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I can't wait to hear what Compwiz17 has to plagiarize about this PSU.

#1: If you want to accuse me of plagiarizing other people's reviews, do it properly. Try to find a review that has the same, or even similar text to what I've posted. The fact is, there isn't one. All of my power supply comments were written by me. If I ever copied a part of a review directly from another site, I used a quote block around it. Plus, while my PSU comments are in no way a direct copy of someone else's review, I did site the sources where the information I used came from. Look at the end of my posts. I don't claim that the information is mine, but the posts I write and the conclusions I draw are all directly from me. And of course, the other power supply recommendations that I commonly write are obviously from me.

unfortunately, this may not* be 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.

*note: see post #7 for more details on the possibility that this PSU might be good.

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 350-450watt unit. The ripple would still be very high, but probably 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 300watts, and you'd never know it, until your components started failing.

But, why would you want to get a mediocre 350-450watt power supply? There are far better power supplies available that provide plenty of watts of nice, low ripple power.


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

post continued below due to post length limit

The Corsair 550VX 550watt power supply is currently on sale for $60. That's a very high quality power supply with excellent output quality, and a nice big single 12v rail. It's definitely a far better choice than this power supply. It's not the cheapest power supply around, but quality construction costs more.
http://bensbargains.net/deal/57455/

The CoolerMaster eXtreme Power 500watt PSU was just recently on sale for $8 at Frys.com. It's a solid 400-450watt Seventeam-made power supply, which is more than the vast majority of computers need anyway. Even a high end gaming computer with a quadcore CPU and 2 GeForce 8800GTX's in SLI(all overclocked) uses only 400-450watts at max load(although, with a different rail distribution than this power supply can provide). So, if you've only got a dual-core CPU, and, say, an 8800GT, this power supply would be fine for you, and certainly an amazing deal at it's current price. However, many people have commented that the fan can be a little loud.
link: http://bensbargains.net/deal/56214/

The Antec Neo HE 500watt power supply was recently on sale at newegg.com for $35. That's a nice, low cost power supply with good voltage regulation and low ripple. However, when nearing it's maximum rated load, the ripple jumps and the voltage regulation goes fairly close to the edge of the ATX allowable range. But, it doesn't go out of specs at all, which is nice. link: http://bensbargains.net/deal/56801/

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 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(who may not even be an OCZ rep, for that matter). 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. The OCZ rep claims that the revision happened about 3 months ago, so I'd need a review from sometime in the last 3 months to confirm or refute this.

If this is true, then this power supply would be an OK deal at this price. However, the 500watt version of this power supply was recently on sale for $28, less than half the cost of this power supply.

Great power supply from a great company. This supply will keep your backside covered while saving a buck or two!!!


I highly recommend this supply!

DogFart wrote:

Great power supply from a great company. This supply will keep your backside covered while saving a buck or two!!!

it's not all that great of a deal, and it could wreck my motherboard or GPU due to it's high ripple output. Try looking at a review.

That's your(?) opinion.

My review shows this to be a fantastic power supply and I highly recommend it.

Not to mention OCZ's outstanding customer support.

So why don't you kindly go fuck yourself and keep your biased horse crap to yourself.

Have a great day!

m0f0 lights a bag-full of dog shit, compwhiz stomps it out (a lot), and dogfart rolls in it before consuming it

Just ignore DogFartForBrains. This is how he works out the anger and feelings of self loathing that arise from his latent homo-erotic desires. That and using a picture of breasts for an avatar - even he hasn't figured out whether it represents his desire to someday see a pair in real life, or the feelings of inadequacy suffers from because he doesn't have a pair himself.

#11, That's genius, right there...keep them coming! I really need to get out more often, because this is great stuff...

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 350-450watt unit. The ripple would still be very high, but probably 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 300watts, and you'd never know it, until your components started failing.

But, why would you want to get a mediocre 350-450watt power supply? There are far better power supplies available that provide plenty of watts of nice, low r

#14: do you admire my posts so much that you use them and try to pass them off as your own?

like they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

CompWiz17 wrote:

#14: do you admire my posts so much that you use them and try to pass them off as your own? like they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Haha, that's the most ironic post of the day by far from CopyAndPasteWiz17!

#16: If you want to accuse me of copying other people's reviews and posting them here as my own, do it properly. Try to find a review that has the same, or even similar text to what I've posted.

The fact is, there isn't one. All of my power supply comments were written by me. If I ever copied a part of a review directly from another site, I used a quote block around it.

Plus, while my PSU comments are in no way a direct copy of someone else's review, I did site the sources where the information I used came from. Look at the end of my posts. I don't claim that the information is mine, but the posts I write and the conclusions I draw are all directly from me. And of course, the other power supply recommendations that I commonly write are quite obviously from me.

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