Does anyone have any experiences with either the Antec TPII 550EPS12V
or the Cooler Master Real Power 550 power supplies?

They both are rated at 550 watts, with ATX 12V 2.01 and EPS 12V 2.1.
The Cooler Master has a power output meter and a blue fan, so I am kind
of leaning towards it.

any comments on either model???

tks.

- brian

brian wrote:
> Does anyone have any experiences with either the Antec TPII 550EPS12V
> or the Cooler Master Real Power 550 power supplies?
>
> They both are rated at 550 watts, with ATX 12V 2.01 and EPS 12V 2.1.
> The Cooler Master has a power output meter and a blue fan, so I am
> kind of leaning towards it.

Depends whether you want power/known-good or style

The first thing to note is that the Antec has one huge 12V rail, and the
CoolerMaster has a 3-way split. This is due to EPS12V 2.1 spec requiring
that all PSUs comply with IEC 60950-1, which essentially stipulates that
there should be no lines capable of supplying more than ~220W. This limits
the 12V rails to 18A each. The CoolerMaster only does 30A on the 12V, so
should (IMO) have gone with an 18A/12A split. Instead they went with a
12A/12A/6A 3-way split. Given that even a 2-way split causes problems with
some dual-processor boards, I'd be very cautious about using the
CoolerMaster in such a situation. The Antec shows complete disregard for the
safety regulations and will happily pump out 36A from a single 12V rail.
This can be a bad thing if something gets close to shorting out (400W of
energy being pumped into anything is generally bad), but also provides
marginally better rail stability.

As far as the actual power outputs go, the Antec has a slight lead on the
CoolerMaster. Additionally, it's known to be an incredible power supply,
capable of running pretty much anything (dual overclocked Xeons? No problem.
SLI? Doesn't even notice). I'm using one at the moment to power a dual Duron
system; a complete waste of the power but I'm intending to keep it for my
next major system upgrade (whenever that occurs). The Cooler Master has less
of a track record, having only come out last month, but certainly looks a
lot nicer and is quiter than the Antec.

However, unless you're building something that actually needs such immense
amounts of power (or reliability; I'd definately choose the Antec over the
Cooler Master for a server), either PSU will do the job fine. At which point
it comes down to which one suits you better and the prices involved.

[...]

--
Michael Brown
www.emboss.co.nz : OOS/RSI software and more
Add michael@ to emboss.co.nz ---+--- My inbox is always open

On Mon, 2 May 2005 15:27:16 +1000, "Michael Brown" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>brian wrote:
>> Does anyone have any experiences with either the Antec TPII 550EPS12V
>> or the Cooler Master Real Power 550 power supplies?
>>
>> They both are rated at 550 watts, with ATX 12V 2.01 and EPS 12V 2.1.
>> The Cooler Master has a power output meter and a blue fan, so I am
>> kind of leaning towards it.
>
>Depends whether you want power/known-good or style
>
>The first thing to note is that the Antec has one huge 12V rail, and the
>CoolerMaster has a 3-way split. This is due to EPS12V 2.1 spec requiring
>that all PSUs comply with IEC 60950-1, which essentially stipulates that
>there should be no lines capable of supplying more than ~220W. This limits
>the 12V rails to 18A each. The CoolerMaster only does 30A on the 12V, so
>should (IMO) have gone with an 18A/12A split. Instead they went with a
>12A/12A/6A 3-way split. Given that even a 2-way split causes problems with
>some dual-processor boards, I'd be very cautious about using the
>CoolerMaster in such a situation. The Antec shows complete disregard for the
>safety regulations and will happily pump out 36A from a single 12V rail.
>This can be a bad thing if something gets close to shorting out (400W of
>energy being pumped into anything is generally bad), but also provides
>marginally better rail stability.
>
>As far as the actual power outputs go, the Antec has a slight lead on the
>CoolerMaster. Additionally, it's known to be an incredible power supply,
>capable of running pretty much anything (dual overclocked Xeons? No problem.
>SLI? Doesn't even notice). I'm using one at the moment to power a dual Duron
>system; a complete waste of the power but I'm intending to keep it for my
>next major system upgrade (whenever that occurs). The Cooler Master has less
>of a track record, having only come out last month, but certainly looks a
>lot nicer and is quiter than the Antec.
>
>However, unless you're building something that actually needs such immense
>amounts of power (or reliability; I'd definately choose the Antec over the
>Cooler Master for a server), either PSU will do the job fine. At which point
>it comes down to which one suits you better and the prices involved.
>
>[...]


I think you will find the Cooler Masters is a ACbell


http://www.acbel.com/PDF/P_PC/ps2_550W_gold.pdf


http://www.acbel.com/

ummm... they look similar, but I don't think so.

the max loads on the 12v rails of the AcBel are 12A,22A,14A while the
max loads on the Cooler Master are 18A,20A,10A. the AcBel doesn't have
all of the connectors that the Cooler Master does, either.
interesting...

I wonder how either the Cooler Master or the AcBel would hold up in an
SLI system.

- brian

On 2 May 2005 19:51:30 -0700, "brian" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>ummm... they look similar, but I don't think so.
>
>the max loads on the 12v rails of the AcBel are 12A,22A,14A while the
>max loads on the Cooler Master are 18A,20A,10A. the AcBel doesn't have
>all of the connectors that the Cooler Master does, either.
>interesting...
>
>I wonder how either the Cooler Master or the AcBel would hold up in an
>SLI system.
>
>- brian



The Reason I thought was because the Power Switch and power socket are the
same place,plus they have very similar specs..

Even the blanking plate for the None PFC model is in the same place



Toms hardware did a good review on the 450w Cooler Master..

http://www.tomshardware.com/firstloo...830/index.html


Plus some more

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050228/index.html


Plus Xbit Labs have some reviews on PSU.


http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/oth...y/atx-psu.html

and

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/oth...erful-psu.html


OCZ do have PSU's with 5 year Warrantees..

http://www.ocztechnology.com/product...m_power_supply

>
http://www.ocztechnology.com/p*roduc...m_power_supply


The OCZ 520w Powerstream looks like a winner to me. It also looks like
it has a single 12V rail, like the Antec.

I wonder how it compares to both the Antec TPII 550EPS12V and the
Cooler Master Real Power 550 for SLI performance.

- brian

On 3 May 2005 20:02:29 -0700, "brian" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>>
>http://www.ocztechnology.com/p*roduc...m_power_supply
>
>
>The OCZ 520w Powerstream looks like a winner to me. It also looks like
>it has a single 12V rail, like the Antec.
>
>I wonder how it compares to both the Antec TPII 550EPS12V and the
>Cooler Master Real Power 550 for SLI performance.
>
> - brian


I can't see why SLI has any thing to do with a PSU.


The Single 12V is Illegal and not part of the ATX 2.1 or 2.2 Specs

Separate regulated 12V supplies are far far better.

Hard Drive have a very high startup current and having there own feeds are a
lot better.

Even big computer systems have the same problem with hard drives and use a
startup delay to each hard drive..

CSE wrote:
[...]
> Separate regulated 12V supplies are far far better.

I don't beleive I've seen any testing, reasonable or not, that showed that a
split-rail PSU was any better or worse (voltage stability or ripple wise)
than a single-rail PSU. On the other hand, there are several dual-Xeon
boards that are known to not be stable with split-rail supplies once you hit
about 3GHz. From a purely theoretical perspective, a single large rail
handles load changes better, and as far as I can tell, safety regulations
are the main reason behind split rails.

[...]

--
Michael Brown
www.emboss.co.nz : OOS/RSI software and more
Add michael@ to emboss.co.nz ---+--- My inbox is always open

"Michael Brown" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:4279bcdb$(E-Mail Removed)...
> CSE wrote:
> [...]
> > Separate regulated 12V supplies are far far better.
>
> I don't beleive I've seen any testing, reasonable or not, that showed that a
> split-rail PSU was any better or worse (voltage stability or ripple wise)
> than a single-rail PSU. On the other hand, there are several dual-Xeon
> boards that are known to not be stable with split-rail supplies once you hit
> about 3GHz. From a purely theoretical perspective, a single large rail
> handles load changes better,

That claim is downright silly.

Rick wrote:
> Michael Brown wrote:
[...]
>> From a purely
>> theoretical perspective, a single large rail handles load changes
>> better,
>
> That claim is downright silly.

Perhaps I need to be more precise. Start with two identical devices, A and
B, each consuming a constant 8 amps. Consider two PSUs: one with two rails
of 12A each and one with a single rail of 24A. Given two identical devices,
A and B, the sensible configuration for the split-rail PSU is one device per
rail, and the only configuration for the single-rail PSU is both on one
rail. Assume that all three rails have the same hold time curve (the usual
theoretical one for buck regulators) with respect to the maximum rated
current with respect to their maximum rated current. If device A instantly
increases it's current draw by 2A then in the average case:
{} On the split-rail setup, device A will see a voltage drop of a certain
amount (since current usage has increased by 25%), device B will experience
no voltage drop.
{} On the single-rail setup, device A will see a smaller voltage drop, and
device B will see an identical voltage drop. This voltage drop will be
slightly more than half the voltage drop experienced by device A in the
split-rail setup.

Sum-of-squares-wise, the single-rail setup will have a smaller deviation
from ideal than the split-rail setup. Additionally, the maximum deviation
from the ideal voltage will be smaller, which is a good thing. The benefit
of a split-rail configuration is that one of the devices (device B in this
case) experiences no (or in most cases, minimal) deviation from the ideal
voltage. IMO the single-rail situation is preferable in most situations, as
it's usually the maximum deviation that gets you stability wise, as opposed
to noise on the power line. OTOH, if you are pushing your PSU right to the
limit, such that out-of-tolerance voltage sags would occur on a single-rail
setup, then a dual-rail setup would possibly be preferred as it would
isolate a problem spike to a single rail (though the size of the deviation
would be much larger than a single rail setup, which could cause additional
problems).

Better?

--
Michael Brown
www.emboss.co.nz : OOS/RSI software and more
Add michael@ to emboss.co.nz ---+--- My inbox is always open