300W to 450W: 20 Power Supplies on the Test Bench
by Christoph Katzer on December 31, 2008 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
OCZ ModXStream Pro 400W
The latest addition to OCZ's power supply lineup is the ModXStream Pro series. The 400W version we are testing today is made by CWT while the other power supplies in this series are made by Sirtec. The ModXStream comes with cable management as the name suggests. The housing and the fan grille are black and the back is well ventilated to exhaust air. There are two 12V rails, one with 17A and the second with 14A.
It's a somewhat odd decision by OCZ to let different manufacturers produce their different power supply lines, and now we even have different manufacturers producing models within the same series. Maybe Corsair started this trend by changing to CWT for their higher wattages options (instead of Seasonic), but what OCZ has done here is barely understandable. OCC is currently utilizing FSP, CWT, Seasonic, Sirtec, and Impervio. However, even if the decision is odd it's not a serious concern, since most of these vendors produce high quality products. The inside looks similar to the HEC-350TE-2WX with minor changes to the housing and components. All of the capacitors are made by SamXon and the fan is made by Yate Loon.
The OCZ ModXStream Pro comes with two cable harnesses each with three Molex connectors, and another harness with four SATA connectors. The 24-pin, 4-pin and 6/8-pin PEG connector are 50cm away from the power supply. All cables are of course sleeved.
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Martin84a - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link
I think it says the german and the english site, run things pretty seperately.250watt, 16a on the 12v rail that results in a ~300mV ripple. That's a lot. We are not even talking 80% or 100% of its max rated capacity.
I know that are "allowed" to vary 10% on the 12V rail, but i still think it is a testament to the quality of the PSU. Look at the competetion next to it, nearly straight line.
I recently had an Antec Truepower 480 watt dying on me. I had it for a little more than 3-4 years. Prior to buying it i did a tons of research. Anandtech also gave it a very good score. Today it is clear that a lot of these has failed, because of some very shitty caps being used. You don't see this in most of the reviews, because they only test if for a day or a week or so. Warranty is a big deal for a lot of people, including myself. I won't buy western digital or maxtor anymore, because i have had too many dying on me, granted they have been running for 3-4 years. Seagate give a 5 year warranty as the only HDD manufactor, so of course i pick them.
The same with PSU's, I still consider the Seasonic S12II a good PSU, but i would rather pick a PSU with a better warranty.
kenyee - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link
They just don't make them as well as they used to. I bought one of the expensive ones a year ago because it was the quietest around at the time...croaked after a month. Didn't bother sending it back under warranty because I didn't think it was worth it. It also doesn't support older 2.0 systems which I did send it back to them for but they could have told me via email :-PFinraziel - Thursday, January 1, 2009 - link
Although I understand what you're saying about the 10% load and how no PSU comes close to 80% efficiency there, would it be possible to still post the actual results of the different psus rather than only the rather blunt comparison in the graph? Many systems may not go far below 20% load with these psus, but if you're intent on setting up a very efficient pc it's not that hard to approach or even duck onder 30 watt idle. So in those cases, even though it's not close to 80, it'd still make a big difference wether the efficiency is 50, 60 or 70%...Christoph Katzer - Thursday, January 1, 2009 - link
Did a small update to the efficiency page. Thanks for the suggestion.sonci - Thursday, January 1, 2009 - link
So, best PSU regarding efficiency should be ENERMAX Liberty ECO, cause for 24/7 use, you hardly need 50% load..?Christoph Katzer - Thursday, January 1, 2009 - link
Depends on your system power requirements. There is a difference if you just need 50 watts or 150. Check the power consumption first, then check in which state you are running most of the time and then check which PSU would fit best. From some of the tested units we have separated reviews already where you can check the exact efficiency at a specific load.JonnyDough - Wednesday, December 31, 2008 - link
You really DO listen to your readers! KUDOS. You're one of the few companies that does.sonci - Wednesday, December 31, 2008 - link
AnandTechThankyou for your honest work..
Happy new year!!
JeBarr - Wednesday, December 31, 2008 - link
I can vouch for the S12II 330W and it's ability to run an hd 4850. Originally I had installed the FSP group ZEN 400W fanless, but due to orientation of PSU inside of htpc case did not allow the heatsink to function as designed, so I gave the seasonic a try and have no regrets. It also helps that the rest of my components are low-power, of course.marc1000 - Wednesday, December 31, 2008 - link
why does akasa products never show on Anandtech?? well, I have one Akasa AK-P300PG (or something like that), it's a 300W unit. I used to power a Pentium-D 945 with a radeon 3850 (now i have a C2D e7200) and it works just fine. silent and stable power. It's a great product that could be included in future reviews.by the way: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :D