Discussions about anything Computer Hardware Related. Overclocking, underclocking and talk about the latest or even the oldest technology. PCA Reviews feedback
This is a psu that many overclockers and power users have been wanting. It includes a panel that fits in a 5.25" bay and that allows control over the voltages and psu fans too. It's a 550W beast.
Just got it so I haven't done much testing yet. But the voltages were all set on max. The fans in the psu are not quiet but the fan control does work well. It goes from 1500-3000 rpm's and is only quiet at around 1600-1700 rpm's.
As with the truepower line of power supplies it also has two fan-only connectors. Great thing is the fan control also controls any fans connected to those fan-only connectors.
I'm not sure I understand the purpose of this. Sounds like a marketting gimmick. Why would you want to set the voltages outside of their normal ranges?
It doesn't serve any purpose for overclocking - if you take the WHOLE bus voltage out of range you risk damaging your mobo, memory or CPU. This is not the same as adjusting the core voltage on a CPU - this is a coarse adjustment that would affect SEVERAL devices on the mobo. For instance the 3.3 volt bus also powers the CMOS electronics and CMOS is VERY sensitive to over-voltage.
If on the other hand the selling point is for increased voltage stability, it's pointless. They're trim controls for the voltage regulation circuits. All PSUs have them but they're usualy hidden inside the box and once calibrated at the factory, they're locked in place with wax.
Unless you have an accurate digital meter to show you EXACTLY what the actual voltages are, it's worthless to give the user a trim pot. Using Motherboard Monitor or any other on-board voltage detection is inherently inaccurate - you need a digital meter right on the bus to tell you what the voltages are.
Besides any well designed power supply will have more than adequate regulation on it's own - not something you should be tampering with anyway. Good quality power supplies should have voltage regulation of around 5%. Premium PSUs should do better. If the voltage drifts so much that you need to manually play with it, then it's a P.O.S. PSU anyway - it'll be drifting wildly all the time.
The two things that most effect voltage regulation is high quality components and adequate cooling. Doesn't matter how good a quality the switching transistors are - if your PSU gets hot, your voltage will drift.
This is also why it's impotant to blow out your PSU when it gets full of dust and lint.
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“The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.” - Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez
FP its for us guys who crank the piss out of their rigs... who's 5v rail drops down in the 4.8 4.7 range... you open up your psu you void your warranty... this don't void your warranty. I have yet had a PSU and i've had a lot that has a 5v rail that is 5V's it usually hangs down at 4.85-4.75 woudl be nice to have a pot to turn it up and balance it out at 5v's WITHOUT opening up the PSU. Since it seems that the 5v rail is the one that causes instability when overclocking and it drops out of its 5% tolerance quite to often...
PRED: I too have seen PSUs with 5volt rails very far out of tolerance (as low as 4.7 and as high as 5.2).
The point is that if it's a properly designed PSU with good quality components and adequate cooling it should NOT be that far out of tolerance. If it is it's junk IMO. You expect that in a cheap $20 PSU, you should not see that in a PSU that costs over $75.
The whole point of power REGULATION is that the PSU should maintain the voltage irregardless of the load (unless you exceed the load capability of the unit).
And yes the 5 volt rail IS very critical. Low (or high) voltage on it will cause system instability. High voltage will cause damage.
I suspect many cheaper PSUs are calibrated on the low side on purpose to avoid liability issues with over-voltage damage since the manufacturers know that most systems are fairly tolerant to low voltage.
When I buy a PSU for myself I check all the voltage buses with a digital meter under load. If it's out of spec it goes back.
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“The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.” - Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez
I don't think that a low 5V rail is always a problem with the PSU ... I would rather suspect sometimes the mobo itself. When you're overclocking a loaded mobo and the 5V rail shows below 5V then I would also suspect the voltage regulators being stressed.
My 5V is at 4.8V and might dip down a lil more under full load. That's on my Iwill KK266 board with 1.4tbird @ 1.6, 1.85 Vcore , 3 memory sticks, loaded with PCI cards and Enermax 651 PSU. My 5V rail was even lower till I soldered some wired from the 5V rail directly to the power transistors on the mobo, that helped. I also measured the 5V rail directly on a free powerconnector and it was slightly above 5V.
FP with the thousands of motherboards and various other components it has to be very hard for anyone that builds PSU to keep them within tolerance on every single board. the Iwill XP333 is very easy on the 5V rail while every Epox board i've had works the piss out of it and it usually pulls it down. You can't honestly expect even a top of the line PSU to keep the 5v at 5v no matter what kind of components is thrown at it?
Originally posted by b-man1 hey blade...you're sending that PS to me when you're done, right?
Why sher. Just as soon as you get the swedish bikini team to visit me.
This is a very nice psu. The adjustments go 5% either way so it's set to stop possible problems with overvoltage. This way you can keep it as close to 5 as is possible.
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mile 
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ow