PC Peripherals THG: PSU Live Stress Test

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JediMaster

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This from THG ;) !

If there was a thread on this already, mods delete this ! I do recall someone (deejay ??) commenting on the Antec PSU.

Anyways, you can catch the status here (scroll down to the bottom):
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/200507111/index.html

Both the Antec TP V2 550W and Phantom 500W seem to exhibit out-of-spec ripple voltages. CoolerMaster Realpower 550W and OCZ Powerstream 600W :huh: , couldn't crank upto full load. Some of the comments are pretty caustic :P !

The thread following this at XS is here:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=68445
 
Hm... so far only PCP&C, Seasonic, Fortron and Enermax have passed the test.... these are the usual suspects. Its strange to see antec go out of spec though... since antecs generally have pretty good line regulation.
 
Aha - A li'l OT !

What's the relation between Aopen and FSP ! I came across this PSU link at OC, NZ (http://forums.overclockers.co.nz/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14881) which claims that FSP is OEM for AOpen PSUs !

And the Aopen, US site actually lists all the FSP model numbers including FSP550-60PLN:
http://usa.aopen.com/products/power/

I had this query at TA last year on Aopen and Xserve, India (http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=12487)
and it appears that Xserve is still associated with AOpen - for cabbies and hmm..maye be PSUs too:
http://www.xserves.com/pnc/desktop_housing.html

IIRC, I found many Aopen PSUs, including those with split 12V rails, at the Xserve website at that time but can't seem to locate them now. I wrote them a couple of times but there was no response. This was before I picked up the newer Antec TP with juiced-up 12V rails.

Wonder why Alan never brought up the possible FSP-AOpen-XServe connection. That aside, is there any chance in getting the FSP/AOpen PSUs thru' XServe ? Prolly quality varies with who sources it, but just thought it might be worth a shot.
 
Well the XServe guys have nothing higher than 300W psus :(. I once enquired abt 460W and higher but well... they said they cant get it :(
 
OK ! Just got off the phone with XServe !

AOpen FSP550-60PLN PSUs are available at Xserve, Bangalore India :) !

The contacts are:

Kevin Treck, 080-51131001, Ext. 205
Manisha Agarwal, 080-51131001, Ext. 411

I spoke with Kevin; and I suppose Manisha is the concerned GM.

Disclaimer: Obviously, I've no guaranteed info if Fortron is indeed OEM for AOpen FSP550-60PLN, and even if so whether the quality is as high as the original Fortrons ! Folks who are interested can do all the investigation.

Xserve can commit to a minimum order of 10 or so only. This can be either initiated by Xserve's local dealers in Chennai, Pune, or Mumbai, or alternatively, initiated as a mass order from TechEnclave. Someone from B'lore is best poised for the negotiations and follow-up. Xserve also doesn't seem to prefer to answer calls on an individual basis since they do not normally sell stand-alone PSUs.

The price is expected to be between 5-6K approx., and can obviously be negotiated in case of a mass order.

Unfortunately, I'm totally stuck for time these days and will have to excuse myself from this effort. There may also be lower end FSP models available with XServe !
 
JediMaster said:
Aha - A li'l OT !

What's the relation between Aopen and FSP ! I came across this PSU link at OC, NZ (http://forums.overclockers.co.nz/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14881) which claims that FSP is OEM for AOpen PSUs !

And the Aopen, US site actually lists all the FSP model numbers including FSP550-60PLN:

http://usa.aopen.com/products/power/

I had this query at TA last year on Aopen and Xserve, India (http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=12487)

and it appears that Xserve is still associated with AOpen - for cabbies and hmm..maye be PSUs too:

http://www.xserves.com/pnc/desktop_housing.html

IIRC, I found many Aopen PSUs, including those with split 12V rails, at the Xserve website at that time but can't seem to locate them now. I wrote them a couple of times but there was no response. This was before I picked up the newer Antec TP with juiced-up 12V rails.

Wonder why Alan never brought up the possible FSP-AOpen-XServe connection. That aside, is there any chance in getting the FSP/AOpen PSUs thru' XServe ? Prolly quality varies with who sources it, but just thought it might be worth a shot.
Click to expand...

Well known fact....even i tried calling XServer..but they dont stock anything above 300W.....

Hmmm....i was told that the Aopen PSUs dont come with PFCs..they'll be removed in the factory itself......

I'll make my dealer talk with Aopen tomorrow..lets see :D
 
SunMysore said:
Well known fact....
Click to expand...

You mean even the Xserve connection ? Then that begs the question if Alan had anything to comment upon AOpen/FSP quality. Please see the concerns in my disclaimer above. And surely those concerns are going to be voiced by someone at some point in time !

Thanks for the initiative ! As long as this is a true community effort with everybody kept in the loop and having a feeling of participation that would be real nice !

Also, I think getting the dealer involved early in the game might turn out to be an impediment to getting an exclusive discount for TE. Best scenario would be to place the order directly with XServe with each of those interested making payments to XServe directly.

Just my 0.02 :) !
 
JediMaster said:
You mean even the Xserve connection ? Then that begs the question if Alan had anything to comment upon AOpen/FSP quality. Please see the concerns in my disclaimer above. And surely those concerns are going to be voiced by someone at some point in time !

Thanks for the initiative ! As long as this is a true community effort with everybody kept in the loop and having a feeling of participation that would be real nice !
Click to expand...

Knew that too :P Alan had told me they are giving PSUs to Aopen, but the PFC inside them will be removed. Same case as in HCL.

If we get the PSUs from FSP directly, it'll cost us b/w 3600-3700 for the 550W dual rail one. I'm not paying 5-6K just for warranty :P nooooo way...moreover i wont get any PFC too...hehehe....i'm not as rich as u fellas are :bleh:
 
SunMysore said:
Knew that too :P Alan had told me they are giving PSUs to Aopen, but the PFC inside them will be removed. Same case as in HCL.
If we get the PSUs from FSP directly, it'll cost us b/w 3600-3700 for the 550W dual rail one. I'm not paying 5-6K just for warranty :P nooooo way...moreover i wont get any PFC too...hehehe....i'm not as rich as u fellas are :bleh:
Click to expand...
My offer of getting the psu's from the City of Tainan, Taiwan. (free of shipping cost, still stands. (10 ~ 12 pieces)
and I had spoken with a TE member who is willing to do the billing in his firms name. since we are not going to even attempt to evade duty etc....(Duty will be paid on the FSP "invoice" value) he had no problems.
if more members from mumbai are interested and are willing to do some "honorary" work (actually for greater transparency) then i think we can still do it. mumbai members because the shipment will arrive here and selected member(s) can do the custom clearence

either by going to the customs people or dealing with the clearing agents of my friend. and co-ordinating the despatch of the goods to other out-station members.
if any more members are interested then kindly post here so that we can start a seperate thread for it and discuss the modus operandi in detail.
 
Hey I shall be in bbay from 20th to end of the month before I move to bangalore. If the thing happens during that time, I have no problem picking up the shipment and sending it out to various members as long as I get the courier charges in advance. My mom has an ICICI acct, so ppl could just deposit the money there! The only catch here is that it MUST happen before 30th of this month as I have to join MSR on 1st of next month. If the delivery comes in any later, I wouldnt be of any help.
 
Dont trust Tom, they way they test psu's are totally off. They dismissed the 600W ocz pretty much because it was expensive and did not give its rated amount, they didnt even go into depth. See how Jason reviews PSU's on EOCF and youll see what i mean
 
^^Well there is definitely something wrong with the PSU if it shuts off at maximum load ;). It fact it wasnt even max load.
 
HeHe ! Even if that OCZ unit happens to be the black sheep of a batch, it certainly doesn't say much about their QA for the $$$$ they charge for that PSU. Looks like some of the peeved manufacturers are clamouring for a Take Two !

Regardless of THG's reputation or lack of it, I'm hoping that there will be some positive fall-outs from this effort such as: more honesty from the PSU makers w.r.t rating their PSUs; and a rethinking of PSU testing procedures both at Tom's maybe and surely at many other two-bit review sites.

On the FSP PSUs .... looks like you folks are on top of things .... Will post more info if I happen to get any....

Someone from here called ITDepot and it appears that the Antec TP V2 480W and SmartPower V2 500W are available...but bundled with some of their cabbies only.
 
Just to let you know, Most psu manufactures test and set the max load possible of the psu at 25c, PC P&C does theirs @ 50 which is why is one of the only passing....and i dont think tom gave a crap about temps
 
Hm... rather valid point which I dont see mentioned anywhere. I do agree that EOCF psu reviews are probably the best around. However all this negative publicity sure will help the makers in improving their powersupplies ;)
 
lol another thing, originally THG was great...it was actually tom reviewing things himself. When his site was becoming big he sold out to a bigger company to take over... years ago.

Atleast those are the rumors going around
 
Well, THG has provided very scanty information as yet about the temperatures and in the manner in which they loaded the rails. This is what has been pissin' a whole lot of people !

IIRC, one of their temp sensors was registering ~40C coz sunlight was falling on it directly :ohyeah: ! However, they do show a few probes measuring temps as low as 20C. The daytime Munich temps are prolly in the upper teens or in the early twenties but the Lab prolly had heating turned on. In order to get a measure of the temp effect, you need to know the derating profiles of the particular PSU. There was a value posted recently by an FSP rep for their Fortron PSUs - it's 2.5W/C from 25C to 50C. Assuming a temp delta of 15C, that is a loss in wattage of 37.5W. The OCZ is rated at 608W, which means a max load of ~571W at 40C assuming, of course, I could use the same FSP derating factor which, in retrospection, actually appears to be rather pretty good compared to other PSUs. The OCZ failed at 588W which is a li'l too close for me to believe that temps could have been a major factor. But you never know :P since my analysis is prolly as crude as it gets.

Anyways, apparently OCZ has asked for details on THG's test setup and methodology. The post-mortem analyses will be particularly interesting, especially the ones from Antec and CoolerMaster since those are the ones that can be picked up here. OCZ suspects that the rails may not have been correctly loaded.
 
Its confirmed Tom is going to retest the 600W ocz again with a new unit. I suspect ocz will make sure the psu will give 600W before giving it to THG :D!

Check site for more infoo....
 
LOL ! :ohyeah: !
Now what if the second unit passes ? or fails ? Fodder to keep all the forums fed either way :P !

you can catch the live voltage/temp update here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/stresstest/charts.html

The ambient is tolerable. Slight mismatch w/ the air input. And I'm not sure if the plot is consistent with the number in the box.

And Gee ! You folks still awake ! Was just taking a peek on my way to the shore !
 
It appears that the second OCZ unit also failed :O . Can't get that info clearly from THG, US website but THG, German site carries it. OCZ has asked for the 2 units to be shipped back to them for their own evaluation.

Either THG or OCZ is in deep doo-doo !
 
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