• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w 40C Update

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
2FA
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
58,442
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w 40C Update - We are doing something we have not done before, and that is going back and giving a "failed" PSU a second a look. Ends up that the PSU was labeled incorrectly and therefore gave us some expectations that we probably should not have had. This should also serve as a good overview of our testing expectations as well.


Obviously some PSU builders do not like our Pass/Fail standards nor do they like the associated "Fail Logo" that we deliver with the content in order to make sure our readers understand that the PSU did not meet up to HardOCP standards. That however does not mean that the power supply in question was not a "good" unit.
Click to expand...
 
Obviously some PSU builders do not like our Pass/Fail standards nor do they like the associated "Fail Logo" that we deliver with the content in order to make sure our readers understand that the PSU did not meet up to HardOCP standards.
Click to expand...

Well if they can't accept it, then they get off their ass and built a better product (IMO).
 
Y'know, I just bought this power supply last week! I totally forgot about your original review. I saw the unit had great reviews on newegg, as well as having bought a few steathextremes and game extreme units for friends that seemed very good quality. I also bought it to replace a ------ 5 yr old original Ultra X-Connect 500w ------ yea, it actually made it through my socket A, 939, and AM2 builds before I decided to retire it for no reason.

I guess my point is that while some PSU's would never even come close to passing your standards (and don't get me wrong, I put a lot of faith in your testing, and believe it to be some of the best testing out there), that doesn't always mean they are not worth using. So far this modextreme is powering the rig in my sig great, and am totally happy with the purchase. I also love their warranty.

Glad to hear that it passed a second testing, though :)
 
Does this mean you guys are going to alter your testing method in some way? Perhaps by also testing at the rated temperature to check if the manufacturer is lying?
 
Tokamak said:
Does this mean you guys are going to alter your testing method in some way? Perhaps by also testing at the rated temperature to check if the manufacturer is lying?
Click to expand...

No. Everybody still goes through at 45c. If it fails at 45c it fails at 45c just as this unit did. By rerunning it we are not now "passing" it, this was just for illustrative purposes. Temperatures of 25c and such are simply unrealistic so even if the manufacturer is correct about the 25c figure, whoopie. There are literally days where I would have to run the units in a refrigerator to get them down to their rated temperature. Last summer while doing an FSP unit my office was 43c. Ambient.
 
Keep your reviews coming Kyle, saves me alot of headaches down the road.Sometimes I use my heat gun just to see how close the manufactures specs are because we all know that heat kills electronics.
 
Please don't change your pass/fail standard. It is a good barometer of whether or not a unit can withstand the claims that a vendor states. If you want a caveat to the fail then state it that way. So it may fail your standards, but it is good up to this point or something like that.
 
So basically, OCZ used exaggerated ratings on their packaging re: operating temperature of this power supply, and when it was brought to their attention that it wasn't capable of those ratings, they changed the packaging and insisted on a "do-over"?

Sounds like a load of BS to me... I'm a little fed up of companies having to be "caught" before they'll fix their errors, if they even are errors.
 
davidhammock200 said:
Where is your office, in a swamp?

Broken AC?

There has to be a story to go with this! :eek:
Click to expand...

I live in the south. I have 3 servers, a SM-8800, an incubator, a power supply exhausting into the room at full load, and my desktop on the second floor above a garage. Not exactly the coolest place in the summer.
 
With JonnyGuru or [H] psu reviews, I look at the price and the temp/wattage failure/out of spec points of the units. If a 700watt labeled psu from a normally reputable mfg. faills at 650 watts at 50c but costs significantly less than most 500-600 watt psu's, I might still by one if I was in need of a 500-600 watt psu.
 
I live in a very dusty area and the added ability to run hot and not fail to me means less chance of issues.
Even with a filter the psu will have dust in it the day after I clean it.

This goes even more so for my industrial clients.
It is not just enthusiasts that need high temp reliability.
Some of the work areas can get up to 54C ambient in the summer.
As more and more machines are ran by computer it is more important than ever.
Keep up the good work!!!!!
 
Valset said:
Sorry but I think your being too nice.
Click to expand...

I think that is the first time I have heard that in my entire [H] life! :p

We are not changing the ways we do things, we are just hoping to help both our readers and PSU MFGs better understand exactly what we do to evaluate their products.
 
I think rating a PSU to operate at a MAXIMUM temp of 40oC is a sign of cheap hardware/components.

Based on this, I would not buy this product, or any other PSU that will be running over its specifications in the middle of summer. The box should have a warning on it, "ONLY USE IN A ROOM WITH AIR-CON!" Or "ONLY TO BE USED IN A COMPUTER THAT IS WATER COOLED!"

And no, my office does not get to 40oC, but the inside of my computer can!

I personally think it is wrong to give this product a second chance, at such conservative operating temps.
 
Stimpy88 said:
I think rating a PSU to operate at a MAXIMUM temp of 40oC is a sign of cheap hardware/components.

Based on this, I would not buy this product, or any other PSU that will be running over its specifications in the middle of summer. The box should have a warning on it, "ONLY USE IN A ROOM WITH AIR-CON!" Or "ONLY TO BE USED IN A COMPUTER THAT IS WATER COOLED!"

And no, my office does not get to 40oC, but the inside of my computer can!

I personally think it is wrong to give this product a second chance, at such conservative operating temps.
Click to expand...
Most (90%+) of PSU's either are not rated at all or rated at 25C!

40C is the second highest rating you will usually see in consumer units, only a very few are rated at 50C.

If you read Paul's review of the PC P&C 750W, I think you might have a better understanding.
 
Paul_Johnson said:
No. Everybody still goes through at 45c. If it fails at 45c it fails at 45c just as this unit did. By rerunning it we are not now "passing" it, this was just for illustrative purposes...
Click to expand...

Illustrative purposes of what? Why do they get a do-over because of a mis-label or whatever their excuse was? Just because they took exception to your previous fail? I think you underestimate your readers by having to explain that perhaps we don't get the idea that the pass/fail is based on [H] testing methods and not some industry standard.

So you re-ran the test and put OCZ on the frontpage explaining that they "mis-labeled" their product and it actually does perform to their specifications, but it still fails yours. What's the point? Did they pay a bunch to have it re-run? Do we get to see a re-run on the Ultra 750 because it was "mis-labeled"?

I guess I don't get why you'd cave to a particular vendor and then frontpage it because they didn't like your methodology and got a fail... but that's just me.

Thanks.
 
For the same reason I reran the Everest 1010w at 25c:

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTUyMiwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

And this particular unit provided an opportunity to show that units that come this close to passing still don't get passed. The Everest wasn't this close it missed by a ways. The ModXStream came this close to the line so it made a better example (which is why I gave it another page rather than 2 lines) of how tough and how sharp the cutoff can be for a unit passing or failing.
 
^ I second that notion, accidentally getting the temp wrong is the same diff. as accidentally getting the wattage wrong. In the end we have to judge good or bad on whether we can trust all the specs to make the right choice.

However, to OCZ's credit they did change the labeling instead of trying to counter the evidence with marketing stunts or completely ignoring the problem.
 
It seems pretty ridiculous that the packaging was actually printed incorrectly... or the product was placed into the wrong packaging altogether.

I think it's great you took the time to write this up, though, shows class.
 
Paul_Johnson said:
I live in the south. I have 3 servers, a SM-8800, an incubator, a power supply exhausting into the room at full load, and my desktop on the second floor above a garage. Not exactly the coolest place in the summer.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure I would die. I can't stand my office being warmer than oh... Around 25-30c tops.
 
Hm... Well, 75% efficiency @ full load still isn't really impressive. Probably would have been better marketed as a 600W unit. As it is now, I'd choose anything else easy. They should have Sirtec rework the thing, or rate it more reasonably.
 
OCZ know that its the enthusiasts that are mainly buying their products, and by slapping on a 50c rating, they thought that the people in the know would think, "hey, thats a great PSU, its got really hi quality components in it, because its rated at 50c!)

Then they got busted by the H! Then it was all a big mistake, and somehow the labels were all printed wrong! So the H did a PR makeover for OCZ.

I wonder if OCZ would refund anybody that purchased this PSU because of the previous specs?
 
I think it sounds like $$$ was at work here, I mean either the powersupply can pass with all the others or it can't. You shouldn't re-review a powersupply because the MFG wined about failing. If it was a different model then that's one thing, but because they changed the sticker thats BS.

Long Time H Reader (2000), don't go soft on me guys.
 
I bought this PSU a couple of weeks back and have a couple of points to make:

That they say or implies directly on the box it was tested at 50 C and now wanted it retested at a much lower standard doesn't help OCZ's case.

In the final analysis though, this has been a pretty stable and reliabe PSU for me. My previous 550 W PSU wasn't making the grade and would go into shutdown when I would push my new Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 (512 MB) card. Since I installed the ModXstream-Pro 700W, not only has it held steady with maxed out settings on Oblivion, but I pushed the card a good 100 mHZ in overclocking the GPU and another 100 mHZ on the memory clock and card and PSU held steady without flinching for 2.5 hours before I stopped to eat. I have an AMD 6000 64X2 CPU, 2 SATA HDD, four 80 mm fans, and a DVD burner on a ASUS M2N32-SLI Motherboard with 4GB of PC6400 GSkill SDRAM. So the final price point I got the PSU was at $70.00 with a free DVD burner through Newegg. While the high grade benchmarking is nice, this PSU more than holds it's own under moderate load and stays steady. It's a bargain at the $70 I paid. I'd buy it again for my power load and at that price.
 
Paul_Johnson said:
I live in the south. I have 3 servers, a SM-8800, an incubator, a power supply exhausting into the room at full load, and my desktop on the second floor above a garage. Not exactly the coolest place in the summer.
Click to expand...

I've gotta ask... what do you use the incubator for, and is there any particular reason you keep it with the electronics?

Granted, I'm sure the extra heat can he handy.

I've only used an incubator in the past several years for snapping turtle eggs. Wanted to keep them the right temperature to get all females.
 
I think rating a PSU to operate at a MAXIMUM temp of 40oC is a sign of cheap hardware/components.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. The components can be fine, but if the design engineer doesn't do a proper layout (for airflow) job or manufacturing takes liberties (like putting insulation or glue where it wasn't supposed to be), then the final product may have to be further derated from initial design intent.

Basically a design can look great at initial specification, schematic, final drawings, even manufacture and still fail because the packaging guy uses foam peanuts and they don't bag and seal the device before they peanut it. (HINT: little bits of foam with fun and exciting resistance and capacitance values floating around inside the p.s.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top