SPCR

Browsing the Internet, I came across that new passive PSU, the Magnum 500/600W. It looks similar to the Thermaltake one...

THE FACTS

Meet the evolution of power supplies, the MAGNUM.
"THE MOST POWERFUL AND SILENT POWER SUPPLY ON THE MARKET!"
Debuting at CES 2005 in Las Vegas, the Magnum has rapidly become one of the most anticipated power supply of all time. Boasting a true 600 and 500W power output along side a completely silent dB, the MAGNUM will surely take it's place among the great power supplies of today and tommorow.
• Check out a review from CES.

If you follow the link on the MGE website, you'll see it's referring to the CES 2005 coverage by SPCR!

I like this bit of honesty:

Quite intersting still.

I wish they'd give out more specifications already (efficienty, etc).

I also hope MikeC gets to review one :)

According to the text next to the graph, the efficiencies they are implying:

495/600 = 82.5%

405/500 = 81.0%

They neglected to mention how loud it is though.

ky wrote:According to the text next to the graph, the efficiencies they are implying:

495/600 = 82.5%

405/500 = 81.0%

They neglected to mention how loud it is though.

Um, that wouldn't be the efficiency (AFAICT) that is the drop in power output/efficiency that occurs as the mosfets temperature rises, not the entire PSU's effeciency in converting 115/230VAC -> 3.3,5,12, etc VDC.

ky wrote:They neglected to mention how loud it is though.

Eeuuurrm, this is a fanless PSU. If everything is OK, there will be no coil noise. So how loud do you think it is?

Looks really interesting.
Anything about sale date and price?

Tibors wrote:

ky wrote:They neglected to mention how loud it is though.

Eeuuurrm, this is a fanless PSU. If everything is OK, there will be no coil noise. So how loud do you think it is?

No, there's a fan at the back of the PSU (opposite side of the main power connector), but I think it starts spinning on heavy load only...



There's a very poor online manual available on the MGE website. As I read it, I can see this PSU is shipped with a 20pin ATX power cable and a 20-24pin adaptor. I don't think it's a good idea for a new PSU like the Magnum!

Holy s*%&.. I want one!!! awesome pictures

Is there any new pics of this from computex? http://www.mgecompany.com/xgbox/power.html

They say june/july there.

Found some: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=a ... =196&num=8

Phronix write in their Computex 2005 round up that Magnum is now officially released.

Some images:

http://www.phoronix.com/images/picture. ... ay4_66_lrg

http://www.phoronix.com/images/picture. ... ay4_67_lrg

http://www.phoronix.com/images/picture. ... ay4_68_lrg

hightower wrote:Holy s*%&.. I want one!!! awesome pictures

Thanks.

Btw the 15mm thick fan they used on the sample I shot the photos of at the show were made by Globe; sorry, I couldn't catch if they were ball bearing or sleeve.

I tried to get a shot of the fan label but it came out too dark.

-Ed

Resurrecting this thread. There's atleast two reviews out:

http://www.lanaddict.com/rev/166/1/

http://www.dreamwarecomputers.com/revie ... /index.htm

I'd love to see a proper SPCR review of this PSU. It looks interesting, but the linked reviews are so bad they're almost worse than no information at all. Saying that the PSU noise gets drowned out by other loud components in the reviewer's system isn't exactly helpful for the silencing crowd that already have quiet computers.

Newegg has the 500w probably a month for the 600w, haven't seen a test of efficiency (says 90%) or noise:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817167013

I think it was tested by www.teschke.de (whom I generally consider to be highly reputable) and ended up with really lousy marks (on top of that, MGE requested that they may not write anything bad about the unit which they refused and later got a sample paid for by a shop who wanted to know if its any good)

Review:
http://www.gotapex.com/reviews.php?rev= ... index.html

Not had a chance to read it properly, but two things caught my eye.

1/ LIFETIME Warranty (I'm not aware of any PSU with a lifetime warranty)

2/ 3000 hour capacitors (= about a years use at 9hrs per day, so is kind of at odds with the lifetime warranty)

Sooty wrote:Review:
http://www.gotapex.com/reviews.php?rev= ... index.html

Not had a chance to read it properly, but two things caught my eye.

1/ LIFETIME Warranty (I'm not aware of any PSU with a lifetime warranty)

2/ 3000 hour capacitors (= about a years use at 9hrs per day, so is kind of at odds with the lifetime warranty)

No kidding, that does seem somewhat contradictory... And that '3000 hour' cap would only be specced to last for ~4 months of 24/7 operation. If you wanted this PSU for a server, you would certainly hope that that is really more like 300K hours.

Apart from that, it does seem like a nice PSU, though the reviewer's apparent inability to tell an 8 pin connector from a 6 pin connector seems worrying.

A random thought, but if SPCR could do a roundup of various passive PSUs I suspect the results would be interesting.

Another review @ Xtreme Resources.

Insanetek review.

Tibors wrote:

ky wrote:They neglected to mention how loud it is though.

Eeuuurrm, this is a fanless PSU. If everything is OK, there will be no coil noise. So how loud do you think it is?

If you look at the pictures there is infact a fan. They do not mention fanless anywhere.

My buddy bought this power supply (500w) so I thought I'd report what he tells me to get a little SPCR oriented info about this PSU in the thread. To give you an idea of my friend's perspective, he is amazed at the quietness of my Living Room computer but he is getting into quietness himself. I know I link him to SPCR info all the time. Please note that before he bought it, I did show him this thread and mention that it wasn't reviewed by SPCR, so I couldn't give it my recommendation

Here is the interview, if you can call it that:

him: the magnum is not silent
him: what a piece of ****
him: I have AOM runnging off of the CD, I ma transferring files from Slim to Fats off the SATA drive, Windows runs off of the SCSI drive, I have 2 64/66 PCI hard drive cards, the 9700 pro and 2 2Ghz cpus, 2 120mm fans, 2 92mm fans and 2 80mm fans, the PCI sound card and the magnum still says I am using only 215 Watts
him: I should just get one of those 300watt PSUs that is quiet just beause it isnt doing as much
him: but the magnum tells me its only at 46 degrees C, so I dont know why the fan is running so loud
me: yeah, I guess that confirms what SPCR says about how much power most comps use
me: so does the fan get quiet when nothing is happening?
me: it's supposed to go off completely I thought
him: no, it is a crock
him: an absolute piece of ****
him: its bigger, heavier, has **** that sticks out the back, I had to cut the case to fit it in, and its a joke
me: it has a big ass heatsink
him: yes
him: maybe I can just change the fan and put a potentiometer on it, or just a fanmate
him: ubt seriously what the hell
me: yeah, need a better fan controller
him: what is the best Seasonic line
me: s12 is it now
him: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817151021
him: or even the 380 watt one
me: yep
me: I have the 380
him: would have cost less, is smaller and most likely more quiet
me: definitely quiet
him: Maybe its just that the Athlon MP is a super efficient cpu
him:
me: well what is it when you max it out
me: it might peak higher
him: how would I test that
me: need to run two prime95s
me: and probably aom as well to get some juice to your vidcard
him: I need to get prime95 then
him: you have it online?
me: yeah
him: Maybe I'll listen to yours when I am there for Thanksgiving, and determine if I should get a Seasonic
me: heh, I'm sure you'll like it
me: so to get two prime95s running, I think you actually have to install it twice
him: This is incredibly annoying
me: it's not much though
him: They market something that looks so good and makes so much sense and it claims to be silent
me: how would you describe it?
me: like your 9700 fan?
him: more
me: is it the loudest thing?
him: seems like at 45C the PSU fan is working hard
him: well from the back of the case it is loudest
me: yeah
him: from the front it might be
him: or the 9700
him: ok im going to start 2 Prime95s and AOM
me: which one do you have, the 500?
him: yeah the 500
him: I changed the memory on each to 400MB
him: wow
me: if the prime95s don't start using full cpu then you might need to lower that
him: they are
him: turning fans to ludicrous speed
me: ha
him: all runnign fine
me: what's the wattage now?
him: peak like 227
me: ok, little more
him: and cpus holding average of 50C with fans at ludicrous speed
him: AOM runs fine
him: cpus at 100%
...
him: I have 2 torture tests going, AOM, 2 large file transfers, WinAmp, System monitor, AOL, McAfee
him: and it works fine
him: AOM got a little laggy
him: well my computer ate that test alive
him: talk about overengineered
him: even when I took the fans from Ludicrous to fairly quiet the temps didnt jump much




At least he did get a good deal on it.

So to sum it up, this PSU is about as loud as a radeon 9700 with stock cooling?

yes, that's what I gather

Well, he was running quite a system. Two overclocked processors and a fairly hot video card. I can understand a power supply running loud with >200W load in a warm case.

Soon after our news coverage of this PSU at CES, there were some emails exchanged between MGE and me. IIRC, they wanted... hmm... how to put it?... to treat SPCR like a prostitute... w/o even being paid! I think they figured the PSU sample would be payment enough. They wanted...

1) control of editorial content -- they wanted to approve the review first, make changes at their will, and no changes after it was posted
2) to put ad banners up on SPCR for free along w/the review

This w/a multi-page legalese agreement to sign all rights away to them...

uh, thanks but no thanks.

IMO, this has to be a flashy, overpriced PoS. Why else would they only go to review sites that have zero capacity to tell you anything meaningful about the unit? Every review only praises their products w/o any substance for the praise.

Mike's rule #12: If it looks like bling, that's all it usually is.

PS -- rule #11: If it smells like shit, that's what it is.
rule #13: If you want editorial control, go build your own dang media site.

This will get me banned from SPCR...

MikeC, are you saying you're pissed, not because you were asked to do a paid review, but for the fact that they wouldn't have actually paid for it?



(and no, I'm not serious. But I'm finnish, we're entitled to a bad and offensive humour because we don't have heating and electricity)

Booyeah MikeC! That's why I'm here.

Good thing I didn't jump for that PSU...