PC Power and Cooling really worth the price premium

[ben5459182]

Hi im getting ready to order a new powersupply the two im looking at are the silverstone olympia series 750w and the pc power and cooling 750w is the pc power and cooling worth roughly 40-50 more dollars?

Are their cheaper alternatives to these two that are single rail and produce alot of good clean power?

 

[ausch30]

Read the stickys, Silverstone PSU's are very good. Yes PC Power is worth the money, yes you can get a PSU that is very good and save some money. Single rail PSU's are expensive due to the higher quality components needed to route all that power.

 

[eric54]

Both of those are excellent choices and rank first in many charts for best power supplies. Check this site out, it includes a PSU ranking. You will be able to find a PSU for less and of similar to equal quality on the list there.


Mpilch, I thought i beat you to the response but when i clicked submit you had snatched the first reply!

 

[GeorgeH]

Their power supplies are not worth a premium.

---

I looked at their myths. As an engineer, my opinion is that the explanations are self serving.

I looked at their efficiencies. Since the efficiency is a function of load, their stated efficiencies are worthless. One needs to know the efficiency at the actual load.

I looked at their power consumption calculator. It is impossible to get my system to draw 200W from the wall, yet their calculator suggests a massive power supply.

I liked especially how they made the claim that their PSU was "free" compared to an Antec PSU. You might try to draw 750w continuous 24/365/3. I bet you cannot even draw that much power for 5 minutes. I bet you need additional A/C for that room also. The power cost alone is $2000 for 3 years of operation.

---

From a practical point of view the power supply that comes with a case will serve most users well. Case cooling will fail to keep up well before the power supply fails to keep up.

A good system builder will have a large bench PSU that he will use to set up a system. He will then install the "proper" sized PSU before delivery.

 

[Criminal89]

Their power supplies are not worth a premium.

---

I looked at their myths. As an engineer, my opinion is that the explanations are self serving.

I looked at their efficiencies. Since the efficiency is a function of load, their stated efficiencies are worthless. One needs to know the efficiency at the actual load.

I looked at their power consumption calculator. It is impossible to get my system to draw 200W from the wall, yet their calculator suggests a massive power supply.

I liked especially how they made the claim that their PSU was "free" compared to an Antec PSU. You might try to draw 750w continuous 24/365/3. I bet you cannot even draw that much power for 5 minutes. I bet you need additional A/C for that room also. The power cost alone is $2000 for 3 years of operation.

---

From a practical point of view the power supply that comes with a case will serve most users well. Case cooling will fail to keep up well before the power supply fails to keep up.

A good system builder will have a large bench PSU that he will use to set up a system. He will then install the "proper" sized PSU before delivery.

What? You speak lies! The power supply that comes with most cases is complete and utter crap!

crim

 

[dean7]

Their power supplies are not worth a premium.

---

I looked at their myths. As an engineer, my opinion is that the explanations are self serving.

I looked at their efficiencies. Since the efficiency is a function of load, their stated efficiencies are worthless. One needs to know the efficiency at the actual load.

I looked at their power consumption calculator. It is impossible to get my system to draw 200W from the wall, yet their calculator suggests a massive power supply.

I liked especially how they made the claim that their PSU was "free" compared to an Antec PSU. You might try to draw 750w continuous 24/365/3. I bet you cannot even draw that much power for 5 minutes. I bet you need additional A/C for that room also. The power cost alone is $2000 for 3 years of operation.

---

From a practical point of view the power supply that comes with a case will serve most users well. Case cooling will fail to keep up well before the power supply fails to keep up.

A good system builder will have a large bench PSU that he will use to set up a system. He will then install the "proper" sized PSU before delivery.

What? You speak lies! The power supply that comes with most cases is complete and utter crap!

crim
I would tend to agree with you. I think there's just a perspective issue here. George mentioned that he is an engineer, which means he is probably looking for what people "need". And perhaps we don't "need" a 1kw PSU, but to an enthusiast paying a large sum of money for the best PSU money can buy makes some sort of sense.

Know what I mean?

I can see both arguments (but I am leaning towards agreeing with criminal because PSUs that come with most cases are so cheap you run the risk of blowing something up if you use them).

 

[eric54]

Though true on most parts. You seem to miss the fires caused by bad psu's, the chip destroying fluctuations in power, and the terrible to worse efficiency of cheapo psu's. Hardocp provides detailed reviews of power supplies and it’s not the wattage that matters most, it’s the stability of the power output, too many fluctuations will shorten electronic lifespan leading to mysterious instabilities and a whole host of other issues that arise from a bad PSU.

I'm sure others can back up in a more technical point of view but the fact is, having high efficiency for a high wattage system is to cut the cost of ownership a bit because less energy is being wasted in heat output. Overall, a system low ripple and good regulation is what is most important, high efficiency and wattage are just icing on the cake.

Here is a review Hardocp recently did on midranged PSU's, one of them started to melt during testing, proving definitively that a good quality PSU is always worth the extra money.

 

[mjam]

Their power supplies are not worth a premium.

---

I looked at their myths. As an engineer, my opinion is that the explanations are self serving.

I looked at their efficiencies. Since the efficiency is a function of load, their stated efficiencies are worthless. One needs to know the efficiency at the actual load.

I looked at their power consumption calculator. It is impossible to get my system to draw 200W from the wall, yet their calculator suggests a massive power supply.

I liked especially how they made the claim that their PSU was "free" compared to an Antec PSU. You might try to draw 750w continuous 24/365/3. I bet you cannot even draw that much power for 5 minutes. I bet you need additional A/C for that room also. The power cost alone is $2000 for 3 years of operation.

---

From a practical point of view the power supply that comes with a case will serve most users well. Case cooling will fail to keep up well before the power supply fails to keep up.

A good system builder will have a large bench PSU that he will use to set up a system. He will then install the "proper" sized PSU before delivery.

Engineer here also. I'll let my experiences speak for themselves:

In my own personal machines I have 3 OCZ Powerstreams (no longer made) and 2 PC Power & Cooling PSUs. No failures ever on these (the server and family computers run 24/7 and the PSUs have been carried over from prior builds). In fact, I've never had any premium PSU fail, though I know it happens on occassion.

I have, however, built a lot of systems (close to 100). Sometimes I use the PSU that comes with the cases; more often I use a slightly better but still cheap power supply (say, a $40 Thermaltake for example). In servicing computer I or others have built--to include HP, Dell, Compaq, etc.--I have experienced more bad power supplies than almost ALL other hardware failures combined.

My personal experience is that mass merchandisers use inexpensive power supplies that are barely sufficient when they do work in order to save money. One of the primary reasons to build your own computer is to have absolute control over the components that go in. Your custom machine uses parts that you have carefully selected and expect to perform and last. I've seen too many PSUs fail, often taking a mobo with them, to put my faith in the "economy" of a cheap power supply. At least Dell or HP will replace the computer if it fails under warranty. Can you afford to do that? Are you that much of a gambler? And really, how stable is your computer with the cheap PSU under varying load, temperature, or voltage conditions?

I've paid my dues and learned my lessons on the value of a good PSU. Just don't let the price be your criteria for judging a "good" PSU. there are plenty of expensive junk ones out there also.

 

[XMSYellowbeard]

Cheap PSUs, and most specifically those that are bundled with cases, are typically junk and are ticking time bombs. It's far too easy to talk about what people "need" without actually knowing what they are doing with their rigs.

The biggest single problem with cheap PSUs is the way that they are rated. "IF" they would really do their spex at less than 100c, and not fail so frequently and often catastrophically, then they might fit the bill for the average builder. However, I have seen too many junk PSUs crap out with VERY moderate loads.

It's just not worth it, especially when they fail at critical times or go "kablooey" and take some other components with them. Then, there's also the damaging effects of ripple over time killing GPUs, MOBOs, and HDs.

 

[randomizer]

From a practical point of view the power supply that comes with a case will serve most users well.

 

[senor_bob]

Their power supplies are not worth a premium.

---

I looked at their myths. As an engineer, my opinion is that the explanations are self serving.

I looked at their efficiencies. Since the efficiency is a function of load, their stated efficiencies are worthless. One needs to know the efficiency at the actual load.

I am also an engineer, and I design power supplies for a living. No not PC power supplies, industrial and military power supplies and motor drives in the multi-megaWatt range. I will agree with the point about ther myth section, including the bashing of modular connections. I would be shot if I proposed a non-modular (equivalent) design in systems with literally thousand of Amps of output, do you really think that extra connector resistance matters in the currents a PC PSU operates at? They claim that a 120mm fan uses 1.5" inside the power supply, but most PSUs I've seen with 120mm fans use the 1" (25mm) deep ones not the 1.5" (35mm) deep fans. This page is a bunch of marketing junk.

However the marketing junk does not negate the fact that PCP&C does indeed make nice power supplies, as do Silverstone, Seasonic, FSP, OCZ (who just bought PCP&C) and many others. I wouldn't pay too much more for a PCP&C than the other high end PSU makers, but then again the prices are fairly similar for all of them on comparable models (excluding the Turbo-Cool 1kW which is priced ridiculously).

From a practical point of view the power supply that comes with a case will serve most users well. Case cooling will fail to keep up well before the power supply fails to keep up.

If by "serve most users well" you mean blow up and fry their system. I've had to help at least five people at work replace the PSUs in their (non-homebuilt) systems which were invariably the cheap junk PSUs that come with cases. I would not recommend a PSU that comes with the case for anyone, although clearly not all systems need a PCP&C.

 

[ben5459182]

I decided to get the 750w quad from pc power and cooling because it was on sale for 179. Now im wandering did i get something with enough kick to run 8800gtx sli and a quad core later this year?

 

[weskurtz81]

It should run it. Wait a sec though, you are worried about PSU price, but you are going to drop that kind of cash on 2 GTX's and a quad? Doesn't make much sense to me.

wes

 

[ben5459182]

not so much worried about price as much as worried that im paying 90 bucks for a name and nothing else

 

[weskurtz81]

Gotcha, It probably doesn't get any better than PC Power and Cooling, but I think they are a little overpriced when compared to the other quality highend PSU's.

wes

 

[ben5459182]

ive also been reading that the silencers suck compared to the turbo cools i almost bought a used turbo cool 850 for 150 but it was four seperate 12v rails so i figured the big single in the 750 would be preferable.