I'm sorry, but if it's not 80+ Gold certified now a days, then it's not even an option. Maybe 5 years ago this would have been good, but now it's just meh. If your going to drop money on a quality PSU, you might as well get the gold standard.
Hopefully, there is a 1200W 100+ Unobtanium PSU, with around 120%-150% efficiency. That way, I can get max power, while only using ~7A @ 115V, and get paid by the electric co everytime I boot my Über 1337 PC :)
110% efficiency PSU would not put any power back anywhere, rather the output power would be 110% of the input power from the mains. So if you drew 550W from a 110% "Unobtainium" PSU, it would still take 500W from the grid.
As counter-intuitive as it seems, a PSU would actually need to have a negative efficiency figure in order to return power to the grid when drawing power from it (a -80% efficiency would mean that if you drew 500W from it, it would return 625W to the grid).
Why would Nike (the sporting goods maker) make a PSU? Nike makes unobtainiums (it's their trademark isn't it?). My sunglasses are made from unobtainium.
PSU efficiency is the DC power output of the PSU over the AC consumption. It is NOT,i repeat, it is NOT a way to measure how "good" a PSU is,it's just a gimmick . The less AC power draw over the year can translate in...$1-$2 difference per year in electric power bills.
There are sooooo many more tests to prove a PSU's efficiency(mainly ripple tests, stress tests to find the absolute maximum wattage, and capacitor aging simulations to measure the degeneration of the PSU over the years) but you seem to be stuck on a "certification". When an engineering team designs those things, there are tradeoffs between efficiency,ripple,cost of materials etc etc. As an engineer, the one i would dump to, say, 75-80% is the efficiency(for gamers,companies need high efficiency and high reliability). Games DO care MORE if i can reduce ripple by 10mV in +12V rail even if they pay $5 a year more in current, just because less ripple means extended lifecircles for all your digital parts
Except, it isn't true. 10mV ripple has no effect whatsoever on parts lifespan, providing the peak voltages don't exceed the max the parts can tolerate and certainly it will not, any part nominally rated for an input voltage can easily tolerate far more than a few dozen mV ripple.
Further and most people don't seem to understand this, the parts you are POWERING cause far more noise on the power rails than this.
There are many reasons a part can die prematurely or earlier than it otherwise would, but 10mV ripple difference isn't one of them.
While that is true, higher efficiency units must use higher quality parts to achieve that rating which is generally why the better the rating the better the PSU is. Of course not all PSU's are created equal, as it's always been. For gamers, the best thing about higher efficiency units is they tend to give off less heat, which is especially nice when it's mounted at the bottom of a case.
Exactly. I don't care about the additional $1-2 for the year, I care about the removal of that as heat with my A/C in the summer, the increased case temps, the potential sound dB increase, etc.
It is irrelevant if it is mounted at the top or bottom of the case, well actually you can tolerate a hotter running PSU at the bottom of the case because the air it intakes is less pre-heated by the CPU and other parts upstream of the chassis airflow.
Heat does not rise from a PSU into the case, there is positive flow intake of air and exhaust out the back of the PSU and case, unless it is a passively cooled design (no fan in it) in which case you'd still have roughly the same rate of heated air sucked into the rest of the system if all else were equal.
I'm not arguing against higher efficiency PSU though, if the cost increase is not too great and the other properties of the PSU do not suffer as a result it is a good thing, BUT it all costs money. If you have a total design budget and spend, lets's say 20% more to get the design to a higher efficiency level with a significant design decision, that 20% could have gone to a larger transformer, better quality capacitors, etc.
It's not necessarily parts "quality" that makes a PSU more efficient, it's the design topology, # of parts, component rating vs size.
For example, I could use a very high quality choke, resistor, capacitor, and have lower efficiency than a more elaborate circuit would, or a circuit at a different operating temperature would, there is a balance between several decisions but in the end there are not many things that universally effect people except that it meets it's specs so you can choose scientifically what to mate with a known system load, and doesn't have premature fan or capacitor failure, and some resistance to surge damage on the switching transistors.
The average person, they just want it to "work", esthetics aside they aren't very picky about whether their system uses 180W versus 150W, it certainly isn't something you see the average Dell, HP, etc shopper demanding on the line item details of a system prior to purchase.
So you would pick say a RAIDMAX Gold PSU but not this Antec because the RAIDMAX is Gold certified.
Just because they slap a 80 Plus cert on the PSU doesn't mean it's built any better. I always buy components by manufacturer warranty. Corsair PSU with a 7 year warranty, yes please. Bonus for lifetime warranty manufacturers.
But hey, keep spending money on frivolous stickers if it makes you feel all good inside.
I think the price is a little on the high side. It should subside a little over time, but I know I am certainly willing to pay a little more for Antec and Seasonic units, my two favorites. So while it may seem a little high price wise, I believe many prospective buyers will think it a fair deal. As far as efficiency goes, it's on the high side of bronze, but I'd rather have a PSU on the high side of it's rating than the low. I think this is the other side of the EarthWatts coin, a line of fantastic PSU for the price. Plus, I'd imagine that like the EarthWatts it will be found frequently on sale.
Precisely ... Just what is that for a title ? This PSU does NOT have a single 12V Rail. This PSU is NOT modular and it's not even interesting in terms of green-itude.
Alright it's cheap ... but Gamer's havent quite been known for going cheap so far - there wouldn't be any Fermi today if that was the case.
I thought the High Current Gamer line is supposed to be a single 12V rail, instead of quad 12V rail as in the TruePower New series. Even though it has 40A per rail instead of 25A, I am better off with Cooler Master GX 750W, which is a single 60A rail. To Antec's credit, at least when it comes to factory rebate, Antec still pay cheques instead of credit cards.
You are not better off with the Cooler Master GX 750! That PSU has high ripple, poor voltage stability and can't stay to ATX specs when getting close to it's specified max output. You can check several reviews of the CM GX750 from Hardwaresecrets, jonnyguru and HardOCP.
I wondered the same thing. If you aren't going to stick to the ATX spec for current per rail why not go all the way and just have a single rail and really not need to worry about what is on which rail?
I have limited understanding of electrical terms, but as I understand it, whether you are on a 120v or 240v circuit you are going to use the same wattage. So, when looking at these efficiency numbers, the benefit is that the PSU is simply wasting less energy in the form of heat. Not, I save on my electric bill.
Efficiency will save on your electric bill a bit. For example, if you're 90% efficient, than a 200W load on the PSU will draw 222W at the wall; with 80% efficiency, you'd draw 250W at the wall -- so saving about 28W in that case. Running 24/7, however, that means you're really only saving about $20 to $30 per year. Turn off a light in your house and you save the same amount of money.
The other benefit is lower heat inside the PSU, which means the fans don't have to spin as fast to dissipate the heat. It's one reason why modern PSUs are generally much quieter than old PSUs. If you run a game that uses 350W from you GPU + CPU + accessories, an 85% efficient PSU would have to dissipate around 62W of internal heat, a 90% efficient PSU would only need to cope with 39W, and an old 72% efficient hunk of junk would have to cool a whopping 136W.
As far as input voltages, 230VAC is easier to convert to the internal 12V. I don't recall the exact reasons, but generally speaking 230VAC will give slightly better efficiency at the cost of worse PFC.
The slight efficiency difference comes from two things.
1) Which voltage it was optimized for, EU has tighter efficiency requirements.
2) Parts tend to have inherent resistive qualities or forward drop voltage loss, both of which increase nonlinearly with current. So, if you double voltage you draw roughly half current which makes that loss go down some, and with component forward drop, for example a rectifier bridge could cost 1.4V drop, which is 50% lower drop as a percentage of input voltage on 220VAC compared to 110VAC.
Higher efficiency has an effect on your electricity bill. How much depends on how long you use the PSU and what the difference is when comparing two PSU's against eachother. You can not decide if you run your PSU off ~110V or ~220V, you are at the mercy of what the wall outlet provides that you connect your PSU to. In most countries in Europe we have 220~230V outlets. In Americas I understand it's 110~120V.
Most of the time you get what you pay for, and I always look for the best bang for the buck. Take your time,research,look at the reviews, and also count me in on any rebates. Just let your smarts and pocket book guide you!
No ripple at 110% load this time,you always have that.
"Most of us prefer PSUs similar to this, only with at least 80 Plus Silver rating and modular cables. You can get that with the Enermax Revoltion85+, but Enermax pricing on that PSU continues to be quite high and you have to move up to 920W."
A bit odd to compare it with the Enermax Revoltion85+ 920W, would have been much easier to go with the Corsair AX750 instead.
There are quite a few options to consider in the 750 Watt range of PSU's. You have Corsairs TXV2, HX and AX. Then there are the XFX Black Edition, XXX and Core Edition series. There are also Thermaltake and Siverstone.. And there are more.. Don't forget SuperFlowers new ranges of PSU's which are stirring up the PSU market. Kingwin and NZXT are using SuperFlower built (OEM) PSU's.. There are plenty brands to consider when choosing best PSU at 750W. You have to constantly check retailers prices and special offers as these change all the time..
Being someone who wants to game as much as possible, without grid power every watt counts. I mean *every* want counts. I have my 'gaming' tower down to about 100 watts total consumption under full load. Using a 2.5"HDD, undervolting while overclocking, and using a HD 4670 for graphics makes it possible. (considering a 5770, or a 6770 now) its really amazing. If this PSU would kick me up 8-10 watts per hour on power consumption that would be bad.
I don't even know what the bronze vs gold means in real world terms I just know I need efficiency where I can get it when its cost effective.
Seriously, all these comments about efficiency crap. We didn't care a lot back in the old days when everybody was happy with their build in power supply from a random brand that ignited fires and gave smoke.
"Because it's not gold it kills the deal for me!" Seriously, what is up with that. I have a OCZ 750W (no label) and I really don't care about it's specs. All I know is that it's great quality and durability.
Go scream about something else instead of 1 or 2 dollar a year for a freaking power supply. The moment you left a lightbulb on you've wasted it aswell.
Thanks martin, For a nice brief review of a great Antec Power Supply. I have had a few running and they are all stable and silent. I really like this one, almost want to trade my old one in.
Be the fanboi, think all that you care about is all that matters. Most of the people commenting on efficiency do so for some of the reasons listed that you didn't bother to read and they have little to do with power consumption although that's a nice bonus.
A little history: 80+ Spec power supplies exist because Google determined that they could save significant dollars in the data center business by increasing the efficiency of the power supply. These savings come in three areas, direct power consumption, heat output and cooling. In total in a data center setting it can save 20-30% of the power usage of the data center. They poured several million dollars into research and development of 80+ certified power supplies. As a result of some press about the innovation they had the public became aware of it and demanded it from general consumer power supplies. Google licensed the technology to the suppliers and I believe some developed their own systems.
But what you fail to realize is that the wattage isn't the only saving, there is a very significant heat savings that can be absolutely critical in a high heat gaming environment which is far more important than the cost of the power. 20 watts of power converted to heat is very significant and can result in heat overload versus heat stable. On a high end gaming situation where you are consuming 500+ watts 80+ efficiency can mean saving of 100+ watts of heat, that's a LOT of heat (ever tried to hold a 60 watt incandescent bulb?). That reduced heat load can be the difference in overclocking 5% versus 15%. It's also been proven that in general, comparing supplies produced by the same manufacturer, that the 80+ certified supplies will use much higher quality components because it's very difficult to get that efficient of conversion from AC to DC.
As always you should review the supply and make sure it meets your specifications but as others have said, if it's not 80+ efficient I don't even want to consider it. I push my systems pretty hard (currently running a 2600K at 4.4Ghz) and that extra heat in the system will overload my cooling capacity and set my alarms off and nothing is more of a bummer than the heat alarm going off during a gaming session. It's simply unreasonable in this day and age to use anything less than 80+ efficient. You do pay a small premium for the quality of parts to meet the spec but it's well worth it.
Not getting 80+ efficiency in a power supply is like buying a Yugo that gets 12mpg. It's pointless.
Well, unless you have a windowed chassi you won't be seeing much of that PSU once you've put it all together.. I would never buy PC hardware based on looks either..
Antec is freakin great company. And has with out a DOUBT ,the BEST customer service ive EVER seen. Me personally i chose this PSU for that reason. And they are VERY reliable quality and power! Im not sure why it didnt hit 80+ silver.
Im useing it with asus v formula fx-8150 gtx 570 SLI 2 ssd,3 WD 320gb and 1 tb h100, with 10! 120 tri-cool fans includieng the 230 bogboy! All with out ANY issues!
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
43 Comments
Back to Article
sean.crees - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - link
I'm sorry, but if it's not 80+ Gold certified now a days, then it's not even an option. Maybe 5 years ago this would have been good, but now it's just meh. If your going to drop money on a quality PSU, you might as well get the gold standard.LeTiger - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - link
Agreed. If it's not Gold Cert, it's not going in my case.vol7ron - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
I guess we have different standards. I'm only buying 80+ Platinumiamezza - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
I'm only buy 100+ Unobtanium PSU'sThey are specified at over 100% efficiency - they actually put power back in to the grid.
Yuniverse - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
lol... love it ! :)Souka - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
If it's not at least %101 effecient then i'm not buying it...bigboxes - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
If the power company is not paying ME I'm not going to buy it.JMC2000 - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
Hopefully, there is a 1200W 100+ Unobtanium PSU, with around 120%-150% efficiency. That way, I can get max power, while only using ~7A @ 115V, and get paid by the electric co everytime I boot my Über 1337 PC :)PrinceGaz - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
110% efficiency PSU would not put any power back anywhere, rather the output power would be 110% of the input power from the mains. So if you drew 550W from a 110% "Unobtainium" PSU, it would still take 500W from the grid.As counter-intuitive as it seems, a PSU would actually need to have a negative efficiency figure in order to return power to the grid when drawing power from it (a -80% efficiency would mean that if you drew 500W from it, it would return 625W to the grid).
DarkKnight_Y2K - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
LOL. That was a good one!GreenLego - Tuesday, May 31, 2011 - link
Why would Nike (the sporting goods maker) make a PSU? Nike makes unobtainiums (it's their trademark isn't it?). My sunglasses are made from unobtainium.AssBall - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
Not everyone thinks paying more for a sticker is worth it. I don't care what "color" it is as long as it is reliable.HEhatesusall - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
PSU efficiency is the DC power output of the PSU over the AC consumption. It is NOT,i repeat, it is NOT a way to measure how "good" a PSU is,it's just a gimmick . The less AC power draw over the year can translate in...$1-$2 difference per year in electric power bills.There are sooooo many more tests to prove a PSU's efficiency(mainly ripple tests, stress tests to find the absolute maximum wattage, and capacitor aging simulations to measure the degeneration of the PSU over the years) but you seem to be stuck on a "certification". When an engineering team designs those things, there are tradeoffs between efficiency,ripple,cost of materials etc etc. As an engineer, the one i would dump to, say, 75-80% is the efficiency(for gamers,companies need high efficiency and high reliability). Games DO care MORE if i can reduce ripple by 10mV in +12V rail even if they pay $5 a year more in current, just because less ripple means extended lifecircles for all your digital parts
heymrdj - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
+1 for the truth. I will pay 10$ more a year for electricity to bring down the ripple 10mv.mindless1 - Saturday, July 2, 2011 - link
Except, it isn't true. 10mV ripple has no effect whatsoever on parts lifespan, providing the peak voltages don't exceed the max the parts can tolerate and certainly it will not, any part nominally rated for an input voltage can easily tolerate far more than a few dozen mV ripple.Further and most people don't seem to understand this, the parts you are POWERING cause far more noise on the power rails than this.
There are many reasons a part can die prematurely or earlier than it otherwise would, but 10mV ripple difference isn't one of them.
Patrick Wolf - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
While that is true, higher efficiency units must use higher quality parts to achieve that rating which is generally why the better the rating the better the PSU is. Of course not all PSU's are created equal, as it's always been. For gamers, the best thing about higher efficiency units is they tend to give off less heat, which is especially nice when it's mounted at the bottom of a case.7Enigma - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
Exactly. I don't care about the additional $1-2 for the year, I care about the removal of that as heat with my A/C in the summer, the increased case temps, the potential sound dB increase, etc.mindless1 - Saturday, July 2, 2011 - link
It is irrelevant if it is mounted at the top or bottom of the case, well actually you can tolerate a hotter running PSU at the bottom of the case because the air it intakes is less pre-heated by the CPU and other parts upstream of the chassis airflow.Heat does not rise from a PSU into the case, there is positive flow intake of air and exhaust out the back of the PSU and case, unless it is a passively cooled design (no fan in it) in which case you'd still have roughly the same rate of heated air sucked into the rest of the system if all else were equal.
I'm not arguing against higher efficiency PSU though, if the cost increase is not too great and the other properties of the PSU do not suffer as a result it is a good thing, BUT it all costs money. If you have a total design budget and spend, lets's say 20% more to get the design to a higher efficiency level with a significant design decision, that 20% could have gone to a larger transformer, better quality capacitors, etc.
It's not necessarily parts "quality" that makes a PSU more efficient, it's the design topology, # of parts, component rating vs size.
For example, I could use a very high quality choke, resistor, capacitor, and have lower efficiency than a more elaborate circuit would, or a circuit at a different operating temperature would, there is a balance between several decisions but in the end there are not many things that universally effect people except that it meets it's specs so you can choose scientifically what to mate with a known system load, and doesn't have premature fan or capacitor failure, and some resistance to surge damage on the switching transistors.
The average person, they just want it to "work", esthetics aside they aren't very picky about whether their system uses 180W versus 150W, it certainly isn't something you see the average Dell, HP, etc shopper demanding on the line item details of a system prior to purchase.
Terris - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
So you would pick say a RAIDMAX Gold PSU but not this Antec because the RAIDMAX is Gold certified.Just because they slap a 80 Plus cert on the PSU doesn't mean it's built any better. I always buy components by manufacturer warranty. Corsair PSU with a 7 year warranty, yes please. Bonus for lifetime warranty manufacturers.
But hey, keep spending money on frivolous stickers if it makes you feel all good inside.
ckryan - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - link
I think the price is a little on the high side. It should subside a little over time, but I know I am certainly willing to pay a little more for Antec and Seasonic units, my two favorites. So while it may seem a little high price wise, I believe many prospective buyers will think it a fair deal. As far as efficiency goes, it's on the high side of bronze, but I'd rather have a PSU on the high side of it's rating than the low. I think this is the other side of the EarthWatts coin, a line of fantastic PSU for the price. Plus, I'd imagine that like the EarthWatts it will be found frequently on sale.Mumrik - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - link
I'm not really sure a PSU can ever be a "gamer' dream"...Don't you need an apostrophe somewhere in that title BTW?
L. - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
Precisely ...Just what is that for a title ?
This PSU does NOT have a single 12V Rail.
This PSU is NOT modular
and it's not even interesting in terms of green-itude.
Alright it's cheap ... but Gamer's havent quite been known for going cheap so far - there wouldn't be any Fermi today if that was the case.
quanta - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - link
I thought the High Current Gamer line is supposed to be a single 12V rail, instead of quad 12V rail as in the TruePower New series. Even though it has 40A per rail instead of 25A, I am better off with Cooler Master GX 750W, which is a single 60A rail. To Antec's credit, at least when it comes to factory rebate, Antec still pay cheques instead of credit cards.lacrits - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
You are not better off with the Cooler Master GX 750! That PSU has high ripple, poor voltage stability and can't stay to ATX specs when getting close to it's specified max output. You can check several reviews of the CM GX750 from Hardwaresecrets, jonnyguru and HardOCP.strikeback03 - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
I wondered the same thing. If you aren't going to stick to the ATX spec for current per rail why not go all the way and just have a single rail and really not need to worry about what is on which rail?luker3 - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - link
I have limited understanding of electrical terms, but as I understand it, whether you are on a 120v or 240v circuit you are going to use the same wattage. So, when looking at these efficiency numbers, the benefit is that the PSU is simply wasting less energy in the form of heat. Not, I save on my electric bill.Correct?
JarredWalton - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - link
Efficiency will save on your electric bill a bit. For example, if you're 90% efficient, than a 200W load on the PSU will draw 222W at the wall; with 80% efficiency, you'd draw 250W at the wall -- so saving about 28W in that case. Running 24/7, however, that means you're really only saving about $20 to $30 per year. Turn off a light in your house and you save the same amount of money.The other benefit is lower heat inside the PSU, which means the fans don't have to spin as fast to dissipate the heat. It's one reason why modern PSUs are generally much quieter than old PSUs. If you run a game that uses 350W from you GPU + CPU + accessories, an 85% efficient PSU would have to dissipate around 62W of internal heat, a 90% efficient PSU would only need to cope with 39W, and an old 72% efficient hunk of junk would have to cool a whopping 136W.
As far as input voltages, 230VAC is easier to convert to the internal 12V. I don't recall the exact reasons, but generally speaking 230VAC will give slightly better efficiency at the cost of worse PFC.
mindless1 - Saturday, July 2, 2011 - link
The slight efficiency difference comes from two things.1) Which voltage it was optimized for, EU has tighter efficiency requirements.
2) Parts tend to have inherent resistive qualities or forward drop voltage loss, both of which increase nonlinearly with current. So, if you double voltage you draw roughly half current which makes that loss go down some, and with component forward drop, for example a rectifier bridge could cost 1.4V drop, which is 50% lower drop as a percentage of input voltage on 220VAC compared to 110VAC.
lacrits - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
Higher efficiency has an effect on your electricity bill. How much depends on how long you use the PSU and what the difference is when comparing two PSU's against eachother. You can not decide if you run your PSU off ~110V or ~220V, you are at the mercy of what the wall outlet provides that you connect your PSU to.In most countries in Europe we have 220~230V outlets. In Americas I understand it's 110~120V.
METALMORPHASIS - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - link
Most of the time you get what you pay for, and I always look for the best bang for the buck.Take your time,research,look at the reviews, and also count me in on any rebates.
Just let your smarts and pocket book guide you!
veri745 - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - link
Pg 2:"A specified temperature for the various ratings would have been but we will verify the manufacturer information at room temperature."
jjj - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
No ripple at 110% load this time,you always have that."Most of us prefer PSUs similar to this, only with at least 80 Plus Silver rating and modular cables. You can get that with the Enermax Revoltion85+, but Enermax pricing on that PSU continues to be quite high and you have to move up to 920W."
A bit odd to compare it with the Enermax Revoltion85+ 920W, would have been much easier to go with the Corsair AX750 instead.
lacrits - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
There are quite a few options to consider in the 750 Watt range of PSU's. You have Corsairs TXV2, HX and AX. Then there are the XFX Black Edition, XXX and Core Edition series. There are also Thermaltake and Siverstone.. And there are more.. Don't forget SuperFlowers new ranges of PSU's which are stirring up the PSU market. Kingwin and NZXT are using SuperFlower built (OEM) PSU's.. There are plenty brands to consider when choosing best PSU at 750W. You have to constantly check retailers prices and special offers as these change all the time..jabber - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
For me its stability and cleanliness of the power going into my motherboard and components that I care about.I want the most clean and stable power I can get.
Filtering etc. is what I want.
buhusky - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
no modular, no gold kills the deal for mejoe4324 - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
Being someone who wants to game as much as possible, without grid power every watt counts. I mean *every* want counts. I have my 'gaming' tower down to about 100 watts total consumption under full load. Using a 2.5"HDD, undervolting while overclocking, and using a HD 4670 for graphics makes it possible. (considering a 5770, or a 6770 now) its really amazing. If this PSU would kick me up 8-10 watts per hour on power consumption that would be bad.I don't even know what the bronze vs gold means in real world terms I just know I need efficiency where I can get it when its cost effective.
radium69 - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
Seriously, all these comments about efficiency crap.We didn't care a lot back in the old days when everybody was happy with their build in power supply from a random brand that ignited fires and gave smoke.
"Because it's not gold it kills the deal for me!"
Seriously, what is up with that. I have a OCZ 750W (no label) and I really don't care about it's specs. All I know is that it's great quality and durability.
Go scream about something else instead of 1 or 2 dollar a year for a freaking power supply.
The moment you left a lightbulb on you've wasted it aswell.
Thanks martin,
For a nice brief review of a great Antec Power Supply.
I have had a few running and they are all stable and silent.
I really like this one, almost want to trade my old one in.
Cheers.
rahvin - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
Be the fanboi, think all that you care about is all that matters. Most of the people commenting on efficiency do so for some of the reasons listed that you didn't bother to read and they have little to do with power consumption although that's a nice bonus.A little history: 80+ Spec power supplies exist because Google determined that they could save significant dollars in the data center business by increasing the efficiency of the power supply. These savings come in three areas, direct power consumption, heat output and cooling. In total in a data center setting it can save 20-30% of the power usage of the data center. They poured several million dollars into research and development of 80+ certified power supplies. As a result of some press about the innovation they had the public became aware of it and demanded it from general consumer power supplies. Google licensed the technology to the suppliers and I believe some developed their own systems.
But what you fail to realize is that the wattage isn't the only saving, there is a very significant heat savings that can be absolutely critical in a high heat gaming environment which is far more important than the cost of the power. 20 watts of power converted to heat is very significant and can result in heat overload versus heat stable. On a high end gaming situation where you are consuming 500+ watts 80+ efficiency can mean saving of 100+ watts of heat, that's a LOT of heat (ever tried to hold a 60 watt incandescent bulb?). That reduced heat load can be the difference in overclocking 5% versus 15%. It's also been proven that in general, comparing supplies produced by the same manufacturer, that the 80+ certified supplies will use much higher quality components because it's very difficult to get that efficient of conversion from AC to DC.
As always you should review the supply and make sure it meets your specifications but as others have said, if it's not 80+ efficient I don't even want to consider it. I push my systems pretty hard (currently running a 2600K at 4.4Ghz) and that extra heat in the system will overload my cooling capacity and set my alarms off and nothing is more of a bummer than the heat alarm going off during a gaming session. It's simply unreasonable in this day and age to use anything less than 80+ efficient. You do pay a small premium for the quality of parts to meet the spec but it's well worth it.
Not getting 80+ efficiency in a power supply is like buying a Yugo that gets 12mpg. It's pointless.
L. - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
Nice answer, too bad you put "push my systems pretty hard" and "2600k @4.4 Ghz" in the same sentence, it sort of killed the impression ;)7Enigma - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
Seriously that box is horrid to look at. I can't imagine their marketing/focus group decided on that design to sell to gamerz.lacrits - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link
Well, unless you have a windowed chassi you won't be seeing much of that PSU once you've put it all together.. I would never buy PC hardware based on looks either..Martin Kaffei - Friday, April 15, 2011 - link
In my opinion the look is just secondary.But I still prefer those black Corsair PSUs and would never buy a pink one. The aesthetic shouldn't be ugly.
But I agree the look of the PC case is more important than the appearance of a PSU, which is usually not visible in a closed PC.
EvilJoker1982 - Wednesday, July 18, 2012 - link
Antec is freakin great company. And has with out a DOUBT ,the BEST customer service ive EVER seen. Me personally i chose this PSU for that reason. And they are VERY reliable quality and power! Im not sure why it didnt hit 80+ silver.Im useing it with
asus v formula
fx-8150
gtx 570 SLI
2 ssd,3 WD 320gb and 1 tb
h100, with 10! 120 tri-cool fans includieng the 230 bogboy! All with out ANY issues!