not impressed with antec and their rails, seems like I have been repeating my self.

 

[TantrumusMaximus]

IE crapped out on me here at work and I have to retype arghghg!

Anyhow thanks for all the comments. I didn't know that a heated debate would be spawned.

I am not convinced that the single 12v rail is the best solution. If it was then all the commercial vendors like Falcon NW etc would use single rail PSUS.

So far my system is good to go with the Antec 430W. Running rock solid and overclocked, been through many hours of torture tests, large file copies and lots of multitasking. No problems. I'm happy.

In the near future I have so far chosen 3 power supplies when I go SLI. I will not spend more than $200 on the PSU, that should be plenty to get a decent one:

Antec Neopower 480
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=17-103-924&depa=0
10 Kick Ass award MaximumPC mag. Edged out PCP&Cooling even though I take that with a large grain of salt. In the last issue PCP&Cooling sent the editor a letter disputing the results and their stress test which I have to agree was not as stressful as the test should have been. But yet the Neopower is a good PSU from everything I have read.

Enermax 600W EG701AX-VE SFMA 2.0
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=17-103-497&depa=0
Falcon NW uses this in their Mach V SLI

Thermaltake 680W Purepower
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...tion=17-153-021&depa=0
I like this one actually the best condidering my case. I have a Lian-Li V1000 where the PSU mounts at the bottom. There is a heat shield above and below the PSU is the bottom of the case. The Purepowers fan layout is the best of the 3 for this case. It has dual PCI-E connectors and is obviously tailored for SLI. I know that Thermaltake is kind of considered low end by HW snobs so I will read up more and try and get an idea if it is a good PS. The stats look good.

Thanks!

 

[Insomniak]

Steer clear of Thermaltake. They're a notch below all the other top end manufacturers. I say go with the Enermax - use em myself and they're *always* top notch.

 

[Amaroque]

You may need a higher rated PSU.

Antec, OCZ, Enermax... are all in the same league.


If you want the best, you can't beat PCP&C.

BTW I've powered a much more demanding system (power wise) with a True430.

 

[TantrumusMaximus]

Well I was fighting myself not to buy the Turbo Cool 510 SLI at www.performance-pc.com

they actually have a deal with PCP&C that they can custom sleeve them etc etc and not void the 5 year warranty. Only thing is that the ps is $279! That is just a lot for a PSU.

I know "If I can afford SLI than I should be able to afford a high end PSU." Well I'm not affording SLI now, I am using it as an upgrade path down the road when the 6800GT is most likely a mid-range card.

Most likely I'll be getting a PS that has a fan setup similar to the Purepower 680. I need the fans to be intake on the front where all the cables come out and the exaust in the std rear location. The only one that fits that so far is the Thermaltake 680W. I'm not going to get it as there is just so much negativity about thermaltake.... are they really that bad?? I know that the one user review at newegg stated that there was a loose pin in the atx mb connector and he had to solder it.

 

[fishmonger12]

i would wait and upgrade for the future IN THE FUTURE. i know that sounds kinda silly...

 

[Gamingphreek]

DO NOT get Tt. Your Antec will be much better. OCZ 520 runs ~140 the 470 runs about 129 and the 420 runs about 100 all of which will massacre the Thermaltake in every category. That is one of the best lineups of PSU's out there aside from the PCP&C series and in some cases (noise wise) the Seasonic Super-Tornado series.

Antec and Enermax are not in the same level as OCZ. Enermax is above Antec as Antecs design is so old, however neither can compete with the OCZ and PCP&C. THe only advantages that the PCP&C has over the OCZ is a bit tighter voltage regulation and Active Power Factor Correction. Other than that the OCZ is probably a little strong (the 520watt peaks at 620Watt). Enermax is nice however they tend to lack quality wise. They test there PSU's and rate them at a temperature of IIRC 20C which is INCREDIBLY cool for a PSU. I believe Seasonic tests theirs at 45C. The antecs simply need an update (which they will get with the TruePower 2.0).

-Kevin

-Kevin

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
The only advantages that the PCP&C has over the OCZ is a bit tighter voltage regulation and Active Power Factor Correction. Other than that the OCZ is probably a little strong (the 520watt peaks at 620Watt).

-Kevin

If any of these things come into play, your PSU is being pushed too hard anyway. It should never get to that point. How is Active Power Factor Correction a big feature? The Enermax in my sig has it. I mean, I realize it's useful, but it's not like it's uncommon these days.

Enermax is nice however they tend to lack quality wise. They test there PSU's and rate them at a temperature of IIRC 20C which is INCREDIBLY cool for a PSU.

Got some proof of this? Last I heard, Enermax was rating at 40C, as per here:

http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews/enermaxnoisetaker/


Bottom line, all the top level manufacturers are on the same level of performance. They may all have their little features (adjustable rails on the OCZ, for example), but real world performance difference is zero between comparable non-defective units.

Within standard electron variation of course - electricity is never 100% the same.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Well obviously there wont be a performance difference with cleaner power :roll:

I never said Active PFC was a huge thing, i simply said that it was something that is becoming more and more prominent, is better than Passive PFC and therefore is an advantage.

Well there are reports in many forums about how Enermax tests its PSUs. I heard it in a post at the AT forums. Ill try to find it.

-Kevin

 

[Matthias99]

Got some proof of this? Last I heard, Enermax was rating at 40C, as per here:

http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews/enermaxnoisetaker/

The 'Noisetaker' line is specced at 40 degrees Celsius. The 'regular' Enermax PSUs are specced at 25 Degrees Celcius (meaning that, under heavy load, they are unlikely to be able to provide 100% of their full rated power). The Noisetakers are definitely good PSUs, but the 'normal' Enermax ones are just OK (but are certainly a hell of a lot better than a no-name one).

This is similar to Antec -- their "TruePower" PSUs generally have significantly higher-rated rails and appear more solidly built than their 'regular' ones of the same wattage.