Exclusive Interview with PC Power & Cooling Founder
by Christoph Katzer on February 11, 2008 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Not long ago we had a long talk with PC Power & Cooling founder Doug Dodson about power supplies and the question came up why there aren't lower wattage power supplies with enough PEG connectors to support higher end graphics card setups. The reason why will be answered shortly but Doug also agreed to build us a custom power supply based on the newly introduced Turbo Cool 860. The article about that power supply is already online, and as a follow-up we wanted to post this interview.
For the curious, that's Christoph on the left and Doug on the right…
We met Doug and the PC Power / OCZ crew at this year's CES show in Las Vegas, and he took the time to answer a few questions we had. We have three topics to cover: Technology, Markets, and Work. These will concentrate respectively on the technology offered by PC Power & Cooling, the newly extended markets created by the acquisition from OCZ, and how the work changed during this time until today.
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NicePants42 - Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - link
Amidst your obvious statements, you appear to assume that I've used the TurboCool 1200, and that I want all PSUs to be watercooled.In fact, I've used the 'Silencer' 750W, found it to be obscenely loud, and replaced it with a Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1000W, which is inaudible as far as I can tell, and has fantastic efficiency from 290W to 700W according to Jonnyguru.
In fact, I suggested that Mr. Katzer ask PCP&C about the possibility of adding hybrid water cooling to a PSU, seeing as OCZ has already experimented with this on RAM.
Christoph Katzer - Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - link
There is just no way to get a watercooled PSU certified that it can be sold as a retail product. No chance in Europe and in the US it won't be too much of a difference.NicePants42 - Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - link
What certificaiton are you referring to? UL?I would like to clarify that I was not suggesting water-only cooling. As I said, OCZ has experimented with hybrid air/water with it's XLC RAM kits. If the water is optional, what is to stop certification?
If UL certification is such a problem, how can we allow for the Koolance 1200W unit? Non-conductive fluid? Going to market without certification? What?
BigTex - Monday, February 11, 2008 - link
He also said the Turbo 1200 is designed for the server market which is not generally noise conscious. PCP&C is obviously a conservative company. A company that eschews multiple rails and modular cables is unlikely to embrace water cooling.Snooper - Monday, February 11, 2008 - link
The whole multiple rail thing is a cop-out anyway. The ONLY way you could justify multiple rails is if you can't design a power supply that can source the needed current while maintaining regulation and ripple. That's not easy. It is MUCH easier to design a circuit that can source a fraction of what you need then put multiple ones in the power supply to get your "xx Amps @12V!!!" marketing quote.PCP&C does it the right way. And the capabilities of their supplies shows.
And getting UL approval on any kind of water cooled power supply is going to be VERY interesting! I would LOVE to have a true 750w "Total Silence" WC power supply to plug into my computer and hook up to my WC system! I hate fan noise.
tynopik - Monday, February 11, 2008 - link
> The ONLY way you could justify multiple rails is if you can't design a power supply that can source the needed current while maintaining regulation and ripple.or that's what the ATX specification required (no more than 20A allowed per rail, something about safety reasons)
for instance, that was the spec when Corsair was designing their supplies, but then the 'requirement' was changed to a 'suggestion' so they changed the design of their 620HX and 520HX to a single rail . . . but they had already spent a lot of money on documentation that said 3 rails, so that's how they sent it out
the supplies are actually 1 rail, but the box and manual and spec page all say 3 rails
lebe0024 - Monday, February 11, 2008 - link
Click on the "Target $59.99" link in the artical header above. HAHAHA. It's for a product called the "Super Turbo Oven"!noxipoo - Monday, February 11, 2008 - link
price went up to 69.99 from all your clicks!! how am i suppose to overclock my chickens now?tynopik - Monday, February 11, 2008 - link
[quote]But I don't see many power supplies with lower outputs and more cables. I actually had to ask you to build me a custom power supply with all the connectors I wanted.[/quote]this is a question that has vexed me for years, but forget about PCIe connectors, how about regular old peripheral connectors?
my system isn't powerful, but i have a lot of HDs. I had to get a 620W PS which is way overkill simply to get 10 peripheral connectors. 6 IDE HDs, 2 HD cage fans, 2 case fans, very easy to hit 10.
would it kill somebody to offer a 400-500w supply with say 16 peripheral and 10 SATA connectors?
(in case you're wondering i've had bad experiences with Y-splitters and prefer not to use them)
mindless1 - Monday, February 11, 2008 - link
You may have bad experiences with Y-splitters, but so might you have bad experiences with a poor PSU. IOW, if you don't pull so many watts as to need a higher wattage PSU, the wiring harness present should be sufficient if only you choose decent splitters.