== ANTEC vs SPARKLE vs ENERMAX Power Supplies ==

[Death]

putting together a new system here folks, which PSU should i go for? i heard that
while enermax is a good PSU, it aint quite as good as antec/sparkle units when
it comes to extreme overclocking, some voltages might drop a bit?? also do the sparkle or
enermax PSU's have any adjustable voltage rails like some antec units do??

thanks!

 

[svol]

Sparke/Fortron/FPS is the most efficient PSU and they come very underrated. A 400W unit should easily put out 480W.

Enermax has some 5V rail voltage problems with mobo's that use that rail to power the CPU... Epox does this for instance.

The only controlable Antec is the Antec TrueControl 550W.

I love my Delta 60HP 7000 RPM fan that puts out more dB then CFM

 

[Death]

wow better than antec even?? most boards i posted this Q on seem to be praising antec units above everything else

 

[svol]

Antec is more silent, but Fortron/Sparkle is much more efficient and put out a lot more power.

Just read Toms PSU comparison to see how well the Fortron performs.

I love my Delta 60HP 7000 RPM fan that puts out more dB then CFM

 

[Flinx]

<A HREF="http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/index.html" target="_new">http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/index.html</A>

By the way, where did the Sparkle info come from?

The loving are the daring!

 

[Crashman]

Sparkle Power is a retail brand for Fortron power supplies.

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[Crashman]

And why do they all praise Antec? A bunch of kids I talked to have never driven a Honda, yet they saw them on "The Fast and The Furious" and can't quit talking about them.

It's all a popularity contest. Most of the people you've talked to that recommend Antec probably do so because they've never owned anything else to compare it to, except a generic.

So let me tell you an Antec story. Once upon a time, power supplies were rated accurately. If you bought a 200W power supply (fairly large in those days), you got a power supply that could put out 200W continuously, for years on end, and occasionally just a bit more (such as when a hard drive first spins up).

There were of course generic power supplies, but crappy ones were few and far between. Then Antec hit the retail sceen with cheap "250W" power supplies that would output...about the same power as those OEM 200W units.

Antec was about the only name brand a hobbiest could buy back then. Just about everything else was made for the OEM market. OEM's were king!

And that's where MY experience with Antec started. As far as I know, they were the first large supplier to sell overrated power supplies. But being large at the boom of the hobby market made them popular, and nobody ever caught up.

Look at all the companies who've abused consumers simply by being the most popular. Creative made some "ok" cards back in the early days, but their quality was easily surpassed by companies like Media Vision. Never heard of Media Vision? That's because the "Sound Blaster" name prevailed.

Sparkle Power has been using Fortron power supplies for years. So has PC Power & Cooling. These names have been synonymous with quality for all these years among educated enthusiast. Unfortunately, most of the people you're getting advice from are mearly fad followers, uneducated about such things as quality. And Antec has a BIGGER name.

I also received a lot of abuse from these quasi geeks when I bought a TNT2 Ultra instead of a Voodoo 3, and we see how that turned out.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
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[fiask0]

I just bought a Fortron 400 W from newegg, it was rock solid, very quiet, worked very well. Works just as good as my Antec True430.

 

[Flinx]

You have probably already bought a PSU but if not this is well worth looking at:
<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1841" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1841</A>

The loving are the daring!

 

[Jake_Barnes]

I highly recommend the AnandTech review cited above. I think you'll find it confirms what Crashman has said re: Fortron.



<b><font color=red>I did NOT have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky ... - Bill "Cigar Man" Clinton</font color=red><b>

 

[Crashman]

I've never owned a Sparkle, but lots of other Fortrons, mostly under the lables Power Man and Aopen. Back then I didn't know Sparkle used Fortron.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Flinx]

It seems, from what I have read, that Sparkle is not that same as Fortron (i.e. under another label). Apparently Sparkle uses alot of the same components and <b>SOME</b> of the PSU's are effectively identical.

The loving are the daring!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Flinx on 08/02/03 06:20 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Crashman]

Reading Antec I see. Well, <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/Listproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=FSP350-60PN" target="_new">Here's their "special upgraded" Sparkle</A>...wait, that's a FORTRON! It looks like Anandtech didn't do their research!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Flinx]

Excuse me. <b>Some</b> are indeed <b>relabeled</b>.

Is this your understanding as well? Or am I being dense?

The loving are the daring!

 

[Crashman]

Of course they're relabled, even if they modified them. It's just that I have never seen any evidence of Sparkle selling anything but factory stock Fortrons.

Now, I've seen PC Power & Cooling use Fortrons with modifications. And there's a company making a "silent" supply which is a Fortron with a quieter fan.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[pIII_Man]

you said power man power supplies are fortron units...

Is this ALL power man psu's or just some... i have a power man psu in my pIII box and i would be very happy to know that it is a fortron unit!

3 386DX-25's...12 volts...glue some ln2 and a wicked amount of overclocking and you get a willamantee minus 36 pins, 33.75 million transistors and a couple hundred mhz...

 

[Crashman]

I think so. Examine it and find out!

Fortrons have adjustable voltage, see if you can find an internal adjustment by looking through the slots.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[pIII_Man]

yes i am very sure that i have voltage control via what i think is a potentiometer (sp?) on the pcb...It also has fan speed control...

It is a power man 280 watt psu...it was bought in september of year 2000

If i put my k6 in a Ferrari it would be faster than your your pentium 4 or Athlon XP :tongue:

 

[Crashman]

Probably an older Fortron, capable of around 350W peak. Should be a good power supply, probably not P4 compliant however (lacking the 4-pin power header).

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[pIII_Man]

true i do not have the 4 pin connector...

my voltages fluctuate between 11.74 - 11.90 depending on the load (per a multi-meter from a molex connector)...although my computer seems stable so i cannot complain...

good to know cause i was thinking of putting a 9500np in this computer...and i was worried that i might have a generic powersupply...which may not provide enough umph for a faster gpu...

If i put my k6 in a Ferrari it would be faster than your your pentium 4 or Athlon XP :tongue:

 

[Crashman]

Tweak that little potentiometer then, get it to around 12.2v

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[pIII_Man]

Thats the sweet spot?

Do you mean 12.2 under load...or 12.2v with the psu out of the case sitting on my work bench...

Also by tweeking that pot will my 5v rails be effected...they are about 5-5.05 volts...

If i put my k6 in a Ferrari it would be faster than your your pentium 4 or Athlon XP :tongue:

 

[Crashman]

I mean 12.2v with a small sample load. You have to have SOMETHING on it, even an old hard drive will do.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[pIII_Man]

alright...i will do it tomarrow...

Once again thanx for the info...

If i put my k6 in a Ferrari it would be faster than your your pentium 4 or Athlon XP :tongue:

 

[Crashman]

Or not, it sounds like you're not having any problems...

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>