FSP Twins that are 500W Each

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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PCPer has the skinny on the new FSP Twins Hot Swappable server-type computer power supply. You are either one of the folks that know you want or need this, or you don't. Our review will be published this week along with a full sister-review of the software provided with this PSU. You can buy it at Amazon and Newegg, however, it is not inexpensive.
 
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Yeah, so there is so much that they could have done better. Why not integrate a fan into the case and cool both units with a larger quieter fan. And the pricing seems a little on the high side. This would have been nice for my home server, have one connection to the battery backup, and one connection to the wall. But at that noise and price level, I will still with just the battery backup.
 
There's so many things that break before power supplies these days. As long as you have a good quality PSU to start with, you'd be a lot better off with redundant servers and a good UPS for critical services.
 
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Yeah, I'm one of those weirdos who can't seem to decide if I want this or not. I've been running my server on a high efficiency consumer PSU for years and never had a problem. Are PSU's shitting out and needing a failover really that common of an issue?
I have lost one PSU in our servers over the last 20 years, and we run servers well out of warranty.
 
Yeah, so there is so much that they could have done better. Why not integrate a fan into the case and cool both units with a larger quieter fan. And the pricing seems a little on the high side. This would have been nice for my home server, have one connection to the battery backup, and one connection to the wall. But at that noise and price level, I will still with just the battery backup.

This is typically how these things are made so you can swap bad parts easily. Since it isn't marketed to home computers, they probably don't care too much about the noise.

Yeah, I'm one of those weirdos who can't seem to decide if I want this or not. I've been running my server on a high efficiency consumer PSU for years and never had a problem. Are PSU's shitting out and needing a failover really that common of an issue?

Same here, been using higher end consumer power supplies and no issues but all my stuff can survive a day or two for replacement part should something fail. Noise is a big concern though. These are also prices well outside even the highest end enthusiast power supplies and IMO hard to justify for my needs. Though for folks building a home server or something like that, this could be a nice option.
 
I really like the idea of these as we have some servers in standard ATX cases. But the price is about $100 too high.

I am a huge proponent of dual power supplies in all my network infrastructure. One PSU on UPS, one on house power, etc. If for nothing else you can move power around without having to take the device offline.
 
Same here, been using higher end consumer power supplies and no issues but all my stuff can survive a day or two for replacement part should something fail. Noise is a big concern though. These are also prices well outside even the highest end enthusiast power supplies and IMO hard to justify for my needs. Though for folks building a home server or something like that, this could be a nice option.

Yeah, noise is not an issue for me as I keep my servers in the basement (within reason, I had a HP DL180 G6 "Dreamliner" down there once, and it was annoyingly loud to the point I could hear it two floors up in my bedroom with all the doors closed in between)

Downtime would be a bummer though. My better half would be unhappy if we had no TV for a couple of days waiting for a replacement PSU. (The Server hosts - among other things - a MythTV backend for our TV) but I could always make a run to Microcenter and replace the PSU on the spot.
 
Very cool, I want it. Have no true need though. Maybe once everything in my house is connected to a server in some way. So like 10 years from now?
 
I like the idea and design but $400 for redundant 500 watt PSUs seems steep. I'm looking at a Seasonic branded 750 watt redundant power supply on NewEgg and it is only $349.99 plus tax and shipping. The Seasonic is a longer unit but with my case I wouldn't have any trouble fitting it in.

Besides compact size, it would be great if FSP provided details of what makes their unit worth as much as they are charging for it.
 
Yeah, I'm one of those weirdos who can't seem to decide if I want this or not. I've been running my server on a high efficiency consumer PSU for years and never had a problem. Are PSU's shitting out and needing a failover really that common of an issue?

I think it depends on a) your need for high uptime, b) your ability to monitor and replace a failing unit, c) your ability to trust the single point of failure that's integrating the power between the two PSUs. Honestly, I would think hard about running on two independent servers before worrying about redundant power supply. If you monitor the voltage rails close enough, you probably can get some idea of pre-failure on a standard power supply and swap it out with downtime at a good point in time. For my home server, I try to make sure I can get replacement parts at Fry's; I've had tiny computers, and it's a pain to have to wait for replacement power supplies that fit.
 
Hesitating if I should get one. You can get a decent 2U rackmount server with redundant power supplies used for $200-$300 on ebay. Would be great in my server rack since then my pfsense will be able to draw power from both of my UPSes in it.
 
Interesting approach of stuffing redundant PSU's in an ATX case, I can see some applications for this, not many, and not for me... or anyone I know.. but someone.
 
Definitely an interesting product. Big fail on the fan though. I wouldn't let that 40mm fan anywhere near my living space where my personal desktops reside.
 
Way too much money for what it does. We are much more susceptible to power outages than failing power supplies. Even up-time considerations at home are better addressed by having a cheaper, spare PSU handy or taking advantage of two-day and same-day shipping for no extra cost. Let alone the fact that $400 can buy you one heck of a UPS that would see a much better return on investment in the long run.

I could buy earthquake insurance in FL, but a better investment would be hurricane insurance. Same principle applies here.
 
Sticker shock! That's the price of three decent 500W power supplies. I thought seeing this on HardOCP they had finally decided to start marketing this kinda gear to enthusiasts. I know from personal experience that when server power supplies fail in a rack, redundant power supplies like this are the bomb. It's a simple fix, just swap it out and send it out for a replacement. No shutting down, rewiring or anything you'd expect with a failed PS.

One place I worked we had an entire monster UPS(major brand 42U cabinet about 3/4 full of expansion batteries) fail on us once, luckily most of the power supplies where redundant and connected to another UPS. Everything without redundant power went down because that was the primary UPS. It was sized to handle everything the second older unit was only sized to run the most critical servers, core switch, etcetera. We were left scrambling to re-wire them to street power, it was mayhem. Luckily, this happened in the middle of the day and nothing mission critical was on any of those servers. If I remember correctly it failed because both management modules died. The vendor was extremely responsive and had it back up within a few hours.
 
I spent the last 15 years in data centers and we replaced plenty of power supplies. The hot plug design of these is pretty cool... but these types of things get really freaking loud.

Honestly I've replaced maybe 50 - 100 power supplies in that time at work, but at home? I've only had 3 go out in that same timeframe... and 2 of those went at the same time when my house got a really bad power surge. Fried 2 APC 600v UPSes (the $60 variety) and everything connected to them. APC replaced the UPSes but did jack shit about the rest of the equipment. I was lucky though, while the power supplies were toast, the systems were fine after I replaced them. I think Antec even replaced one of them in warranty. The rest of my household electronics did not fare so well, but not enough to meet my insurance deductible so it was all out of pocket :(

Honestly once HP got away from the "sliding brick" style, which these LOOK EXACTLY LIKE, they had less problems. I'm talking about HP DL38x G2-5 those who have a clue. The bigger removables in the 4U servers like the 58x G2+ series were pretty robust, I can count on fingers how many of those had to be replaced.

edit - these fucking things are what I'm talking about. We replaced more of these types than any other:
https://www.amazon.com/HP-Proliant-Server-PS-3381-194989-002/dp/B000MYX344/
 
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