Hello,

One can always get a (nearly free) Molex-to-SATA adapter, if it is needed? Or, as has already been mentioned, you can (probably) get an additional modular SATA cable from Enermax.

Two SATA hard drives and a SATA optical -- sounds pretty optimal to me.

I suppose you could go that route. Still, I would have preferred it if the only connectors lost when stepping down in power were those ones for thirsty graphics cards. Nothing else would need the 625w/525w, so there's no reason, IMO, to remove the additional drive connectors.

But as an example, my uncle likes to have a lot of CD/DVD drives... he currently has four, along with a hard drive. He has an e2160 for a CPU, and a lower-end nVidia card. 430w would be more than enough for his machine, and much like with Scythe's mounting systems vs Thermalright's, I prefer to go with the company that includes the items I want.

http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/produ ... cts_id=147
http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/produ ... cts_id=150

The non modular version has 4 SATA power minimum and the modular you just need to buy one extra cable from someone off eBay or from the company that makes the PSU if 3 SATA power isn't enough.

BTW didn't Seasonic patent the easy swap connector used on the PATA molex power connectors? Is Enermax using cables from the Seasonic/Corsair modular design or did they license that feature?

ClubIT has the Pro 82+ 525W, Some place I've never heard of has all the Pro 82+ and some of the Modu82+ listed, Newegg has only the 625W modular version right now.

I have no idea where these prices will settle but for now my rough comparison is:

Corsair VX450W $75
Enermax PRO 82+ 425W $100
Enermax Modu82+ 425w $125

HX520W $100
S12E+ 550W $120
Enermax PRO 82+ 525W $130
Enermax Modu82+ 525w $150
Enermax PRO 82+ 625W $160
Enermax Modu82+ 625w $200

Hopefully the price will drop some but for now they look quite expensive.

Gee, "primitive" isn't what I'd use to describe the 5 machines I built last month for hard-core Photoshop users. Why 4 SATA drives? Simple - (1) DVD drive (Plextor) and 3 WD 1TB Caviar - one for OS, swap, and files, and the other two in RAID 0 for the Photoshop workspace. BTW, these machines have 8GB of memory and are virtually silent (thanks to you and the good folks here.)

Did I hit an attitude button??

ps. I would love it if additional cables were available to purchase so I could just have the ones I need.

The Convergent booth at the Singapore IT Show (March 6-9) was referencing the Silentpcreview article at their booth and on their price list.

They were selling the 525pro82+ for SGD$189 and the 625pro82+ for SGD$219. I think they had the modular ones too, but they are not on the price list.

Anyway, they all sold out when I went to get one today. I was really wanting the 425W version, but they didn't have any when I looked on Friday and they didn't seem to want to bring them in. "No demand, NVidia says you need 500W"

Next shipment in 3 weeks!

Hello

For my first topic, i'd like to ask you 2 questions :
- is there a difference (except modular clables) between Modu82+ and Pro82+ ? Are they doing the same noise ?
- is there a noise difference between 425W, 525W and 625W units ?

thanck you and best regards

Totoro

Mike's already stated there'll be a review of the smaller Modu82+, and hopefully the Pro82+ as well. The Pro82+ is only supposed to differ in the cabling, so should be as quiet.

Thank you

Wait and see

I'm with Mike here. Especially now that NAS solutions are coming down in price, even those who do not want to run a separate file server at home can locate their mass storage needs wherever in the apartment where the Ethernet reaches. So if noise is of any concern, you're better off keeping just local "cache" on a single drive in workstation and having those larger bytes stored someplace else.

Then on a separate note: I have a suggestion to you SPCR folks. I'd love to see PSUs tested under conditions similar to P180, ie. with fresh air supply and separate thermal chamber. This is the solution you recommend and we prefer, anyway..

So when a die-hard silencer buys a PSU, what matters is how much load will it stand before getting noisy when being provided with fresh intake air. So I'd very much like to have this data.

I don't agree with MikeC and zds : If you have a RAID system, it's 2 drives minimum. Raid 0+1 is a 3 drives option ! You add an extra drive for datas, and here you are : 4 drives !

So you have a point with RAID 0, if you need you workstation very fast. But if you want a quiet solution, you do not want to have that RAID 1 or similar close to your ears.. but have fast local disk for the stuff that needs speed and then redundant disk arrays in a closet or another room.

Actually raid 0+1 takes minimum of 4 drives.

It still doesn't negate MikeC's point. How many home users you know with 0+1? Maybe it's time you look at the motherboards on market. Only the enthusiast motherboards have more then 4 SATA connectors. So why in the hell should psu manufacturers put more then 4 SATA connectors to their basic models? It's already more then enough for Average Joe.

From economical and ecological perspective, there's absolutely no point in wasting resources by putting more (useless) connectors in the lowest rated models just to please the 0,5% of the market. Especially on the Pro82+ model. Plus psu cable management is already hard enough without filling the case with useless connectors.

Nothing prevents those rare users who actually need the cables from buying extra cables for Modu82+ or molex to SATA adapters.

Not really, there are plenty of mid priced boards with 6 or 8 SATA ports which can’t be classed as enthusiast boards.

Apart from powering drives eventually other internal devices such as fan controllers will start to use SATA power connectors instead of Molex types.

Interesting to note that the main competitor for the 425 watt models only has 3 SATA power connectors http://www.silentpcreview.com/article751-page2.html

The 525 watt vs 520 watt the corsair HX520 has 4 SATA power connectors and the Enermax has 6 or 7 (the modular version has one less than the Pro version).

I'm not too worried about the connectors differences. I'm more worried about longevity of the fan bearings and the capacitors in the PSU. At the price I'm seeing it better be equal or better quality than the Corsair competition.

I anticipate low wattage of modular & non-modular Enermax PSU reviews coming to us, finally another PSU makers show on the horizon. Incidentally, having got reviewed so many items recently, I would like to offer my thanks to all of SPCR people. Thank you!

Read again.
That's total of 6 connectors.

The worst part in having only 1 cable with SATA connectors is, that if you have a case like P180, and you install your hard drives in the bottom compartment, it's pretty much impossible to use that cable to power up an optical drive in top compartment. You'd either need adapters or extensions to power up your optical drive with SATA connector.

No doubt they will drop.

Corsair VX450W 73,90€
Pro82+ 385W 62,90€
Pro82+ 425W 68,90€
Modu82+ 425W 82,90€

Considering the currency rates and how Europe usually pays 50% more for our computer hardware to subsidize prices in USA, those Enermax psus are likely to drop to 60-70$ price range pretty soon.

Now I just wish you had the 425W/525W versions to test! (impatient as I am building a new system now). It would be nice to know if they are as quiet as the 625W version (particularly running a low watt system like a 8400 + 3650 - my planned system).

Also cables long enough to run behind a P182?

The cables will be long enough!

I'm a bit in the same situation...

Still doubting between the Corsair VX450 and the Enermax PRO82+ 385/425.
The Modu82+625 is quiet but a lower model might not be representable.
In comparison the noise will be probably higher when you use 150-200 Watt of the 385-425 version.

The VX450 (150-200) => 21 dBa, any ideas for the PRO82+ 385/425? 20 dBa?

Man I screwed that post up.

OK, I was in a hurry when I wrote that so my mistake made it less obvious what I was really saying. I think you got it but to spell it out for the rest of the readers of this thread:

1. I should have said "Interesting to note that the main competitor for the 425 watt models has 6 SATA power connectors".

2. The review this thread is based on is the 625W modular PSU made by Enermax which has this quote on page 2 which combined with other posts on the thread lets you know that the 425W modular version only has one 25" detachable cable with three SATA drive connectors.

3. The link in my message is to a review of a 450W PSU made by Corsair which I won't bother to link again as it is already quoted.

I hope you understand me better now...

OK, Todays search results

Corsair VX450W $75 + $8 S&H = $83 - $10 rebate if you count that for a roughly $75 net price.
Corsair VX450W less than $1 more at the next vendor with the same rebate.

Enermax PRO 82+ 425W $82.40 + $15 S&H = almost $98 shipped at one vendor
Enermax PRO 82+ 425W $97.95 + $9.65 S&H = almost $108 shipped at another

Enermax Modu82+ 425W $106.95 + $9.65 S&H = almost $108 shipped
Enermax Modu82+ 425W $109.99 + $7.57 S&H = almost $118 shipped

So the modular version dropped in price about $15 for me since I posted the first price search results but the others are basically unchanged making the round number comparison for me:

Corsair VX450W $75/$85 (depending on if you get the rebate back)
Enermax PRO 82+ 425W $100
Enermax Modu82+ 425w $110

I'm thinking this may be one of those cases where for US buyers the Corsair product will be cheaper and for Euro buyers the Enermax product will be cheaper. Of course I'd be happy to see the Enermax price drop enough to prove me wrong.

In the UK, on sites that sell both theres about a £17 difference (£47 for the 450 corsair and £64 for the 425 mod82), with the 425 pro82 right in the middle at £55. (all minus shipping)

I do think that it is very short sighted of Enermax to only provide 3 x SATA ports on a 425W modular PSU, why do companies do this to save $1, do they realise the sales that they could be loosing.....

Anyway, I am looking forward to the review of the PRO 82+ as the 385W version is £43 inc VAT which is £1 less than the Corsair VX450, I would loose 2 years worth of warranty, but have a more efficient fileserver (I am lucky to have 40+ spare Molex-SATA power converters as 4 wont be enough).



If you ignore sites that sell both the price difference is VX450 £44 (eBuyer) Modu 425W £60 (Scan), Pro 425W £52 (Scan).

I was a little surprised at how cheap they are, Enermax have always been expensive, but now they have something worth buying it looks worthwhile.


Andy[/quote]

Wow! Excellent performance from this power supply, thanks for the review guys. Can't wait to see how the lower-wattage versions perform (hopefully similar to this one).

As to help clarify any remaining issues on the amount of sata connections:

http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/graph ... /cable.jpg

1x3 for 425w
2x3 for 525w
3x3 for 625w

Aelek

Today's search results
Enermax PRO 82+ 385W $88

Enermax PRO 82+ 425W $107
Enermax Modu82+ 425W $115

Enermax Modu82+ 525w $150

apparently the cheaper vendors sold out so the effective price has risen, at least for now.

I went ahead and added the cheaper 385W model as it doesn't lose any connectors I care about (it loses a single 8 pin PCIe in the form of a 6+2 connector, but it already has a 6 pin PCIe so that's good enough for that wattage range).

Lets go a little further and list SATA power connectors for both Modu82+ and Pro82+:

Modu82+
1x3 for 425w
2x3 for 525w
3x3 for 625w

Pro82+
1x4 for 385w
1x4 for 425w
1x4+1x3 for 525w
1x4+1x3 for 625w

I just now opened the manual of a new Modu82+ and was relieved to read "This power supply is compatible with both simulated and pure sine wave UPS." Compatibility had been a concern due to a FAQ on the Enermax site concerning active PFC units and pure sine waves.

It seems like one unusual inefficiency of the Modu 82+ was mentioned, but largely ignored in the review. It appears to be much less efficient at generating VSB than other recently reviewed supplies.

The low load test lists it as taking 2.3 watts, four times the 0.5 watts of the Corsair TX650W and others.

2-3 watts difference may not seem like much, but if you figure a typical system is turned off a lot more than it is turned on, that standby power mounts up.

For instance comparing the Modu 82+ 625 to Corsair TX650W,
if a system was in soft-off for 16hrs a day (on for 8hrs/day), the Modu82+ would use about 10kw-hrs more power per year (possibly more).
By comparison, the greater efficiency of the Modu 82+ at 65watts would save about 3kw-hrs/year. (Assuming spent 95% of on time at 65w, e.g. idling.)

Of course the Modu82+ saves more at higher powers, so it makes more sense for a system that is heavily loaded much of the time.
If assume that the system spent 5% of time using 150w, the Modu 82+ would save about 13kw-hrs/year, so the net result would be 6kw-hr/year savings with the Modu 82+. However, if it performed on a par with the Corsair, etc., at generating VSB, it would have saved about 16kw-hrs/year in the above scenario.

Certainly one can work around the inefficiency at standby (e.g. by using an external switch), but it seems worth pointing out its unusual inefficiency at low loads. So it may be less appropriate for systems that spend a lot of time soft-off (e.g. home systems, PVRs, systems using wake-on-lan).

Too bad they didn't make it as efficient at very low loads as other recent supplies, so that it was more clearly a winner at energy efficiency. It will be interesting to see if lower power members of the family do better at generating standby power.

Here's something of interest that came from Enermax in the last couple of days. It's regarding the fan, which shocked me with its smooth quiet performance in our review sample:

The new Enermax MODU82+ and PRO82+ series power supplies use a new patented SpeedGuard control circuit to achieve low fan RPM and extremely low noise without any negative effects. The patented control circuit requires a unique fan with a 4-Pin power connector, like a PWM fan. But this is not a PWM fan; it is a patented bi-voltage fan.

To clarify:

1. ENERMAX's new SpeedGuard control circuit does not require an expensive PWM fan; instead, they use a new special design fan which offers low RPM with higher CFM.

2. The new MODU82+ and PRO82+ series PSU fan cannot be substituted with a standard 3-pin fan or a 4-pin PWM fan. Doing so may cause the substitute fan to not run, run only at full speed, or be damaged. There is also a risk of damage to the SpeedGuard control circuit.

Conclusion: Do not modify ENERMAX MODU82+ or PRO82+ PSU models with any other fan. These new PSUs can only work with their own stock fan.