This is really horrible on Enermax's part. It was said that the PSU would be available at the end of the month (then Novemeber), at the latest; here it is the end of the first week of December, and the thing still isn't to be seen anywhere. Maybe Enermax will decide to bless us by making it available before Christmas.
When you announce the availability of a product, it damn well better be available.
I e-mailed Enermax and got a respond from them saying "The revolution should be available in about two weeks." That's December 22nd, or just around Christmas. So we'll see if that ends up being the case.
So-far, this sounds great, but almost like vaporware (except Anandtech has an actual working sample). I mean, when will this thing be available? I'm building a new workstation for myself, and have held out purchasing the CoolerMaster 1200W UCP because of this new Enermax Revolution 1050W, which is modular. But I don't know how long I can wait. It'd be nice if Enermax gave us some kind of clue as to when the thing will be available.
Good point, cause Hybrid SUVs are still SUVs and this guy is a 1050W powersupply... definitely an "SUV".
This thing is really GOOD looking actually. To those of you who ask, why even write an article of a 1050W power supply? I say, this is an enthusiast's site... of course it should be covered.
I unfortunately won't be buying this beauty, but if I were more enthusiast-like (kind of past the stage now sadly)I would certainly consider it. $330.00 is a lot of money, but it's not so bad. You figure in the things prone to become obsolete are video cards (two-cards at least for a system with this power supply yes?) Those will run $200+ each. CPU... say $300+, motherboard say $150-$200.00 and on and on. If you're going to do that sort of build you may as well slap this thing on there.
I'm happy with my switch to the sub-$500 computer space for desktops. But it's boring, and this power supply isn't. I also own a Corolla, it doesn't mean a Lamborgini Murcielago is "irrelevant".
Oh just in case you've been in a cave for a few years. $150.00 buys you an awesome video card. Even if you're old like me, you should really get one just for goodness' sake.
Thanks for all the hateful comment. But as far as i read, even a CoreQX97xx with Geforce GTX 280, as stated in the Corei7 review, only uses 300W at peak. ( And Corei7 uses less then that )
Double that, so you have a Dual Quad Core, Geforce 280GTX 280 SLI, you will still ONLY arrive to 600W at peak.
So may be the article "Debunking the PSU Myth" never got enough people read it.
And this may be the second dumpest question ever as someone would post.
Yes, exploded - as in a shower of sparks, loud bang and the force was so strong it broke the plastic mounting bracket where the heat sink attaches to my CPU...
Along with thousands of other people's Enermax PSU's exploding, I am very afraid to purchase another Enermax PSU. I used to be a stalwart supporter of them - they made great stuff. But... after hearing of others warranty'ing their PSU only to get another one, or a third one that exploded, I decided to move on to something else.
how come don't you do step load tests?
It would be really interesting and informative to see transient responses, settling times and overshoots. Please consider it.
Forgive me for my ignorance, but isn't it the 5V rail that takes care of hard drive power? The reason I ask is that I have a Enermax Whisper 350 that is about 5 years old, and it has 32A on the 5V rail. I can use 4 Hard drives max before the power supply starts to have issues.
Does this mean that this power supply could only handle 3? My 3.3 rail is also 30A, and this unit seems to only provide 25. Why so little?
Again, I am looking to be educated, I'm not yet criticizing because I realize that my assumptions are probably incorrect. I've been window shopping for Hard drives for a while now (750GB is not enough any more) and I know i can't add more to my current setup unless I get a better power supply.
I believe 3.5" hard drives receive power on both the +5V and +12V rails. That the power supplies for external hard drive enclosures provide both voltages suggests this.
I'm guessing, given how old your PSU is and how much juice it has on the +5V and +3.3V rails, that its +12V rail is on the weak side and that's the reason it has issues with large numbers of hard drives. It sounds like it was designed to ATX 1.3 specs and was intended for system with a CPU running off of the 5V rail. Since all modern (and not so modern) processors take power from the +12V rail these days, the +5V rail just isn't as critical as it used to be.
You'd probably be much better off with a newer PSU with more power on the +12V rail. Of course, if your system does happen to be ancient... good luck finding something suitable. I went shopping for a PSU for my old AXP+ system several years ago and had a hell of a time finding a unit with a beefy +5V rail back then!
I`m not sure i understand that "syncronized transformers". But if they work in parallel I am a bit concerned for the approach as variations in the resistance, impendance and coupling factors between the two can lead to unbalanced loading. And it could get worse as components burn in and age.
As for the kill a watt measurements I would like to point out that the number is not what the pc components need in power. It includes the psu loses. that means a 300W kill-a-watt measurement means the parts draw 240W (and the psu load) with a 80% efficient psu
yeah I see why you said that... with "kill-a-watt" i was referring to the wattmeter device that people use in their electric outlets to measure power consumption. I wasn't referring to killowatts...I also misspelled "losses". again sorry for my english.
You don't need to apologize for your grammar or misspellings on here. People need to understand that there are other members of different race and from different countries to not STUPIDLY assume that they are the only one that matters in the world. If the person is going to make such stupid comments lets see him/her try it on a non-english topic and then report back. Chances are, he/she is probably to lazy in the first place to pick up a second language to even consider trying.
That aside, it's the web. Even I don't care about my grammar or spelling here and I write technical reports on a daily basis where I work (to a certain extent of course hahah).
The power loads in our PSU reviews are *not* measured using a Kill-A-Watt or similar device; see the page on the Chroma testing equipment. When we say there's a 500W load on a PSU and that PSU is 89% efficient at that load, it means the PSU is drawing 562W at the outlet. Our other articles use wall power (because we don't have the equipment elsewhere to measure actual loads).
Yes, I know you didn't use a simple wattmeter. Your equipment and test is impressive I would say. I was referring to a comment in page 1 that mentioned a kill-a-watt.
As a suggestion, in reviews that you do use outlet power, it would be nice to make a note of it and that the numbers include power losses (and even the approximate efficiency if you use a tested psu) so people can have it in mind.
Now just an idea.Wouldn't it be nice for you to make a set of connectors that plug between the psu connectors and the motherboard/devices that can go through ampmeters? So we can see all those dc currents. Although that might me a lot of ampmeters...and a bit risky. Just a thought.
My regards.
Christoph did something like that in his http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.a...">Power Supply Myths article... not really something to do in every review if we can avoid; they take long enough already! ;)
sorry if my english are not good. its not my first language.
Aside from that i know what a kilowatt and losses are. I`m not saying they did something wrong. I just wanted some more info on the matter for the pros and cons...
i suppose they're putting all that tech into the very high end market for the same reason as all other techs do; its easy to charge an extra premium (above the normal premium) from those buyers.
sooner or later the technology will trickle down into the 'normal' market, where there is more serious volume.
but that's alright, the very high end market just ends up paying our share of the R&D costs that get passed on to them, instead of us.
'bleeding edge' or something they call it? 'bleeding' green :)
The real problem is trying to get all of the necessary parts into a "reasonable" PSU, like something in the 600W or lower range for example. I'd guess they probably put around $100-$150 worth of parts and components into this design, making it fit for the high-end but not much else. If you want to sell 500W PSUs, pricing needs to be below $100 for sure to be competitive, and it's just not all that practical to get there with top-end components (IMO).
Keep in mind that most people run PSUs at around 50% load if they want peak efficiency, so this PSU is really ideal for anyone running a ~500W system. GTX 280 SLI with an overclocked quad-core would be just about right I think... if you have enough extra HDDs. That it *can* run anything from 200W to 950W with 85% efficiency (and even beyond if you use 230VAC and want to overload the PSU) is extremely impressive.
"When I first saw the filtering stage, I asked the representatives at Enermax if CWT is the ODM"
I consider myself pretty savvy about computer hardware, and I have two engineering degrees (mechanical), but that sentence was meaningless to me.
If you are going to use multiple obscure acronyms in one sentence, please at least include links to what they stand for and some description. It shouldn't take an electrical engineering degree to understand an article on a 'mainstream' computer hardware website.
When your computer hardware website has a power supply review listed right next to a digital camera review and a Guitar Hero article, that is about as 'mainstream' as it gets.
I will never buy this line of PSUs unless they came out with a 300-350W model.
The systems I build use on-board graphics, on-board audio, one HD, one energy efficient CPU and one optical drive. Fully configured, the systems I build for myself only use around 110 watts. Anything over 350W results in wasted electricity.
Look at the minimum power consumption and efficiency at low power draws! That's the most relevant info for me when selecting a PSU.
Seems odd to have a "efficient" 1000 watt computer. If you care about low power I doubt you'll be putting a 1000 watt supply in your rig. Any computer that consumes 200 watts at idle is probably not a computer you'll want to run 24/7 so the efficiency probably isn't going to matter too much. That being said it still seems like a cool power supply.
I don't think it was dumb and certainly not the dumbest comment ever. He asked why they start at 800W (should have said 850W but whatever) and he's right about the real power draw of systems. Having super high power PSUs is fine but I'd love to see efficiency like this starting with a 400-500W unit not 850W. A mega-PC is going to draw lots of power anyway. The 82+ line does fill the lower power draw range, maybe that's why they started this higher, but that doesn't make the question dumb.
People just need to understand that at the moment it's just still too expensive to build units around this wattage that have 90%+ efficiency. You don't wanna pay $150 for a 500W PSU because you can run your normal one for years and ending up with the same price.
Fair enough, at least that's a reason and not saying 'dumb comment' :) The 82+ line is nearly as efficient and does have some low power options so Enermax may feel they already have that segment filled.
Over time the design changes that increase efficiency should trickle down yea?
I'm not sure you know what YOU'RE talking about making that comment to Iwodo, unless of course you prefer to stick to your configuration that requires more than 850W. In which case, carry on.
700W for my configuration.
IP35 Pro with Q6600@3.2GHz, 4Gig, 9800GX2, 2 DVDRW, 5 Hard Drives, 6 internal Fans for the case, misc USB devices
So I don't know about you but I think his question is very valid. The dumbest I think would be someone who came up with the question afterward not thinking more about what the other person was addressing.
Lol, you're out of your mind if you think your system uses anywhere near 700w. Buy a Kill-A-Watt and report back some real usage numbers. I imagine it's closer to 300-350w @ full load.
I know right? I've been "bad" and left my little Inspiron 530 with the power supply that came with it and I'm running a Radeon 4850 (fairly power hungry, but not wacko hungry) in it and it runs perfectly. At most it's rated at 350W and it's a Quad-core system with some other goodies.
The way I see it, burning DVDs, playing Blu-rays, playing games are some of the most energy consuming things you can do. However, you do either one or the other. I'm sure my system would have power issuues if I played Crysis, burned DVDs and watched a blu-ray all at one time. But you know what? My system, though it's beefy can't handle those things at one time anyway, so who cares.
This powersupply is super nice though. Over the top? Yes. But it's so nice it just doesn't matter. This guy is for systems running Raptors and X-fire and all that stuff. Even if you're not running that stuff though, it's perfectly quiet at loads of 500W or below. So even when you're not pushing it, it's still classy. It's like a Corvette cruising at 65MPH, it's still awesome.
Big thumbs up to this power supply. Expensive junk is bad, but really good stuff for $300.00 is alright by me. Not for me, but if you own it... I'm kind of jealous.
The people at the top end have to have a power supply, and I think this is it for them.
The 9800GX2 video card alone already requires a minimum of 580W. How am I out of my mind for paying heed to the requirements? Do you mean to implied that I'm a sucker for believing all power supply ratings and I should instead do my own measurements when finding a power supply? Tell me, do you do this when selecting your own components?
The only reason I bought the 700W was because my Nfinity 600W was not efficient enough to run the system after I installed the video card. So while the power efficiency might be low, I still need a ADVERTISED power supply of 700W+
I have a similar system on my desk here at work (only 3 GHz on the q6600, but it is a B3 stepping; 2 HDD, 1 optical, 7300GT instead 0f 9800GX2) and idle is about 100 W at the wall, peak draw is like 160-170. Your system probably draws another 120-150W at idle, and maybe 250 at full power. A 700W power supply is quite reasonable for that system, as it probably uses 200-250 at idle and another 150-200 at full bore. It won't draw 700W.
This PSU is so cool, as it's very energy efficient & have modular cables.
I would really like to see a PSU as energy efficient as this one, but down at ~400W or so instead, and with passive cooling, or at least "half passive", with a small 80mm fan outwards that only starts to spin when it's near full load and getting hot.
As Anand as well as other tech site has confirm, even with GTX SLI and Quad Core CPU, you will hardly need more then 500W, lets give it a peak spike of 40% will only means 700W.
So why are we having PSU that starts at 800W? When only less then 5% of market uses it. Not to mention 1000W PSU.
All power supplies reach their efficiency peak at about 50% load, which is shown on any psu review you care to look at. Therefore, if your system idles at around 500W, a 1000W psu will likely be most efficient for your build.
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49 Comments
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dh003i - Saturday, December 6, 2008 - link
This is really horrible on Enermax's part. It was said that the PSU would be available at the end of the month (then Novemeber), at the latest; here it is the end of the first week of December, and the thing still isn't to be seen anywhere. Maybe Enermax will decide to bless us by making it available before Christmas.When you announce the availability of a product, it damn well better be available.
dh003i - Monday, December 8, 2008 - link
I e-mailed Enermax and got a respond from them saying "The revolution should be available in about two weeks." That's December 22nd, or just around Christmas. So we'll see if that ends up being the case.s1ugh34d - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
Enermax PSU. My liberty 400w over spins the fan, So I pulled the fans cable out, and hooked it up to 5v, It's always quiet right around 800RPMs...My Q6600 dual 8800GT's runs on a 610w PCP&C silencer. There is only a few small situations were over 750w is necessary.
dh003i - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
So-far, this sounds great, but almost like vaporware (except Anandtech has an actual working sample). I mean, when will this thing be available? I'm building a new workstation for myself, and have held out purchasing the CoolerMaster 1200W UCP because of this new Enermax Revolution 1050W, which is modular. But I don't know how long I can wait. It'd be nice if Enermax gave us some kind of clue as to when the thing will be available.Christoph Katzer - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
Enermax says that the first shipments will arrive at the branch offices in the end of this month latest.gochichi - Monday, November 10, 2008 - link
Good point, cause Hybrid SUVs are still SUVs and this guy is a 1050W powersupply... definitely an "SUV".This thing is really GOOD looking actually. To those of you who ask, why even write an article of a 1050W power supply? I say, this is an enthusiast's site... of course it should be covered.
I unfortunately won't be buying this beauty, but if I were more enthusiast-like (kind of past the stage now sadly)I would certainly consider it. $330.00 is a lot of money, but it's not so bad. You figure in the things prone to become obsolete are video cards (two-cards at least for a system with this power supply yes?) Those will run $200+ each. CPU... say $300+, motherboard say $150-$200.00 and on and on. If you're going to do that sort of build you may as well slap this thing on there.
I'm happy with my switch to the sub-$500 computer space for desktops. But it's boring, and this power supply isn't. I also own a Corolla, it doesn't mean a Lamborgini Murcielago is "irrelevant".
Oh just in case you've been in a cave for a few years. $150.00 buys you an awesome video card. Even if you're old like me, you should really get one just for goodness' sake.
CEO Ballmer - Saturday, November 8, 2008 - link
I like the specs on this!http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com">http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
iwodo - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
Thanks for all the hateful comment. But as far as i read, even a CoreQX97xx with Geforce GTX 280, as stated in the Corei7 review, only uses 300W at peak. ( And Corei7 uses less then that )Double that, so you have a Dual Quad Core, Geforce 280GTX 280 SLI, you will still ONLY arrive to 600W at peak.
So may be the article "Debunking the PSU Myth" never got enough people read it.
And this may be the second dumpest question ever as someone would post.
MrBlastman - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
Yes, exploded - as in a shower of sparks, loud bang and the force was so strong it broke the plastic mounting bracket where the heat sink attaches to my CPU...Along with thousands of other people's Enermax PSU's exploding, I am very afraid to purchase another Enermax PSU. I used to be a stalwart supporter of them - they made great stuff. But... after hearing of others warranty'ing their PSU only to get another one, or a third one that exploded, I decided to move on to something else.
I hope they have finally fixed these problems.
xaris106 - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
how come don't you do step load tests?It would be really interesting and informative to see transient responses, settling times and overshoots. Please consider it.
takumsawsherman - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
Forgive me for my ignorance, but isn't it the 5V rail that takes care of hard drive power? The reason I ask is that I have a Enermax Whisper 350 that is about 5 years old, and it has 32A on the 5V rail. I can use 4 Hard drives max before the power supply starts to have issues.Does this mean that this power supply could only handle 3? My 3.3 rail is also 30A, and this unit seems to only provide 25. Why so little?
Again, I am looking to be educated, I'm not yet criticizing because I realize that my assumptions are probably incorrect. I've been window shopping for Hard drives for a while now (750GB is not enough any more) and I know i can't add more to my current setup unless I get a better power supply.
Trippytiger - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
I believe 3.5" hard drives receive power on both the +5V and +12V rails. That the power supplies for external hard drive enclosures provide both voltages suggests this.I'm guessing, given how old your PSU is and how much juice it has on the +5V and +3.3V rails, that its +12V rail is on the weak side and that's the reason it has issues with large numbers of hard drives. It sounds like it was designed to ATX 1.3 specs and was intended for system with a CPU running off of the 5V rail. Since all modern (and not so modern) processors take power from the +12V rail these days, the +5V rail just isn't as critical as it used to be.
You'd probably be much better off with a newer PSU with more power on the +12V rail. Of course, if your system does happen to be ancient... good luck finding something suitable. I went shopping for a PSU for my old AXP+ system several years ago and had a hell of a time finding a unit with a beefy +5V rail back then!
xaris106 - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
I`m not sure i understand that "syncronized transformers". But if they work in parallel I am a bit concerned for the approach as variations in the resistance, impendance and coupling factors between the two can lead to unbalanced loading. And it could get worse as components burn in and age.As for the kill a watt measurements I would like to point out that the number is not what the pc components need in power. It includes the psu loses. that means a 300W kill-a-watt measurement means the parts draw 240W (and the psu load) with a 80% efficient psu
JonnyDough - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
Try learning words like "kilowatt" and "losses" and then post.xaris106 - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
yeah I see why you said that... with "kill-a-watt" i was referring to the wattmeter device that people use in their electric outlets to measure power consumption. I wasn't referring to killowatts...I also misspelled "losses". again sorry for my english.The0ne - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
You don't need to apologize for your grammar or misspellings on here. People need to understand that there are other members of different race and from different countries to not STUPIDLY assume that they are the only one that matters in the world. If the person is going to make such stupid comments lets see him/her try it on a non-english topic and then report back. Chances are, he/she is probably to lazy in the first place to pick up a second language to even consider trying.That aside, it's the web. Even I don't care about my grammar or spelling here and I write technical reports on a daily basis where I work (to a certain extent of course hahah).
JarredWalton - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
The power loads in our PSU reviews are *not* measured using a Kill-A-Watt or similar device; see the page on the Chroma testing equipment. When we say there's a 500W load on a PSU and that PSU is 89% efficient at that load, it means the PSU is drawing 562W at the outlet. Our other articles use wall power (because we don't have the equipment elsewhere to measure actual loads).xaris106 - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
Yes, I know you didn't use a simple wattmeter. Your equipment and test is impressive I would say. I was referring to a comment in page 1 that mentioned a kill-a-watt.As a suggestion, in reviews that you do use outlet power, it would be nice to make a note of it and that the numbers include power losses (and even the approximate efficiency if you use a tested psu) so people can have it in mind.
Now just an idea.Wouldn't it be nice for you to make a set of connectors that plug between the psu connectors and the motherboard/devices that can go through ampmeters? So we can see all those dc currents. Although that might me a lot of ampmeters...and a bit risky. Just a thought.
My regards.
The0ne - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
I don't see why you can't hook up a current probe connected to a O-scope to measure the current.JarredWalton - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
Christoph did something like that in his http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.a...">Power Supply Myths article... not really something to do in every review if we can avoid; they take long enough already! ;)xaris106 - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
sorry if my english are not good. its not my first language.Aside from that i know what a kilowatt and losses are. I`m not saying they did something wrong. I just wanted some more info on the matter for the pros and cons...
araczynski - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
i suppose they're putting all that tech into the very high end market for the same reason as all other techs do; its easy to charge an extra premium (above the normal premium) from those buyers.sooner or later the technology will trickle down into the 'normal' market, where there is more serious volume.
but that's alright, the very high end market just ends up paying our share of the R&D costs that get passed on to them, instead of us.
'bleeding edge' or something they call it? 'bleeding' green :)
JarredWalton - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
The real problem is trying to get all of the necessary parts into a "reasonable" PSU, like something in the 600W or lower range for example. I'd guess they probably put around $100-$150 worth of parts and components into this design, making it fit for the high-end but not much else. If you want to sell 500W PSUs, pricing needs to be below $100 for sure to be competitive, and it's just not all that practical to get there with top-end components (IMO).Keep in mind that most people run PSUs at around 50% load if they want peak efficiency, so this PSU is really ideal for anyone running a ~500W system. GTX 280 SLI with an overclocked quad-core would be just about right I think... if you have enough extra HDDs. That it *can* run anything from 200W to 950W with 85% efficiency (and even beyond if you use 230VAC and want to overload the PSU) is extremely impressive.
Phew - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
"When I first saw the filtering stage, I asked the representatives at Enermax if CWT is the ODM"I consider myself pretty savvy about computer hardware, and I have two engineering degrees (mechanical), but that sentence was meaningless to me.
If you are going to use multiple obscure acronyms in one sentence, please at least include links to what they stand for and some description. It shouldn't take an electrical engineering degree to understand an article on a 'mainstream' computer hardware website.
yeti514 - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
I don't know about this PSU, but the PSUs in the link below sure look like some Thermaltake units that were made by CWT to me.http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/product_info.php...">http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/produ...sCsid=e8...
nevbie - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
Channel Well Technologies (company..)Original Design Manufacturer (..which was the manufacturer)
Or along those lines.
Note that this is a mainstream enthusiast computer hardware website. =P
Phew - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
When your computer hardware website has a power supply review listed right next to a digital camera review and a Guitar Hero article, that is about as 'mainstream' as it gets.Thanks for the acronym explanation
petersterncan - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
I will never buy this line of PSUs unless they came out with a 300-350W model.The systems I build use on-board graphics, on-board audio, one HD, one energy efficient CPU and one optical drive. Fully configured, the systems I build for myself only use around 110 watts. Anything over 350W results in wasted electricity.
Look at the minimum power consumption and efficiency at low power draws! That's the most relevant info for me when selecting a PSU.
Calin - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
You can have in USA electrical power on 240V. And the power source will go just as well at 220/230V of Europe as with 240Vstrikeback03 - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
Problem would probably be getting the proper cable for the US. Might have to make it yourself.houe - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
Seems odd to have a "efficient" 1000 watt computer. If you care about low power I doubt you'll be putting a 1000 watt supply in your rig. Any computer that consumes 200 watts at idle is probably not a computer you'll want to run 24/7 so the efficiency probably isn't going to matter too much. That being said it still seems like a cool power supply.Rezurecta - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
Thank you for the dumbest comment ever.MadMan007 - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
I don't think it was dumb and certainly not the dumbest comment ever. He asked why they start at 800W (should have said 850W but whatever) and he's right about the real power draw of systems. Having super high power PSUs is fine but I'd love to see efficiency like this starting with a 400-500W unit not 850W. A mega-PC is going to draw lots of power anyway. The 82+ line does fill the lower power draw range, maybe that's why they started this higher, but that doesn't make the question dumb.Christoph Katzer - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
People just need to understand that at the moment it's just still too expensive to build units around this wattage that have 90%+ efficiency. You don't wanna pay $150 for a 500W PSU because you can run your normal one for years and ending up with the same price.MadMan007 - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
Fair enough, at least that's a reason and not saying 'dumb comment' :) The 82+ line is nearly as efficient and does have some low power options so Enermax may feel they already have that segment filled.Over time the design changes that increase efficiency should trickle down yea?
Rezurecta - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
That was for iwodoThe0ne - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
I'm not sure you know what YOU'RE talking about making that comment to Iwodo, unless of course you prefer to stick to your configuration that requires more than 850W. In which case, carry on.700W for my configuration.
IP35 Pro with Q6600@3.2GHz, 4Gig, 9800GX2, 2 DVDRW, 5 Hard Drives, 6 internal Fans for the case, misc USB devices
So I don't know about you but I think his question is very valid. The dumbest I think would be someone who came up with the question afterward not thinking more about what the other person was addressing.
legoman666 - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
Lol, you're out of your mind if you think your system uses anywhere near 700w. Buy a Kill-A-Watt and report back some real usage numbers. I imagine it's closer to 300-350w @ full load.gochichi - Monday, November 10, 2008 - link
I know right? I've been "bad" and left my little Inspiron 530 with the power supply that came with it and I'm running a Radeon 4850 (fairly power hungry, but not wacko hungry) in it and it runs perfectly. At most it's rated at 350W and it's a Quad-core system with some other goodies.The way I see it, burning DVDs, playing Blu-rays, playing games are some of the most energy consuming things you can do. However, you do either one or the other. I'm sure my system would have power issuues if I played Crysis, burned DVDs and watched a blu-ray all at one time. But you know what? My system, though it's beefy can't handle those things at one time anyway, so who cares.
This powersupply is super nice though. Over the top? Yes. But it's so nice it just doesn't matter. This guy is for systems running Raptors and X-fire and all that stuff. Even if you're not running that stuff though, it's perfectly quiet at loads of 500W or below. So even when you're not pushing it, it's still classy. It's like a Corvette cruising at 65MPH, it's still awesome.
Big thumbs up to this power supply. Expensive junk is bad, but really good stuff for $300.00 is alright by me. Not for me, but if you own it... I'm kind of jealous.
The people at the top end have to have a power supply, and I think this is it for them.
The0ne - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
The 9800GX2 video card alone already requires a minimum of 580W. How am I out of my mind for paying heed to the requirements? Do you mean to implied that I'm a sucker for believing all power supply ratings and I should instead do my own measurements when finding a power supply? Tell me, do you do this when selecting your own components?The only reason I bought the 700W was because my Nfinity 600W was not efficient enough to run the system after I installed the video card. So while the power efficiency might be low, I still need a ADVERTISED power supply of 700W+
Maybe you're psychic?
strikeback03 - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
You should have stated you were using a 700W power supply, your post indicated you thought you were drawing 700W.http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.a...">http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.a...
I have a similar system on my desk here at work (only 3 GHz on the q6600, but it is a B3 stepping; 2 HDD, 1 optical, 7300GT instead 0f 9800GX2) and idle is about 100 W at the wall, peak draw is like 160-170. Your system probably draws another 120-150W at idle, and maybe 250 at full power. A 700W power supply is quite reasonable for that system, as it probably uses 200-250 at idle and another 150-200 at full bore. It won't draw 700W.
Freddo - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
This PSU is so cool, as it's very energy efficient & have modular cables.I would really like to see a PSU as energy efficient as this one, but down at ~400W or so instead, and with passive cooling, or at least "half passive", with a small 80mm fan outwards that only starts to spin when it's near full load and getting hot.
Christoph Katzer - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
Wait until next year's ~CES/CeBIT, there is a manufacturer who might have exactly what you're waiting for...iwodo - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
As Anand as well as other tech site has confirm, even with GTX SLI and Quad Core CPU, you will hardly need more then 500W, lets give it a peak spike of 40% will only means 700W.So why are we having PSU that starts at 800W? When only less then 5% of market uses it. Not to mention 1000W PSU.
Shmak - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
All power supplies reach their efficiency peak at about 50% load, which is shown on any psu review you care to look at. Therefore, if your system idles at around 500W, a 1000W psu will likely be most efficient for your build.GaryJohnson - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
Watts don't mean anything. What matters is having enough stable amps on a couple (or single) 12v rails to power SLI or Crossfire.OddJensen - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
Try a Core i7 w/HD4870X2 in crossfire. You'll soon find out why we have 1kW PSUs.larson0699 - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
How about a Pentium D or Skulltrail with quad GTX 280's?Do like the small jets and shut off everything else before powering up THOSE engines.
Nigel.k.l - Tuesday, November 26, 2019 - link
I purchased mine back in 09 and its still running, I7 8700k 1070ti system