PCPnC 850W SSI - First Impressions - 56K Beware

[DeltZ]

sick...sucking out the powerstations this lol...hate to see the electricity bills :/

[snowwie]

...whatcha black out, eh?

well it's good to hear it isn't too loud

[chunkylover77]

Stupid question here. Since you cant stick a screw driver into this beast when it's on how do you know what the voltages are as you are trying to raise them?

[EMC2]

Thx Blinky & Ben

Oh, btw Ben, regarding the smaller die... that doesn't necessarily equate to less power... speeds, gate count, cache size, etc. continue to go up too An example is the dual-core Intel coming as I mentioned. Die have been decreasing in size for years, but power has remained the same or increased too. But yes, I agree, your run-o-mill system has no need, and I would suggest that people not get one for such systems.

--- koei --- The active PFC has nothing to do with the OVP limit(s) of a supply. Its purpose is only to "smooth out" the power demand across the input AC cycle

--- Hombre --- There are four +12V rails... plus the 5V, 3.3V, -12V, and +5VSB rails At this point I can't say for sure the tracking between the individual 12V rails... remember, first impressions and info Fan size... errrmmm... hang on a sec... 80mm. Oh, and this and most PCPnC PSs are rated for full power at 50C as I stated above. Lastly, make sure you have a need for it before spending your hard earned money on one. I have no idea what yours are, but a 510 SLI may well fit the bill at a significantly lower price.

Oooops... I did forget to put the size... 5.9" x 3.4" x 9.0" deep, and yes, it fits in a LL server cases like a PC-70 just fine

--- annandin --- I'll buy you one of these supplies as soon as you buy me an FX-57

--- Ferry --- The weight was listed bro

--- DeltZ --- Actually as far as the supply itself... it has a 85% efficiency rating, while 95%+ of other PS's are in the 63 to 71% range. So for a given system power demand the total power required at the meter is 20 to 25% less less Example: @600W & 70% PSxxx would draw a total of 857W at the wall, while this supply at 85% would draw 705W.

--- snowwie --- The winning lotto number?

[EMC2]

Stupid question here. Since you cant stick a screw driver into this beast when it's on how do you know what the voltages are as you are trying to raise them?

Who can't?

Disclaimer: Don't try this without knowing what you're doing!

[EMC2]

Just an FYI chunky... you can do one of 2 things:

a) run it with the cover removed temporarily while adjusting
b) mod the cover for access

and never use a screwdriver... get a plastic bodied tweaker with a metal adjustment tip, much safer, usually around $1, better fit on adjustment screws

[LarsK]

OMG what a killer psu it must be heavy.

I just put mine on a scale.... 3.462 Kg (that's a metric measurement for all you yanks... )

[Master_G]

I just put mine on a scale.... 3.462 Kg (that's a metric measurement for all you yanks... )

Wow, looks like a stealth way to keep computer geeks fit!

G

[vlad]

(that's a metric measurement for all you yanks... )

[LarsK]

Here's a picture of the 850 on the scales....

[EMC2]

Within 1/3 pound of advertised (that's Yank measurement for all you metrics )

*looks closely at pic* Hmmmm.... they've sold a lot of PSs lately

[LarsK]

Within 1/3 pound of advertised (that's Yank measurement for all you metrics )

*looks closely at pic* Hmmmm.... they've sold a lot of PSs lately

I bet they did, it took several months for me to get my hands on one....

[eclypse]

I cant get this power supply to power up my computer with everything connected! I thought the 850 was defective so i ordered another one doing a cross exchange and the new one is doing the same thing.. Over volt protection must be the cause. So says the tech support guy at PCPC.. sending me to there FAQ for help.

It powers on and off as soon as i hit the power button if i have everything plugged in.. If i uplug everything but the ATX and 12 cable it powers on.. If i plug everything in but the ATX it powers on.

Its not a faulty connector cause i've gone through everything..

I've got it to power in with most stuff but the 2 fan controllers and a set of black lights and it powers on.. Plug in the black light and it wont.. So you think its the black light but no. Unplug one of the water pumps and plug that black light in and bam no power.

I've tried to explain this to the guy on the phone.. even told him that my zippy 700 watt P/S works no prob and he just tells me to go to the web site and check the FAQ for answers then call him back.. Well i'm sure i'm going to get no where on the phone..

The guys even telling me that i'm not even close to maxing out the power supply!

Heres all that i have installed:

AMD FX-55 CPU overclocked to 2970Mhz 1.7v
DFI NF4 SLI-DR MB
2x 512MB G-Skill PC4400 LE
2x XFX NVIDIA 6800 Ultra at 474/1230
Audigy 2 Plat w/ drive bay
2x Seagate 300GB 7200 Sata Raid 0 Drives
Liteon DVD/CDRW drive
4x DD12V water pumps
2 Nexus fan controllers w/ 10 120MM fans
Floppy drive

I went threw that web site to figure out the wattage being used for my system and it was well over 750WATTs.

[STEvil]

I've got it to power in with most stuff but the 2 fan controllers and a set of black lights and it powers on.. Plug in the black light and it wont.. So you think its the black light but no. Unplug one of the water pumps and plug that black light in and bam no power.

Either you typed wrong or your black light is the cause.

[eclypse]

No its not the black lights cause i've tried pluggin in those and taking something else off and it powers on.

I've since talked to the support guy again and he came to the conclusion that i must be drawing too much off the 12 rail that has all the pumps/drives/fans runing off of it..

He came up with the idea of making an addapter for the 8 pin connector to power both the CPU threw the 4 pin connector and the other pumps. Its coming in the mail as soon as he makes it.

heh i'm still worried cause i just tested it out with everything connected and unplugged one pump at a time till she powered on and i had to unplug 3 pumps to get it runing.. So that means that i'll have those 3 pumps and the CPU runing off that one 12 rail that runs off 17Amps. I'm not too confident that it will work or be safe.

[EMC2]

I've since talked to the support guy again and he came to the conclusion that i must be drawing too much off the 12 rail that has all the pumps/drives/fans runing off of it..

He came up with the idea of making an addapter for the 8 pin connector to power both the CPU threw the 4 pin connector and the other pumps. Its coming in the mail as soon as he makes it.

heh i'm still worried cause i just tested it out with everything connected and unplugged one pump at a time till she powered on and i had to unplug 3 pumps to get it runing.. So that means that i'll have those 3 pumps and the CPU runing off that one 12 rail that runs off 17Amps. I'm not too confident that it will work or be safe.

First... let's start with some info from my first post

Four 12V rails @ 17A each

I had queried PCPnC on quite a number of things before purchasing the supply, one of which is the allocation of the 12V rails. Here's the breakdown:

They've allotted one rail (12V@17A) for supplying the two PCIe Graphics Card cables. Considering the current spec allows only 6.25A per card, there's a nice 32% margin here

One of the 12V rails is dedicated to supplying power for HDs, fans, and miscellaneous 12V power requirements. As a point of reference, that's only 1A less than the 450ATX put out for everything.

It's designed for supplying power to multiple CPU MB's, as evidenced by the 8-pin 12VATX cnx and 34A rating, which is where the other two 12V rails are allocated. The 8-to-4 pin adapter cable shown in the pics previously joins the two 12V 17A rails, giving a nice 34A for single CPU abuse, enough even for OC'ing those power hungy Intel dual-cores coming down the pike.

It comes down to proper allocation of your supply rails The support tech finally got it right... now it's up to you to get the allocation right. Notice the part of my original post I bold'd. The CPU 8-pin has two 17A rails going to it... so depending on how they make the adapter cable, you'll either have 34A to share between your CPU and other things connected to it... or 17A for your CPU and 17A for the other things hooked to it.

You need to sit down and do a rough calculation of the power requirements of your various components (look at manufacturer's data sheets) and evenly distribute your loads according to the available power per 12V rail. My suggestion just looking at your equip list is to put half the pumps, fans, & lights on one 12V rail and the other half on the other 12V rail that you'll have access to with the new adapter cable.

Peace

[eclypse]

Yeah forgot to report back.. I received the new addaptor just yesterday morning and did some testing.

He put 4 molex connectors on it and it looks nice. I tried all four pumps connected to it with the 4 pin and ATX connected and she powered on! I tested it before with the DMM and it read 12.31v and after it was 12.22v. THis was just a ruff test just testing the 12v rail on the 8 pin connector.. nothing else connected to the power supply since i had 2 another P/S runing the fans only.

Now i just gota figure out if i want all 4 pumps on that or 2 pumps and both fan controllers.

Oh, Theres 2 12v rails on that 8 pin connector?? I thought there was 4 total:

1 for the SLI cards
1 for the 8 pin connector
1 for the ATX
1 for everything else on the molex connectors

Though he did say that the 8 pin is for dual CPU's so it would make sence to have 2 rails for that.

[EMC2]

There are 4... read what I posted again

2 are allocated to the 8 pin connector
1 is allocated for the two PCIe power cnx
1 is allocated for everything else

Good to hear it's working for you

[eclypse]

Ok cool.. Kick@ass!

Now if i can find the time to install it all hehe.

Thanks for the info.

[magg]

Wow, very impressive. My last rig before this one had a 200W PSU

Round of applause for EMC and his fantabulous, yet "quick", review.

[Hombre]

2 quick questions:

- What's the peak power of this PSU?
- Does your (EMC) UPS (APC SUA1500VA) handles this UPS nicely/flawless, even at peak? what about situations of blackouts/failures/fluctations etc.?

Thanks.

[EMC2]

2 quick questions:

- What's the peak power of this PSU?
- Does your (EMC) UPS (APC SUA1500VA) handles this UPS nicely/flawless, even at peak? what about situations of blackouts/failures/fluctations etc.?

Thanks.

See the "Power output ratings and details" section of the first post on peak

Yes, the APC has no problems to date - flawlessly - even during local spring thunderstorms and a couple of nasty AC grid switchovers - at equivalent to peak (PS not @ peak, but have 2 systems on APC along with test equip, pushing 1KW envelope).

Peace

[Hombre]

So I see that the APC 1500va beast can even handle 1KW? good enough for me.
Thanks again.

BTW, how do you convert VA to W?

[Dave in Daytona]

So I see that the APC 1500va beast can even handle 1KW? good enough for me.
Thanks again.

BTW, how do you convert VA to W?

VA x 60% is close.

[EMC2]

Here's a linky to the specs for the APC... I'm pushing it to the edge