Antec True Power 330W PSU - Where’s the meat and potatoes?

(Page 2 of 2 )

Where’s the meat and potatoes?

OK, we seem to have reasonable numbers here, maybe nothing reaching out and catching your attention just yet, so let us consider point no.1 that I mentioned earlier- a nice DC supply.
 
In most ordinary PSU the 3.3v rail is just a run off a 5v feed. The problem this design gives is that if you have lots of 5v devices, this will effect the 3.3v devices e.g. you have a board full of PCI sucking like vampires on the 5v, then the poor CPU 3.3v line is going to feel a little anaemic, possibly leading to instability. Antec is unusual in that it separates the 3.3v and 5v feeds from each other, this will help keep your system stable until you exceed the total PSU capacity (310w, don’t ask me). And this is what Antec mean by TruePower, the various feeds do not interfere with each other, therefore you should be able to draw the maximum limit from each DC line in relative safety.
 
Sliding over to point no.2, we look at the other growing problem we face today, with Gigahertz PC requiring cooling = more faster fans = can’t hear yourself think anymore. Hands up everyone who thinks their PC sounds like a Rolls Royce RB2-11 jet engine on warm-up…hmm, a see a few hands waving there… oh, the guy with the hairy armpit and bad BO, you can put your hand down now… woah, sorry fraulein, I guess they’re all out of “Lady Shaves” in Germany, but thanks for vote anyway.
 
Running the PSU in idle mode it’s about as noisy as a mouse in carpet slippers, tip-toeing over a 2inch shag pile Axminster rug- really quiet! The design of the TruePower allows for the PSU fans - plus any non thermal fans connected via the dedicated fan only cable - to be turned up and down as the temperature rises or falls. The thinking behind this is simple, if the PSU gets hot it’s because hot air is being passed through it, it assumes the system is hot and so turns the fans on. This is good, as you want max cooling when you are running the system hard, or in hot weather.

In normal mode all the PSU connected fans rotate at a leisurely rpm. In order to test this fan technology I ran the system at idle, and pointed a hair dryer at the PSU with a case fan connected. I also had a temperature probe connected to the exhaust of the PSU in order to read the output temperature. I waited, and waited, until the probe read around 45 when the fans finally kicked up a notch, at about 50 they were going full rpm.
 
If you take a look at the pictures below, you will notice that I show the fan sitting on the case top. To the right of the fan is a folded piece of white paper. Behind the paper you will see the temperature probe. I put the paper in front of the fan to show me if the fan was getting faster or slower. As you can see in the second picture, with the temperature reading 61 degrees, the fan was definitely going full pelt at this point.

fig.5 damn, this clock never tells the correct time!

fig.6 <sniff, sniff> Hmm, I love the smell of roasting PC in the morning

I collected some voltage data over a few days, using the ubiquitous Mother Board Monitor. The PSU itself was plugged into a UPS, so it was given very stable voltage to start with.

 

Fig.6 As can be seen, an infinite number of monkeys do not churn out Shakespeare

Now looking at the numbers I really didn’t like the voltage readings I was seeing, definitely not the cool numbers I was expecting. So, I thought, maybe MBM was
lying to me, so I checked the voltages in the BIOS, and lo, they were also the same low readings. In a last desperate attempt I got out my trusty mutli-meter (it’s expensive, so it must be good) and measured the lines directly from the PSU. To my great relief the voltages line all read within tolerance, and not the poor numbers shown. This means, and I have to confess never having considered this before, that the motherboard voltage regulation is poor (well it was 3 years old).
 
So I think from a power consumption point of view we can say that most “modest” systems can use the TruePower 330 without worry. If you run a full RAID or 1.5G+ CPU you may want to invest in a bigger TruePower. 

Give me the bottom line dude

In conclusion I’d like to say that Antec have done a great job with this PSU. They have addressed the main areas of concern – stable voltage and noise – and created a good solution. Two suggestions for improvement could be:

1. On the Fan only cable, add the 3 pin motherboard connectors to the molex, to support non molex fans.
2. Have the temperature controlled fan’s rpm increase earlier, and hold onto the higher rpm for longer. It’s a little slow to kick in the higher rpm, and in too much of a hurry to drop the rpm back.

If I’d had a more powerful TruePower (400w-500w) I’d have been tempted to swap out the Enermax (in one of my main systems).

Show me the number, show me the numbers!

Pros

1. It’s really, really, quiet

2. Fan-only molex connectors

3. All fans temperature controlled

4. Gold plated fan grills and connectors

5. Long cables

6. PSU fan rpm monitor cable

7. 3 year warranty

Cons

1. Fans are in too much of  a hurry to drop back to a slow speed

2. Fan-only molex connectors

3. 3.3volt supply is low

4. Difficulty in setting up installation = 10 (lots of molex to go around)

5. Documentation supplied = 10 (technically it covers everything)

6. Features or extras included = 9 (all the features you could wish for, almost)

7. Performance under load = 8 (if only the temp controlled fans kicked in quicker)

8. Customer support forum support download facilities = NA

9. VFM when priced against nearest competitor = 8 (Enermax is cheaper but has less features)

10. Goosh factor = 9 (a great solution)

11. Overall  average score = 9

scoring key 1= avoid, 2= terrible, 3= bad, 4= disappointing, 5= average, 6= an improvement, 7= good, 8= very good,

9= excellent,  10= the best

---

We'd like to thank you for joining us here today. If you would like to discuss this article, please head into the Dev Hardware forums for a chat.

DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware.

Comments On: Antec True Power 330W PSU

>>> Be the FIRST to comment on this article!