TP-II 550 vs Enermax Lib 500

[chinesepiratefood]

Both similar priced (antec slightly cheaper)

Silence is good, fastest 120mm fan in my system is at 1100rpm right now

Would be powering
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (doubt i will ever[for a long time]go SLI, got it cheap though)
A64 3000+ Overclocked 2.5+
2x1GB Gskill PC4000
X1800XL
1x DVD Burner
1x CDR/RW Burner
1x 120GB HD
1x Floppy ~_~
3x120mm fans
Swiftech Apex Ultra H20-220(parted out for better price)

Basically, what would future proof me the best, being modular or not doesn't really effect the descision, because as i have my case now, cable manegment is pretty good with a regular PSU

Or if there is something else from any company at similar price i am willing for other options, noise + reliability is most important

Thanks or something

 

[chinesepiratefood]

*cough*

 

[Oline61]

Ummm. Teh Enermx is liek 0wning teh TPII.
Antec has 19A 12V rails. <No
Enermax has 22A 12V rails. <Yes

 

[JJU357]

I say the enermax, only because I've had a really bad experience with antec customer service and would not recommend their products to anyone ever again. (And also because I just ordered myself an enermax liberty 620W)

 

[E4g1e]

Ummm. Teh Enermx is liek 0wning teh TPII.
Antec has 19A 12V rails. <No
Enermax has 22A 12V rails. <Yes

Not so fast. Look at the combined maximum +12V amperage, not the ratings of each individual +12V rail. The amperage ratings of the dual +12V rails are NOT additive. The TPII-550 actually has a higher maximum combined +12V amperage than the Enermax Liberty 500W: 36A for the "dual 19A" TPII-550 versus only 30A for the "dual 22A" Liberty 500W. Enermax, like almost all other PSU makers, actually use a shared-circuit design; in this case, all of the Liberty's rails use the same single shared circuit. That really cuts into the maximum combined capacity. The TPII, on the other hand, actually uses separate circuits for the +3.3V, the +5V, and the combined +12V rails (the +12V rails, of course, use a commonly shared circuit), limited only by the maximum capacity of its transformer.

That said, you could be screwed over with any company's customer service: I've had similarly appalling customer service with other "good" PSU makers, not just Antec.

 

[Oline61]

Where did you get combined 12V amperage? I assume you calculated it based on combined 12V watts. I looked on the Egg for 12V wattage, but couldn't find them, so I just went with individual rail amperage.

It does look like the TPII is better than the Enermax unless you just need something thats not ugly and has modular cables.

Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[E4g1e]

Where did you get combined 12V amperage? I assume you calculated it based on combined 12V watts. I looked on the Egg for 12V wattage, but couldn't find them, so I just went with individual rail amperage.

For the TPII-550, I went with the label on the PSU itself. NewEgg has a picture of the TPII-550 label on the TrueControl 2.0 550W page.

As for the Enermax Liberty 500W, the combined +12V amperage is listed in the specs for that PSU on the Enermax website.

 

[lw3d]

I can save you a trip to the Enermax slow ass site ... I am pretty sure the Liberty 400 has a combined 12v rail at 30a and the Liberty 500 is also 30a

Liberty 400

+3.3V 	+5V 	+12V1 	+12V2 	     Total Power
26A 	26A 	20A 	20A 	 	400W
    150W 	  360W( 30A ) 	
            377.8W

Liberty 500

+3.3V 	+5V 	+12V1 	+12V2 	     Total Power
26A 	26A 	22A 	22A 	 	500W
    160W 	  384W( 30A ) 	
            477.8W

Isnt that a waste of 100w on the Liberty 500s +3v,+5v,+12v rails compared to the Liberty 400

 

[HitmanZ]

Added, people with your mobo had bad problems with antec, as noted, antec and asus really don't go together. My friend had problems with his asus an8-sli pre. with the neo and the TP2 (random reboots). He got himself ocz, works perfect.

 

[Oline61]

Thanks for the info everybody.

It is quite odd how similar the 12V rail specifications are on the two Enermax's are.

@HitmanZ
I thought that most of the problems with ASUS boards were related to NeoHE and not the TPII? Anyway the OCZ's 1% regulation pretty much makes it compatible with any motherboard you could imagine .

 

[[Spectre]]

Anyway the OCZ's 1% regulation pretty much makes it compatible with any motherboard you could imagine .

1% load regulation makes it compatible how?

Also the Topower unit that the OCZ is based on isn't speced for 1% regulation

 

[Oline61]

1% load regulation makes it compatible how?

Also the Topower unit that the OCZ is based on isn't speced for 1% regulation

Isn't the problem between the NeoHE and the ASUS board's that the voltages are just a little off. I can't think of anything else, the amperage on the NeoHE 550 is plenty and it still has problems. The more accurate voltages on the OCZ make it more likely to work with more motherboards because it is even closer to perfect ATX12V voltages, whereas the Antec can be up to +-5% off the OCZ is supposed to be no more than +-1% off.

As for the Topower unit, OCZ claims 1% regulation on the PowerStream's. Isn't Topower supposed to make POS PSU's anyway? Is OCZ lying about the regulation?

 

[[Spectre]]

Isn't the problem between the NeoHE and the ASUS board's that the voltages are just a little off. I can't think of anything else, the amperage on the NeoHE 550 is plenty and it still has problems.

They haven't revealed what the problem is....and no voltage is not the only reason it could be incomaptible.

The more accurate voltages on the OCZ make it more likely to work with more motherboards because it is even closer to perfect ATX12V voltages, whereas the Antec can be up to +-5% off the OCZ is supposed to be no more than +-1% off.

Again incorrect. There are standards for a reason, all components are to work within +/-5% of the rated voltage to be standard compliant. So 1% or 3% or 5% is all the same for BASIC functionality. Finer control is desired when running certain components out of spec. Antec's TruePower series is 3% and the Smart Power is 5%.

As for the Topower unit, OCZ claims 1% regulation on the PowerStream's. Isn't Topower supposed to make POS PSU's anyway? Is OCZ lying about the regulation?

Topower makes a wide range of products. They make OCZ's PSU's. Is OCZ lying....well let's say they are being optomistic on the capability of their supplies and I wouldn't bank on their 1% figure when the same Topower unit isn't speced for that rating.

 

[Oline61]

They haven't revealed what the problem is....and no voltage is not the only reason it could be incomaptible.

What else could the problem be? Line noise?

 

[HitmanZ]

Thanks for the info everybody.
@HitmanZ
I thought that most of the problems with ASUS boards were related to NeoHE and not the TPII? Anyway the OCZ's 1% regulation pretty much makes it compatible with any motherboard you could imagine .

Correct, most of the problems are related to NeoHE, but people still seem to have trouble with antec and asus combos, from what i read on other forums and my 1 friend. Not meaning that i only have one friend but 1 that's having a problem with antec and asus combo...hope that makes sense...

 

[Kil4Thril]

Topower makes a wide range of products. They make OCZ's PSU's. Is OCZ lying....well let's say they are being optomistic on the capability of their supplies and I wouldn't bank on their 1% figure when the same Topower unit isn't speced for that rating.

I'm not saying you're wrong, 'cuz I don't know. BUT, is it possible that Topower is making that T-6 (I think) based supply to a different standard for OCZ? I see it all the time in other industries. OCZ sends specs to Topower, they OEM for OCZ.

 

[[Spectre]]

I'm not saying you're wrong, 'cuz I don't know. BUT, is it possible that Topower is making that T-6 (I think) based supply to a different standard for OCZ? I see it all the time in other industries. OCZ sends specs to Topower, they OEM for OCZ.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article173-page4.html

Yes the 470w isn't made anymore but it is from the same specs and those are more than 1% variations there (alomst dead on 2% so double the variation claimed.....aren't numbers fun 1% to 2% being double sounds worse than just 1% difference no?).

 

[mavalpha]

Can I throw the X-Finity 500W into the mix here?

I'm in the same boat, since my NeoHE550 doesn't like my DFI. I'm torn between these three, and I'm a bit skeptical of the Liberty- everyone says SLI needs 32 or 33 amps minimum (12V), and the Lib500 only gives 30. Even the Ultra's 32A are making me a little squeamish- sooner or later this will be powering a 7800GT SLI rig with an overclocked dual-core of some sort. I've also got a minimum of three HD's and two opticals plugged in at any given moment. Besides, how important do you think the 8-pin EPS connector will be in the future, considering that Antec didn't put it into the TPII 550?

Edit:
Ultra X2 550W also looks good. 34A combined, although only 18A and 17A separately. Keeping in mind modular is not a concern, any thoughts?