Here's an interesting test I performed on a generic and an ANtec SL300S power supply. The Antec is a 300 watt PS and the Generic was a 400 watt PS. Without load, the Antec read 5.1 volts and the generic read 5.2 (all readings were taken with a hewlett Packard benchtop multimeter...recently calibrated). I hooked up a 1 ohm resistor to the 5 volt bus. This would produce a 25 watt load at 5 amps. The generic power supply immediately went down to 4.3 volts when load was applied. The Antec only sagged to 4.9. When I doubled the load (.5 ohms 50 watts 10 amps) the generic went all the way down to 3.8, but the Antec only went down to 4.8. What do you guys think about the results? I'm getting an ANtec True 550 and true 430 this week. I'm going to test those as well and post the results.

The only way France is going in is if we tell them we've discovered truffles in Iraq. -Dennis Miller<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Grub on 02/26/03 09:43 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

Excellent!

Waiting for those other results.

<b><font color=blue>~ <A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/index.php?act=ST&f=41&t=324&s=58e94ba84a16bedfebbf0f416d5bac48" target="_new">Nice sig 81.</A> ~<font color=blue></b>

that just goes to show you that power ratings do not mean a thing....I prefer enermax active pfc power supplies over antec true power supplies since they supply much more power to the 12V rail.....but its all a matter of what you are using it for

<font color=green>Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza<font color=green>

Thank for the information. I did not know there is a such big difference between generic PSU and brand PSU.

Awwright...I just got the True 550 in. I'm going to seriously load down this thing and see what we get. The True series of power supplies are supposed to correct their voltages as load is supplied. If what Antec claims is true, there should be no voltage sag under load...we shall see...muahhahahahah....



The only way France is going in is if we tell them we've discovered truffles in Iraq. -Dennis Miller

Wow... interesting. This is one major difference.

My dual-PSU PC is so powerfull that the neighbourhood dims when I turn it on

Thanks for posting the results, thats good information to know. Let us know how the other psu's come out!

I see you have found what ive known for over a year. Generic PSU's, by and large, <b>SUCK</b>

and the rated wattage of the unit is meaningless. Infact worse than meaningless... it installs a false sense of security that their psu is beefier than what it really is.
Ive said many times that ive seen 300W enermax psu's easily beating 350W generic units.

I sumise the antec true will be the best of the lot... self regulating to stay as close to 5v as possible.



<i>"Revenues were less than robust"</i> - QWEST
<i>"The company applied its accounting policies incorrectly"</i> - WORLDCOM
<i>"Certian financial adjustments may be required"</i> - AOL+TW.

Well I tested three power supplies. One of things that I can say out of doing this is that I will never buy a cheap power supply ever again. I couldn't do an apples to apples compariaon because the generic power supply was so shoddy...The conductors for the atx connector were all 18 gage wire. I tried to run 20 amps through one of them but they immediately started getting warm to the touch. I had to double up those connectors which gave the generic an edge it wouldn't have in reall life. Keep that in mind when you see the results. I checked voltage in two locations this time. I measured it at the load (which includes the resistance of the conductors) and I checked the voltagwe at the power supply. In real world application this would simulate what your other components would be getting with a huge load somewhere else. Here's my results...

PS / No Load / 50w / 100w@load / 100w no load test
Generic / 5.1 / 3.9 / 3.5 / 4.5
(single conductor)
Generic / 5.1 / 4.5 / 4.03 / 4.8
(double)
SL300S / 5.0 / 4.7 / 4.5 / 4.9
True 550 / 5.0 / 4.9 / 4.7 / 5.1

My test is extreme. You would never see a 100 watt load from one pin of the ATX connector. It would probably melt the solder joint. However, I was pleased to see that the True 550 maintained >5 volts at the second test point. What really suprised me was that the solution series Antec PS did so well. It was the lowest rated of all the power supplies, but it performed only slightly worse than the far more expensive True series supply. That may be overstating, though, since only 100 total watts of power was drawn. What do you guys think?

The only way France is going in is if we tell them we've discovered truffles in Iraq. -Dennis Miller

I agree. I never buy cheap PSU.

I think it proves the old saying right.

You really do get what you pay for.

And having a cheap-ass generic PSU with a 400W sticker is like having a honda civic with a spedo that goes up to 250Km/h.

<i>"Revenues were less than robust"</i> - QWEST
<i>"The company applied its accounting policies incorrectly"</i> - WORLDCOM
<i>"Certian financial adjustments may be required"</i> - AOL+TW.

Good work.

"Quotes are for people that can't think for themselves"

Thanks...
I just recieved the True 330watt and the True430 watt. Now I have their entire line of True power supplies. I'm thinking about doing a side by side test of each to see which is the best "bang for the Buck" supply. It would be nice if someone had a website that I could post pictures and charts too.

The only way France is going in is if we tell them we've discovered truffles in Iraq. -Dennis Miller

Can you test this for the 12V line too?

My dual-PSU PC is so powerfull that the neighbourhood dims when I turn it on

Did you connect the load to a wire with a separate sense lead attached to it? Were measurements taken at the leads that connected to the loads or to unused leads (would show what the supply was putting out before any wire/connector losses)? Some supplies have only one sense lead, for the +3.3V, but I believe the Truepowers have them for the +5V as well. I don't know about the Solution Series, but the Smartpowers have no +5V sense wire although they are built for it (empty connection on circuit board).