SINTEK 500 WATT PREMIUM SLI READY POWER SUPPLY REVIEW

[[TN] Nathan]

Please leave your questions here.

Review can be found here:

http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/sintek/

Pricing on power supplies can be found here:

http://tweaknews.pricegrabber.com/search_attrib.php/page_id=354
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[[KoG]^weaZel]

I have a question.
Why is it a CON to have a single +12v line?
Isnt it better to have one single hefty 12v feed when you are running a power hungry computer. For example if you are running a high-end cpu and you are overclocking it, you are going to need some serious juice on the 12v rail. If you have two rails you may overload the one while not using the other to its fullest. But if you are running a stock machine yes a dual 12v rails can be desirable.
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[[TN] Nathan]

No, it is better to have less components draining current off of one rail than having them all on one.
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[mojo1340]

In this particular case, I would have liked to see the hardwired CPU aux cable on it's own rail and the rest on another. Better yet, since the psu is marketed for dual card applications, another rail for the PCI-E cables. But triple 12v rail PSU's are hard to find. I like mine a lot.

[FreeTheRock [banned]]

good review but i wouldnt buy any PSU for SLI unless it is in the list.

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build.html
At the bottom is the list of certified SLI PSU's by Nvidia.

[fussnfeathers]

Agreed on all counts.

For now, nVidia has a specific list of SLI compatible PSU's.........if nothing else, they'll warranty the vid cards if they fail, and the PSU used is certified. If it's not, they might not.

Dual rails are better than one, as the power (typically) is evenly split between the mobo and CPU requirements and the drive/fan requirements. A single, hefty 12v rail can't support the full voltage to a system........well, like mine. 5 12v drives, 6 fans, a new-ish P4, AND the PCI/AGP/PCIe slots. With a dual rail, you're guaranteed a mininum voltage to the CPU, that isn't affected by the draw from your 7800GT SLI vid cards. Those are on a seperate rail, with its own voltage.
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[FreeTheRock [banned]]

ya if it has dual 12v rails 1 is for the CPU only and 1 is for everything else which can be a bad thing as the same time as a good thing just depends on how power ungry your system is and how good the PSU is.

[fussnfeathers]

One thing I find disturbing, that I didn't see mentioned in the review, other than in the features.................the side vents.

Ok, draw the hot air out of the case, through the bottom fan..............then stick vents between it an the rear output fan, so at least half of the hot air gets recycled back into the case. Plus, if the output fan isn't more powerful than the intake, you're then sucking the ambient case air into the PSU, heating it even farther.

Not a really good design plan................I'm not impressed.
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[FreeTheRock [banned]]

the one thing that has gotten a lot of peoples attention with the Tagan is the design to cool the PSU, 2 80mm's 1 blowing in and 1 blowing out, and the heatsinks they use are nice and big. i agree with FNF the design is just plain bleh and needs a lot of work. PSU's with that much power need more than just what that PSU offeres.

[[KoG]^weaZel]

[fussnfeathers]

PC Power and Cooling is an exception. They're "industrial" rated, so their single 12v rail is a heck of alot better than anybody else's.

and yeah, I missed the part about the vents.........it's been a looooong couple of days.......
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