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unfortunately, this isn't all that great of a power supply. This power supply is manufactured by FSP, a manufacturer known for their output voltage ripple problems, and they don't disappoint with this PSU.

Ripple on the output power is a silent killer that can destroy many of your components. It stresses and can cause premature failure of your voltage regulators that regulate power to your CPU and GPU, among other things. So, using a power supply, like this one, with high ripple, could cause your motherboard and graphics card to fail. Also, since ripple stresses the VRM's, it can hinder overclocking.

This power supply is very similar to the GameXStream power supply, reviewed at JonnyGuru.com. The ripple on the 12v rails of that power supply exceeds 150mV. ATX specs allow for 120mV, but lower is always better. Here is a shot of the ripple on the 12v rail:

[image]

ugly, isn't it. That's over 150mV of ripple, way over ATX specs. Now, to compare, here is the ripple on the Ultra X3 1600watt power supply, when loaded to approximately 1600watts, over double the load on the GameXStream from the previous picture:

[image]

That's under 20mV, at 1600WATTS!

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To look at something a bit cheaper, here is the ripple on the 12v rail of the Rosewill RP500-2 power supply, a budget power supply that sells for somewhere around $50, retail:

[image]

that power supply, at full load, stays around 20mV ripple on the 12v rail.

The GameXStream and StealthXStream lines are flawed, it's not just one of the units. The GameXStream 1010w power supply can't even run at all at more than 85% of it's rated wattage, it just shuts down. Also, since it was also made by FSP, it also has ripple problems, with all of it's rails(3v, 5v and 12v) going way above ATX ripple specs.

Basically, don't buy a StealthXStream or a GameXStream. If you do, you risk burning out your the voltage regulators on your motherboard and graphics card. Do you really want to buy a replacement graphics card? And do you really want to have to pull all of your components out so you can install a new motherboard?

Just buy a higher quality power supply.

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There are some other lines of power supplies that OCZ sells that are of much better quality, but avoid the GameXStream, ModXStream, and StealthXStream models. Their ProXStream, ModStream, and EvoStream power supplies do not have ripple problems.

You could get this power supply and use it as a 400-500watt unit. The ripple would still be very high, but not out of spec. As long as it doesn't increase, you'd probably be fine. However, since very few people own an oscilloscope, it's very hard to check to see if the ripple is too high. So, you might get a slightly worse unit than the one that was reviewed, that happens to have ripple exceeding ATX specs at 400watts, and you'd never know it, until your components started failing.

But, why would you want to pay $68 for a mediocre 400-500watt power supply? There are far better power supplies available for under that price that provide plenty of watts of nice, low ripple power.

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The Corsair 750watt power supply was on sale for $100 recently at newegg.com. That power supply is a very high quality PSU, much better than this one. link: http://bensbargains.net/deal/53130/

Also, the Cooler Master Real Power Pro 750W PSU is on sale right now for $70 at zipzoomfly.com. it's a very good quality power supply, and a far better deal than this one. link: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10006237

If you're looking for something a bit more high end, the Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1000W power supply is very high quality(low ripple and great voltage regulation, efficiency over 85% for most of it's load range, very quiet), provides much more power than this OCZ(not that you'd need it), and it was on sale recntly at ZipZoomFly.com for $160. link: http://bensbargains.net/deal/53743/

Or, on the cheaper end of things, the Antec NeoHE 550 High Efficiency 550W PSU was just on sale for $40. That's a great price for that power supply, and 550watts is more than enough to power even super-high-end gaming computers. link: http://bensbargains.net/deal/54040/

Also, the Cooler Master eXtreme power 500watt was on sale recently for $10, but the price has since gone up to $20, at newegg.com. It's a solid 400-450watt power supply made by a good manufacturer. link: http://bensbargains.net/d... [Truncated]

So, uh, is this any good? :p

Thanks for the surprisingly extensive review. I'm still a Seasonic fan, but they are spendy.

geez compwiz can you please supply some useful information.

#5: yeah, Seasonics are very nice, and some of them(like the Antec Earthwatts) don't really cost all that much.

OK...anything with 'Stream' in the name of the component, BAD! Got it...That was easy.

#8: well, not really. Like I said before:

CompWiz17 wrote:

There are some other lines of power supplies that OCZ sells that are of much better quality, but avoid the GameXStream, ModXStream, and StealthXStream models. Their ProXStream, ModStream, and EvoStream power supplies do not have ripple problems.

basically you're avoiding their FSP-manufactured power supplies.

what's a good good value silent PSU? I need one for my DAW (digital audio workstation).

#10: does it have to be completely silent, or would really quiet be good enough?

The Antec Phantoms are silent power supplies, as is the XG Magnum. However, you will have to pay more for them. The cheapest I've seen one of these on sale for was the XG Magnum 500watt for $60 at Buy.com, but it's not currently on sale. The Antec Phantom 500watt goes on sale for $115 at times.

If you can live with almost silent, there are a lot more choices for lower prices.

Heck, since CompWiz is being so helpful, maybe he could point me in the direction of a good 8800GT 512MB video card. It will be my first video card purchase EVER and I could use some help...

#12: 8800GT for $216+shipping. enjoy

How is that a good deal?
Fucking dildoehead.

Thanks wiz...too bad its sold out though

I have to post an update on this power supply. The OCZ rep that has recently joined these forums has told me that the ripple problems on this power supply have been fixed. Apparently, the initial sample GameXStream units that FSP sent OCZ tested out fine, and fully in spec. But, the ones being sent out to customers had out of spec ripple. When OCZ found out about this discrepancy, they had FSP fix the problem.

So, if this is true, then this power supply is probably one of the newer units with the ripple problem fixed. Also, I'd assume that they didn't mess up the voltage regulation which was already very good, so, that's likely fine as well.

However, I only have this one rep's word on this. I have yet to see any reviews confirming that the problem has been fixed. If anyone does know of a good recent review of a GameXStream or StealthXStream power supply, please link it on here. I'd like to confirm or refute this statement as soon as possible.

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