PSU temp ratings?

T

therapy

Gawd
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Dec 20, 2000
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How come some manufacturers go out of their way to make insane claims like 600W at 25C when they know that there is no way the average temp rating inside a computer case is 25C? My case runs closer to 38C ambient and 44C load internal temps, and I have fairly good airflow.

Also, why do so few manufacturers rate their PSUs realistically?

I know that a few, like PC Power & Cooling and Seasonic rate their power at 50C, which is what I think the industry standard should be, but having a PSU rated at 25C just hurts everyone, because you buy what you think is a 500W PSU that should power your system, and suddenly you find out it was rated for 25C and at 40C in my case it's suddenly only outputting 310W instead of 500W and actually has such shitty efficiency that it is dumping heat into the case and my average ambient temp goes UP while my stability goes down.

Nice way to spend $50, right? I bought a Seasonic S12-500 to replace it, my ambient temp dropped 4C on average, and it's much quieter, not to mention I can now play Oblivion for more than 35 minutes without having random lockups and hearing the fan spinning at super-high speeds.

So does anybody know what temps a variety of PSUs are rated at?

PC Power & Cooling: 50C
Silverstone: 40C or 50C depending on model
Seasonic: 50C
Antec: NeoHE is 50C, TruePower II: who knows?
OCZ: ?
Enermax: ?
Hiper Type-R: ?

Is there some sort of compendium you can go to that will show you this information? Some manufacturers don't list it anywhere on their websites or product spec sheets.

BTW, this is not for the system in my sig, this is for another system I have been messing around with for a friend.
 
The reason manufacturers do that is because the average consumer will not look at how its rated, just the numbers. Most people would buy an assfire 680w before a nextherm 460, simply because 680 is a bigger number than 460. Then some makers just plain lie on the ratings. Powmax, Deer, Coolermaster realpower 600w, Hiper Type R. Unless you're really curious and willing to spend time to look for the actual origins, you won't find out that the hiper Type R 580w is really just a seventeam 500w.
 
Here's a few more:

Zippy - 40-50 degrees depending on model
Etasis - 50 degrees
Fortron - 25-50 degrees depending (the Epsilon 600W and 700W is 50 and 40 respectively)
Channel Well (Antec besides Neo HE, XClio, some Thermaltake) - 25 degrees
Enermax - 25 degrees
 
The spec calls for 20c. Manufacturers can exceed that but that is all that is required.
 
Ultra is 25C too.

Spectre's right. The "spec" is 20C. Talk about unrealistic!

But the fact of the matter is, the power supplies are loaded up in an ATE rack, outside of a case, and room temperature is room temperature. To test higher, they have to increase room temperature. Not really a big deal, sure.. but that's what they have to do. So you have to wonder.. is a power supply company going to HANDICAP themselves by rating their power supply at a higher temp than anyone else and risk losing sales?

PCP&C can get away with it because they're PCP&C. Seasonic can get away with it because 80%+ efficiency PSU's have a much lower derating curve, so the amount of wattage one can put out at 20C doesn't really change when the chamber is 50C.

Speaking of derating curve... If the derating curve is 2W per 1C, then the 20 to 50C difference can contribute to a a 60W difference. 10% isn't huge on a 600W, but how about a 450W? And what about PSU's like the one PCP&C use in their "comparison" add for the TurboCool? What's that? 5W per 1C? Who's PSU is THAT?!?!
 
jonnyGURU said:
And what about PSU's like the one PCP&C use in their "comparison" add for the TurboCool? What's that? 5W per 1C? Who's PSU is THAT?!?!
Click to expand...

Nothing runs like a Deer :p
 
jonnyGURU said:
Ultra is 25C too.

Spectre's right. The "spec" is 20C. Talk about unrealistic!

But the fact of the matter is, the power supplies are loaded up in an ATE rack, outside of a case, and room temperature is room temperature. To test higher, they have to increase room temperature. Not really a big deal, sure.. but that's what they have to do. So you have to wonder.. is a power supply company going to HANDICAP themselves by rating their power supply at a higher temp than anyone else and risk losing sales?
Click to expand...

That's true I guess, but I've learned my lesson and will be buying something more accurately rated in the future.

Also, I feel that 40C is more realistic than 20C or 25C when it comes to my case, but I guess it would depend on how badly the drop was.
 
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