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Diamond in the Rough (PSU)

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Tyfoid

Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2000
Diamond in the Rough (PSU)?

I have been having problems with my motherboard which I won't discuss here but thought it was a PSU problem. I ended up going through 4 different brands of powersupplies and actually found a diamond in the rough! I originally had an Antec 350w PSU, then I bought a 450w Codegen, then I bought a 420w Enlight, and finally I bought a 350w Icute.

350w Antec is a great powersupply as just about everyone will tell you. However the 12v line is a little on the weak side.

450w Codegen is a POS, definately stay away from them!

420w Enlight great PSU for the price, however the 12v line is a little on the weak side.

350w Icute is a diamond in the rough? The 12v lead seems very adequate for overclockers and case modders alike (rated @ 28A).
 
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If that PSU were ever to actually provide 28A on 12v It'd leave less than 15watts on the 3.3v and 5v lines. I couldn't find much info on it, but it seems that all their PSU's below the 375watt one use sleeve bearing fans, a good sign of cheap construction. Another sign of a cheap supply is the unbelievably high rating on the 12v line. The only PSU's that even come close to 28A on 12v are either generously speced 550watts, or are designed for multiprocessor servers. (I believe antec or enermax has a few with beefy 12v ~22A and low 3.3 and 5v). If the PSU works for you, thats good. But my buddy has run an Athlon off a 250watt noname PSU without problems, so I wouldn't call it a great PSU on one case, especially when it has so many similarities to the many less than impressive noname supplies out there.
 
out of the ones I used recently it has the best 12v line... of 12.05 volts. The next highest was the Antec @ 12.01 and then the Enlight @ 11.9 And I wont even mention the Codegen due to the fact that it was really low... It very well could be that I got lucky, I was just stating my luck with certain PSUs.
 
Higher isn't better. A dead on 12.0v that never varied would be ideal. In fact I see more commonly 12v lines too high then too low. I once has a PSU that gave me like 13.11v on 12v It was the cheapest PSU I'd ever owned. But yes, 28A on 12v is unrealistic on a 350watt, so I'd be very wary of trusting a PSU that gave those specs.
 
Hey Lithian, thanks for the knowledge... I am glad to see that some people go the distance to educate the less knowledgable (being me in this case) rather than call me stupid and go about your way....

I can understand your ideaology but question it still. I have 3 computers and of course each motherboard and system has its own charactoristics and needs. For example my Abit NV7-133R doesn't place nearly the 12v draw that my Abit KD7 uses. Therefore a PSU that provides say 12.03 on the NV7 only provides 11.9 on the KD7 and causes this board to reboot from a lack of power! Therefore I needed to find a PSU that provided more on the 12v rail. Please also understand that I also needed to save some money at this point due to the fact it was indeed my 4th or 5th PSU and just needed to get it running again. The 28A 12v rail may be unrealistic, but I must say this is the PSU that allows my rig to run and this is the only change I made and that read out was the only one that had a noticable change. But like I said I do lack knowledge in judging PSU and mainly go off what others tell me and trust me the info on the fan bearings is great and I logged it in my knowledge journal for later use...
 
That's gotta be a typo on the label - at this link the 450 Icute claims 18a @ 12v:

http://www.hobbytron.net/F-PSU-06.html

Also, at this link where they review a 300w and 420w model, there is a closeup of the 420's label... the 420 is a relabeled Channel Well (CWT-420ATX12) identical to the one I have and have come to love so much: http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rlid=49050

I am rather doubtful though the 300 is a CWT model, but it certainly appears to me Icute doesn't make their own PSU's
 
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