New levels of marketing stupidity - Ultra X3 1600W PSU

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

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CA_Steve
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New levels of marketing stupidity - Ultra X3 1600W PSU

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:45 am

This thing uses more energy for waste heat than all of my combined PC gear pulls from the wall. What were they thinking?

jaganath
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Post by jaganath » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:38 am

Ultra has just now slipped this unit into the market, though it was announced sometime ago as a 2000w show piece. After some safety certification wrangling, the unit was artificially capped at 1600w.
gee, I wonder what those persnickety safety people were worried about?
the Ultra X3 1600w is easily capable of producing ~1600w DC but the extreme load it places on the infrastructure of a user’s house or location is an issue.
They go on to say:
The point of this is, while the unit is certainly capable of delivering on its promised DC output the reality is that DC output is unfeasible for 99% of household users, even if they could find a way to load a PC with enough gear to draw 1600w DC.
yet still the penny doesn't drop.

CA_Steve
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Post by CA_Steve » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:26 am

The writer's enthusiasm for the psu is pretty funny in a sick, let's see what this baby can do, sort of way.

Joe Public
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Post by Joe Public » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:34 am

Probably nice if you wanna run 3 super-high end rigs off one PSU.

ddrueding1
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Post by ddrueding1 » Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:20 am

My system draws over 650W before PS inefficiency, and it's only going to get worse. I can see it going over 1kW within a year. Just keep in mind that "640k of memory should be enough for anyone." ;)

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Post by jaganath » Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:33 am

if it's the system in your sig, no way it draws >650W. more like 350W.

CA_Steve
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Post by CA_Steve » Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:36 am

...and my overclocked e4300/p965 with 2GB of RAM, 2HDDs, 1 DVD burner, and an overclocked 8800GTS 320MB with a Corsair 550W PSU draws about 200-210W from the wall when gaming. So, from my end of the spectrum, 1600W is a bit of fantasy. :D

disphenoidal
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Post by disphenoidal » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:04 pm

Doesn't anyone realize this is ideal for SPCR? You could connect a house full of computers to this thing, then put it somewhere you can't hear it. It would be like taking 5 PSUs out of your house. I can't believe I never thought of this earlier!

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Post by _MarcoM_ » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:39 pm

disphenoidal wrote:Doesn't anyone realize this is ideal for SPCR? You could connect a house full of computers to this thing, then put it somewhere you can't hear it. It would be like taking 5 PSUs out of your house. I can't believe I never thought of this earlier!
Not a bad idea, after all :o

ddrueding1
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Post by ddrueding1 » Tue Aug 28, 2007 2:02 pm

jaganath wrote:if it's the system in your sig, no way it draws >650W. more like 350W.
Power supplies that failed to drive it:

Seasonic S12 430W
Antec TruePower 550W
PC Power & Cooling 610W
Antec TruePower Trio 650W

All of these were in use at some time in the past, and as I added components/overclocked, failed to consistently power up the machine (even with staggered spin-up on the drives). I've considered getting a Power Angel, but haven't gotten around to it.

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Post by jaganath » Tue Aug 28, 2007 3:21 pm

the problem is almost certainly the spin-up current (although staggered spin-up should have solved this problem; don't know why it didn't work). Those 750GB 7200.10's have a monster spin-up current of 2.8A on the 12V!! each!! also how much is it overclocked? CPU and GPU?

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Post by alglove » Tue Aug 28, 2007 3:31 pm

I am not sure I could run that thing at full power without tripping the circuit breaker in my apartment. As I recall, my apartment's 120V circuits only go up to 10 or 15 amps.

Too bad it does not come with an optional 208V/240V input. I could unplug my oven and use this in its place!

ddrueding1
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Post by ddrueding1 » Tue Aug 28, 2007 5:11 pm

jaganath wrote:the problem is almost certainly the spin-up current (although staggered spin-up should have solved this problem; don't know why it didn't work). Those 750GB 7200.10's have a monster spin-up current of 2.8A on the 12V!! each!! also how much is it overclocked? CPU and GPU?
I have staggered spin-up set, one drive every second. If I go slower than that, the drives don't get detected in time for the 3Ware BIOS and it halts the booting process. Both CPU and GPU are overclocked/volted, and by quite a bit. I know the 6000+ is @ 3.8Ghz, but I don't remember the voltage, and the GPU I don't remember at all.

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Post by Joe Public » Wed Aug 29, 2007 12:59 am

ddrueding1 wrote:My system draws over 650W before PS inefficiency, and it's only going to get worse. I can see it going over 1kW within a year. Just keep in mind that "640k of memory should be enough for anyone." ;)
Well, if anything, your harddrives must be insanely power hungry yeah.

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Post by ryboto » Wed Aug 29, 2007 6:43 am

ddrueding1 wrote:
jaganath wrote:the problem is almost certainly the spin-up current (although staggered spin-up should have solved this problem; don't know why it didn't work). Those 750GB 7200.10's have a monster spin-up current of 2.8A on the 12V!! each!! also how much is it overclocked? CPU and GPU?
I have staggered spin-up set, one drive every second. If I go slower than that, the drives don't get detected in time for the 3Ware BIOS and it halts the booting process. Both CPU and GPU are overclocked/volted, and by quite a bit. I know the 6000+ is @ 3.8Ghz, but I don't remember the voltage, and the GPU I don't remember at all.
I could maybe understand your system drawing ~450W or a bit more under complete load(all drives/both cpu cores/gpu), but at startup, the GPU isn't even loaded, so, unless those hard drives are ridiculously power hungry, something else is going on...

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Post by dhanson865 » Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:05 am

ddrueding1 wrote:
jaganath wrote:if it's the system in your sig, no way it draws >650W. more like 350W.
Power supplies that failed to drive it:

Seasonic S12 430W
Antec TruePower 550W
PC Power & Cooling 610W
Antec TruePower Trio 650W
ddrueding1 wrote:My system draws over 650W before PS inefficiency
(on a Seasonic M12-700)

If you had a power angel or a kill-a-watt I'm sure you would mean after.

As is I have a hard time believing you can draw more than 400 watts during startup or at idle though I could believe you are overloading a rail.

12v rail(s)
s12 -430 = 29A
Truepower 550 = 30A (* +5V, +3.3V & +12V maximum output 530 Watts max.)
PC Power & Cooling 610W = 49A
Truepower Trio 650 = 52A
M12-700 = 58A

5v rail
s12 -430 = 30A
Truepower 550 = 40A (* +5V, +3.3V & +12V maximum output 530 Watts max.)
PC Power & Cooling 610W = 30A
Truepower Trio 650 = 24A
M12-700 = 30A

Since the 430 and 700 have the same amps available for 5v you gotta assume you are pulling a heavy 12v load.

Heck maybe I'm wrong it'd sure be nice if you had a UPS that could give you a load reading in watts or if you had a kill-a-watt meter.

ddrueding1
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Post by ddrueding1 » Wed Aug 29, 2007 10:14 am

I'll likely be getting another UPS soon, as this one will only give me a few minutes before it is completely drained. Which ones give you a load rating?

lm
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Re: New levels of marketing stupidity - Ultra X3 1600W PSU

Post by lm » Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:34 pm

CA_Steve wrote:This thing uses more energy for waste heat than all of my combined PC gear pulls from the wall. What were they thinking?
Now does it really?

That depends on the efficiency curve, not exactly the max capacity of the unit, even though they are related.

It is the rest of your system that really defines the amount of heat to be generated, and the efficiency of the PSU at that load.

If the monster PSU managed about 80% efficiency at lower loads, it doesn't have to produce any more waste heat than a smaller capacity unit.

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Post by jaganath » Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:57 pm

If the monster PSU managed about 80% efficiency at lower loads, it doesn't have to produce any more waste heat than a smaller capacity unit.
so if you are only going to run lower loads, why would you buy this PSU? your PC might suddenly draw 800W more? :lol:

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Post by CA_Steve » Wed Aug 29, 2007 4:09 pm

ddrueding1 wrote:I'll likely be getting another UPS soon, as this one will only give me a few minutes before it is completely drained. Which ones give you a load rating?
APC

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Post by dhanson865 » Wed Aug 29, 2007 6:51 pm

ddrueding1 wrote:I'll likely be getting another UPS soon, as this one will only give me a few minutes before it is completely drained. Which ones give you a load rating?
Just look for one with a USB connector and a CD for the software. Older units had serial cables but who wants to deal with that on a modern PC?

Ironically I bought the cheapest model. It'll only give me seconds not minutes. I just got tired of micro outages (less than the time it'd take for the room to get dark if you had a lamp and a TV on) and surges reseting my PC. They don't bother with data cables on units rated below 350VA.

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Post by Patrick82 » Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:48 pm

I'm confused, is this PSU good to replace multiple PSU's with? I want to have multiple computers connected to this PSU inside the closet. Is it possible?

How many harddrives can it handle? I will probably use 15 harddrives inside the closet.

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Post by Aanea » Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:13 am

Gotta say I was rather suprised when i found out how little my power hungry (or so I thought) system actually draw. Xeon 3060@3GHz, 2GB RAM@835MHz, 8800GTS 320MB OC, 1*250, 2*500GB HDD´s, 2*DVDRW +6*120mm fans and a 620HX PSU. Peakload so far is at 260W from the wall socket whole playing MOO Airborne demo.

For sure I knew a 620W psu was overkill but 260W peakload was not what I was expecting. :oops:

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Post by mark314 » Fri Aug 31, 2007 12:17 pm

Patrick82 wrote:I'm confused, is this PSU good to replace multiple PSU's with? I want to have multiple computers connected to this PSU inside the closet. Is it possible?

How many harddrives can it handle? I will probably use 15 harddrives inside the closet.
Sir, you're a legend.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1218182
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1218427

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Post by merlin » Fri Aug 31, 2007 1:18 pm

mark314 wrote:
Patrick82 wrote:I'm confused, is this PSU good to replace multiple PSU's with? I want to have multiple computers connected to this PSU inside the closet. Is it possible?

How many harddrives can it handle? I will probably use 15 harddrives inside the closet.
Sir, you're a legend.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1218182
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1218427
Wow I'm amazed by this troll. I guess he's bored enough to post completely bs comments that would never make sense.

mark314
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Post by mark314 » Fri Aug 31, 2007 1:54 pm

he has youtube videos...

Edit: I think he's legitimately off his rocker.

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Post by Konnetikut » Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:49 pm

WOW. This guy's INSANE. sorry for OT-ness, but I have to point this out.
http://www.myspace.com/extreme_tweaking

That's um, Patrick82.
"I like to take everything to the extreme. There is no point in doing it otherwise. "
I wonder what he would do to contribute to spcr.

mantralord
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Post by mantralord » Fri Aug 31, 2007 4:10 pm

I'm guessing Patrick82 is some kind of surreal parody on the extremes and excessiveness of the hardware and audiophile communities. Also those videos on his myspace are hilarious.

mark314
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Post by mark314 » Sat Sep 01, 2007 4:22 pm

Or an out of this world viral marketing strategy...

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