Ben's Bargains

$10 off $200 for New Customers [Exp 12/31]

$5 off $100 for New Customers [Exp 12/31]

$10 off $100 Bags, Sports, and Toys [Exp 12/31]

$5 off $75 Music, Movies and Games [Exp 12/31]

Buy.com Cables Unlimited AC Power Adapter $22 Discuss (0)

Frys.com Kensington 120W AC Power Adapter $20 Discuss (2)

Buy.com Power Sentry 5 Outlet Power Squid $10 Discuss (2)

Woot.com Power Sentry 5 Outlet Power Squid $10 Discuss (13)

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!

post continued below due to post length limit

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.

post continued below due to post length limit

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.

post continued below due to post length limit

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/

post continued below due to post length limit

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/deal/54214/

Finally, the Antec Earthwatts power supplies are on sale right now for pretty good prices. They're high quality Seasonic-made power supplies that have enough power for most computers.
500watt link: http://bensbargains.net/deal/54725/
430watt link: http://bensbargains.net/deal/54923/

the above pictures are from power supply reviews at [H] Enthusiast and JonnyGuru.com.

BUYER BEWARE : I just checked, and CompWiz17's IP address resolves to Seasonic's marketing department. You have been warned. *smirk*

RETARD

CompWiiz17 --- Great comments... what do you do with that spare time. just joushn' you. Although, remember there's that great OZC $8 rebate to get this price?

OCZ has pawned some real crap, my hope is the acquisition of Power and Cooling will set them on the path of an improved understanding that quality component are required. I say that OZC told FSP what to buy and put in these crap boxes. There was a time that FSP made good PSU (for that day and age) but they became a contract house. What you have is a corporate company (OCZ) who in the last few years drove hard into every product line they thought they could slap a sticker on, and many will just go with it… I’m scared what OCZ corporate management will do to P&C reputation. I sure would believe they’ll restructure a fine little San Diego company and suck out all the money they can from it…

#6: I thought it was Ultra. That's what you said the last time you posted about my IP address. Strange how it seems to change to match the deal that I'm currently posting on.

Also, strange how you can seem to see my IP address, since no one on this forum can see anyone else's IP address.

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.

To post comments, please Sign In or Register.       Forgot Password?

Registration takes seconds! Once registered you'll have members only access to a Favorites bookmark list, a fully customizable User Profile, and the ability to instantly add your thoughts to each discussion topic.