2003 Power Supply Roundup Part II: Better Faster Cheaper
by Kristopher Kubicki on July 31, 2003 1:58 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
We talked to Enhance a few months ago with thoughts about where PSU technology is headed. A unique thing about Enhance is that they are one of Intel’s closest development partners, so they always have a plethora of information on hand. Enhance’s web site has a lot of whitepapers and good information to use when researching a power supply that good for you, even if its not produced by Enhance.
The ENS-0246 comes with very few frills. The cable is not shielded or sheathed, but does come in a variety of connectors. Enhance is a very OEM oriented provider, so many of its power supplies have variations on the pin configuration (for different motherboards). For example, the B version of this power supply has 24 pin ATX while the A and C version have 20 pin ATX cables.
Wattages
|
|
3.3V |
5V |
12V |
-12 |
-5 |
+5vsb |
combined theoretical |
actual combined |
advertised total |
|
Enhance ENS-0246 460W |
92.40 |
150.00 |
180.00 |
9.60 |
1.50 |
10.00 |
242.40 |
220.00 |
460.00 |
The ENS-0246 460W power supply has a combined power rating of 220W. The +12V rail is capable of another 180W which leaves this power supply well shy of the advertised 460W. Our guess is that it is this supply is labeled by its peak power output rather than the actual.
On the other hand, we do commend Enhance for keeping the combined rail very close to the theoretical limit of where it should be. It’s unfortunate that the +12V rail was not a little bit higher, otherwise this would have been a very well rounded power supply.
For a 460W unit, the ENS-0246 is moderately priced around $85. Unfortunately, this is not a 460W power supply, since 460W seems to be more of its peak rating. More features or higher specifications might have given it the edge.
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Anonymous User - Friday, August 1, 2003 - link
1. No amp measurements were listed, a serious deficiency because without them there is no way to know how well each PS met its amp specs, and many brands are known to fall short.2. No overload testing results for shorts, excessive power draw, excessive temperature.
3. Ripple is not just slow voltage variation also short term variation, such as for each AC cycle (60 Hz for the incoming AC, about 60,000 Hz for the output DC). I would have liked to see how the latter correlated with the memory noise test results.
4. I hope you were careful when you tested the PS heatsink temperatures because some heatsinks are live with high voltage.
Anonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
Well for the observent people who can differentiate between orange and blue, its not an issue. Also waiting a full second before clicking it reveals the location on both the bottom left and the mouse cursor. but i can see how it does get annoying.Anonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
yeah those in page advertisements are REALLY annoying...those have got to go. i never know when i'm going to link to another anandtech article or to an ad...i guess that's the point but it's still unacceptableAnonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
I would like to see the review include a Heroichi Electronic power supply, I hear they are very good but I haven't used one.Anonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
Some of your "In Page Advertising" links seem to be missing closing links tags or something so that it results in having a <link> in the middle or end of a sentence. Ex. "We had a lot of troubles with Vantec’s last power supply, the Stealth. We found an error in the production label<link>, which quickly led to a change in all the labeling on all Stealth power supplies."KristopherKubicki - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
#3 and #4, thank you for spotting these errors. I have updated and fixed them.Cheers,
Kristopher
Anonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
I hope the ripple for the PC Power & Cooling 3V wasn't 2.295.. Possibly 3.296??? 1 volt drop is unacceptable.Anonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
The REAL price of the pc power&coolinghttp://www.directron.com/pcpower.htmlAnonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
a little more content per page in some cases would be nice too......but good to see content on the site at all...and seemingly more regularly too...
Anonymous User - Thursday, July 31, 2003 - link
woah guys, the tables need some work...