400-450W PSU Roundup
by Christoph Katzer on November 6, 2007 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Ultra V-Series 400W
Ultra sent us their V-Series 400W power supply for this roundup, but testing revealed quite a few surprises. We'll get to those in a moment, but let's start with initial impressions. Like many other power supplies, the Ultra 400W is black and has a 120mm fan intake fan located on the bottom. The exhaust has square-shaped holes punched out, except for right around the power connector, switch, and the voltage selector. Wait... voltage selector!? One of the first things surprises is the small red switch that allows users to choose between 115VAC and 230VAC power input. It has been a long time since we've seen such a switch -- these were commonplace several years ago, but today their presence is usually an indication of a very cheap power supply. Let's not draw any premature conclusions, however; we'll give it a try and maybe get some interesting results. Since there are only two options for power input, we only tested this unit with 115VAC and 230VAC.
The label shows a single 12V rail rated for 20A, a 5V rail rated at 30A, and a 3.3V rail with up to 18A. This power supply does not meet current ATX12V 2.x standards; it appears to be more of an ATX12V 1.2 PSU -- circa 2004.
One of the better aspects of this power supply is the cables. They are very nice since they are all flat like IDE cables, and there's no need for sleeving since the cables aren't broken up into individual strands. Most of the cables are detachable. The longest cable harness from the Ultra 400W is 65cm long, and it's a floppy connector. The Molex and SATA connectors have a distance of 40cm and 55cm measured from the power supply. The 24-pin connector has a length of 45cm -- tolerable, but it could present difficulties in larger cases. Frankly, we are surprised to see a 6-pin PEG connector, but there it is -- all 40cm of it.
The inside doesn't look too bad, but several components missing. Where is the PFC stage for example? (Yeah, that's what the red switch is for.) The filtering stage is also under-equipped. This topology is definitely very old and we are surprised to see such an old-timer rear its ugly head these days.
Ultra sent us their V-Series 400W power supply for this roundup, but testing revealed quite a few surprises. We'll get to those in a moment, but let's start with initial impressions. Like many other power supplies, the Ultra 400W is black and has a 120mm fan intake fan located on the bottom. The exhaust has square-shaped holes punched out, except for right around the power connector, switch, and the voltage selector. Wait... voltage selector!? One of the first things surprises is the small red switch that allows users to choose between 115VAC and 230VAC power input. It has been a long time since we've seen such a switch -- these were commonplace several years ago, but today their presence is usually an indication of a very cheap power supply. Let's not draw any premature conclusions, however; we'll give it a try and maybe get some interesting results. Since there are only two options for power input, we only tested this unit with 115VAC and 230VAC.
The label shows a single 12V rail rated for 20A, a 5V rail rated at 30A, and a 3.3V rail with up to 18A. This power supply does not meet current ATX12V 2.x standards; it appears to be more of an ATX12V 1.2 PSU -- circa 2004.
One of the better aspects of this power supply is the cables. They are very nice since they are all flat like IDE cables, and there's no need for sleeving since the cables aren't broken up into individual strands. Most of the cables are detachable. The longest cable harness from the Ultra 400W is 65cm long, and it's a floppy connector. The Molex and SATA connectors have a distance of 40cm and 55cm measured from the power supply. The 24-pin connector has a length of 45cm -- tolerable, but it could present difficulties in larger cases. Frankly, we are surprised to see a 6-pin PEG connector, but there it is -- all 40cm of it.
The inside doesn't look too bad, but several components missing. Where is the PFC stage for example? (Yeah, that's what the red switch is for.) The filtering stage is also under-equipped. This topology is definitely very old and we are surprised to see such an old-timer rear its ugly head these days.
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zeroidea - Wednesday, November 7, 2007 - link
The Antec PS featured in this article is currently on sale at staples.com for $30.http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/S...">Link
SilthDraeth - Wednesday, November 7, 2007 - link
I know it falls outside of the 450Watt max, but it is still below the 500 watt barrier. I just bought the psu for a midrange system I built my mom, I know it works well, but I don't have the ability to test everything.One can wish right?
Noya - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
If you look around (buy.com), the Corsair 450vx can be had from $51-61 pretty regularly, and at that price it's untouchable. I must say I've had one for about two months and haven't had any problems with it.smthmlk - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
Can we have a full list of caps in each unit? Noting the primaries is nice, but what about the others? Thanks.Talcite - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
Thanks for finally putting up O-scope readings, it's quite nice to see them. One thing I'm concerned about though is the lack of explication or analysis.For example, is the entire o-scope range 200mV in the 12v readings or is it one division? Also, there's a number of strange spikes in all the o-scope readings. I'm pretty familiar with the 450VX o-scope readings (mostly from other sites) and I haven't noticed any spikes of that nature in their readings. It probably isn't, but is the equipment faulty?
Thanks for putting the readings up anyways though, they're a nice addition.
Super Nade - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
Those strange spikes are probe noise. If the probe is coupled incorrectly, you will see this artifact. This cold be due to any number of factors like EMI for instance. Following the ATX guideline on using 0.1 uF output coupling caps will minimize this to a great extent.MrOblivious - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
You have to look at the sampling time on the readings to compare between sites. Different sampling times will make the traces appear a bit different.phaxmohdem - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
I just recently built a rig for a buddy using a Thermaltake PurePower (or ToughPower.. can't remember) 480W Unit and it works like a champ powering a Core2 Quad Q6600 CPU, 2GB RAM, 2HDD's, two Optical Drives, 8600GT, TV Tuner and a few fans. (Wish I knew about the Corsair PSU when I spec'd that system out).But yeah, Unfortunately most people equate Watts to overall quality.... not unlike the MHz war of days gone by. Power supplies are one of the hardest components to convince people to spend extra on for some reason. FFS, electricity is kind of the basis of the whole dam computer!
Eventually it ends up as "Oh well. Go ahead and get that 600W $30 power supply and let me know how that goes for ya. I could use a good laugh, and don't say I didn't warn you."
strikeback03 - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
Maybe Anandtech should go ahead and list the weight of each PSU. That has long been used as an estimate of quality.jonnyGURU - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
Not any more. Topologies have changed to the point where you can have very light quality units and very heavy crap. Weight is NOT a factor.