2003 Power Supply Roundup Part II: Better Faster Cheaper
by Kristopher Kubicki on July 31, 2003 1:58 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
We received our quad fan Kingwin supply well before the TTGI units had hit American soil. The unit was well received in the lab, but as we noticed when the TTGI units arrived, practically identical in construction. TTGI and Kingwin obtain their components from the same manufacturers in Taiwan.
During the publishing of this article, we stopped at Kingwin to see what new technology they were working on. One of the more exciting products they were working on was a second generation power supply that contains much different electronic components. Unfortunately, production samples are still several weeks or months off, so we will not have a review any time soon.
Features on the Kingwin KWI-450 were identical to the TTGI units. The power supply comes with a sheathed ATX cable, gloss finish, aluminum housing and an LED fan. Using extra fans provides some relief if one fan were to die. The idea of “extra” fans has gone a long way for video card manufacturer Albatron, and it is our guess that it will continue to stick around for a while.
Like the TTGI units, the Kingwin supplies suffered the same unfortunate performance problems with their variable fan controls. We will discuss in detail these problems later on in the article.
Wattages
|
|
3.3V |
5V |
12V |
-12 |
-5 |
+5vsb |
combined theoretical |
actual combined |
advertised total |
|
Kingwin KWI-450WABK |
92.40 |
225.00 |
216.00 |
9.60 |
2.50 |
10.00 |
317.40 |
225.00 |
452.00 |
The Kingwin KWI-450 puts out 225W on its +3.3V and +5.0V combined rail. This is about middle of the pack as far as the other power supplies are concerned. The +5.0V rail still seems unnecessarily high.
At $95, the Kingwin power supply is not the cheapest available, especially compared to the near identical TTGI units. We have seen vendors put the Kingwin power supplies in Kingwin cases (which are very well received), so they are still prevalent in the market. Like the TTGI, we thought the Kingwin KWI-450 was a good balance of features and price, but maybe not performance.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
70 Comments
View All Comments
Anonymous User - Saturday, August 2, 2003 - link
#11, yes P=IxV, but the power ratings in the table were obviously taken from manufacturers' data rather than actual measurements, which is why when any power rating for any of the positive voltages is divided by that voltage, the quotient exactly equals an integer. That would not be a problem if all manufacturers applied identical standards to their specifications, but many computer users have learned that this isn't the case.Anonymous User - Saturday, August 2, 2003 - link
Perhaps you could include a Q-Tec PSU in the next review? They retail here in Sweden at about 60% of the price of corresponding Enermax and other high quality units, so assuming they aren't totally lousy they're very cheap.Anonymous User - Friday, August 1, 2003 - link
I agree with #15. Definitely take a look at the PC Power and Cooling 400w Silencer PSU. I own two of these units and they're very high quality with reasonably low noise.Anonymous User - Friday, August 1, 2003 - link
Enlight power supplies are always being excluded from these PSU comparsions. I have a Enlight 360W PSU and it's very stable and very quiet. Test some Enlight PSUs!Anonymous User - Friday, August 1, 2003 - link
I appreciated the comments concerning AMD users, but what I really need is some sort of guidance on AMD processor speed vs combined power or 3.3V rail current for upgrading older systems. Many older cases have limited power supplies and I'm trying to figure out the fastest processor I can install and still have reliable operation. Example: A 300 watt supply with 25A of 3.3V can only support up to a Athlon 1600+ on an ECS K7S5A Pro or a 350 watt with a combined power of 200W can support up to 2200+. Oh, and forget that old 250 watt power supply altogether. I need something like that... yeah, I know: your mileage may vary, void where prohibited by law, no watts were endangered in the making of this article.....:-)Anonymous User - Friday, August 1, 2003 - link
Next time you guys might want to check out the PC P&C Silencer 400. It's built just as heavily as the Turbo Cool but with a quieter fan.Anonymous User - Friday, August 1, 2003 - link
Hey guys, im sure 1 or 2 of you resistorheads are an ee or will soon be one.. ripple and noise are only part of a good pwr supply.. we need the facts... how many watts do these power supplies really put out. how do they respond with a big load.. will they take an overload.. how well are they protected...thats what i wanna read aboutMIDIman - Friday, August 1, 2003 - link
WOW - excellent review. I'm getting a zalman for my silent box.Nice to see you guys pumping out articles quickly again! Thanks!
idenyit - Friday, August 1, 2003 - link
hey just wondering the allied A400ATX hows that compare with the B400ATX thats offered on newegg? any differences?Anonymous User - Friday, August 1, 2003 - link
#10, doesnt P=IV? The Power and Voltage measurements were given.