Zippy Gaming G1 (GSM-6600P): Hybrid or Fence-Sitter?
by Christoph Katzer on August 3, 2007 2:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Intro
Zippy is a name that is probably not too familiar to most of our readers, since their gaming series was the first step into the retail market not long ago. However, Zippy is actually not a newcomer to the PSU business, as they have been in that market for over 20 years. Up until now, Zippy has specialized in server and redundant power supplies and has become an established name in that segment. When it comes to reliability in the server market, Zippy is one of the names at the top of many lists.
Producing that type of power supply requires a lot of research and background work, which is a good starting point for entering the retail market. In the server market reliability is probably the most important requirement, and that's where Zippy has built their reputation. Today, we're looking at the Gaming-series G1 with 600W. We have also received several more product samples from Zippy and will review them in upcoming weeks. All Zippy power supplies are made in Taiwan which gives the company a better control over the production and quality control; it may not make them inexpensive, but there are times when it's best not to cut corners.
The GSM-6600P (G1) comes with a single 12V rail as we have seen on many power supplies in recent months. This is against the regulation of the actual Power Supply Design Guide, but the guidelines are often disregarded by many manufacturers. The reason it's being ignored is that some manufacturers feel having a single 12V rail that support a higher load helps them to create a more stable PSU that can avoid situations that might lead to a blue-screen/crash/restart when one of the rails gets overloaded, i.e. by a graphics card that requires too much power. This is a somewhat dubious claim, and we will make sure to dig a little deeper into this matter.
Zippy is a name that is probably not too familiar to most of our readers, since their gaming series was the first step into the retail market not long ago. However, Zippy is actually not a newcomer to the PSU business, as they have been in that market for over 20 years. Up until now, Zippy has specialized in server and redundant power supplies and has become an established name in that segment. When it comes to reliability in the server market, Zippy is one of the names at the top of many lists.
Producing that type of power supply requires a lot of research and background work, which is a good starting point for entering the retail market. In the server market reliability is probably the most important requirement, and that's where Zippy has built their reputation. Today, we're looking at the Gaming-series G1 with 600W. We have also received several more product samples from Zippy and will review them in upcoming weeks. All Zippy power supplies are made in Taiwan which gives the company a better control over the production and quality control; it may not make them inexpensive, but there are times when it's best not to cut corners.
The GSM-6600P (G1) comes with a single 12V rail as we have seen on many power supplies in recent months. This is against the regulation of the actual Power Supply Design Guide, but the guidelines are often disregarded by many manufacturers. The reason it's being ignored is that some manufacturers feel having a single 12V rail that support a higher load helps them to create a more stable PSU that can avoid situations that might lead to a blue-screen/crash/restart when one of the rails gets overloaded, i.e. by a graphics card that requires too much power. This is a somewhat dubious claim, and we will make sure to dig a little deeper into this matter.
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crimson117 - Monday, August 6, 2007 - link
The last two paragraphs in the Conclusion are in italics.http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.a...">http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.a...
JarredWalton - Monday, August 6, 2007 - link
Sorry - fixed now. Missed the closing > of the "turn off italics" tag. That's what I get for inserting a quick comment after posting. :|irev210 - Saturday, August 4, 2007 - link
From a build-quality standpoint... it is hard to find another PSU that can touch these.I hope that anandtech looks at more zippy units.
lopri - Saturday, August 4, 2007 - link
I, like many others, am loving the new PSU review series from AT. The articles so far are superb and full of good information, and best of all is that the information is largely based on the end-users' point of view. I'd like to thank AT for these reviews. Keep up the good work!Duraz0rz - Friday, August 3, 2007 - link
Are there no separate graphs for different ambient temperatures anymore? On page 5, you say you test for two different temperatures: 25C and 50C, but I only see one graph per rail and I have no clue which temperature that is for. You do mention in one of your paragraphs about Zippy being worried about testing @ 50C, so I'm confused.Nice review, nevertheless, but like you said, it is a little expensive.
JarredWalton - Friday, August 3, 2007 - link
The second graph (with higher temperatures) starts at 25C and ramps up to 50C by 100% load - just like in previous PSU reviews. Note the subtitle on the first temp graph - "Tested at Room Temperature".Duraz0rz - Friday, August 3, 2007 - link
That's the thing...there's only one graph per rail on page 5.JarredWalton - Friday, August 3, 2007 - link
The 230VAC-Room is done at room temperature (25-26C). It's present on all the charts except for the 5vsb (where it really doesn't matter much). We combined all four results into one chart because that seemed to be more useful for comparing the results and condensing the article into 8 pages instead of 22. :)Super Nade - Friday, August 3, 2007 - link
You won't recommend it for overclocking or a rig with a quad-core CPU? Why? Very strange conclusion after stating that it regulates like no other. Would a real enthusiast care about noise or the 5VSB and standby efficiency when breaking records or pushing the envelope of his machine?"In most other areas, it unfortunately falls short."
Apart from the electrical characteristics does the "failure" in "other" areas really matter?
JarredWalton - Friday, August 3, 2007 - link
This statement has been edited for clarity. Overclocking on it's own isn't a problem, and neither are quad cores or (certain) dual GPU configurations - don't try dual HD 2900 XT, most likely, since besides two PEG connections per card they can also use an 8-pin PEG as one of the connections. You can basically do two of the items in that list, but if you try to do all three you're going to go WAY over 600W.8800 GTX SLI (using factory OC'ed models) and Q6600/6700 @ ~3.47 GHz with two or three hard drives and idle power use will be in the neighborhood of 400-450W. Load up the CPU (say, Folding@Home SMP) and you can easily hit 600W or more. Play some games that load up the GPUs, and you really ought to be running a 1000W PSU - assuming maximum efficiency as usual comes in the 50-80% load range.
It falls short in noise, cooling performance, connections for certain devices. As an enthusiast, I definitely don't want a PSU that cranks out that much noise, considering there are other PSUs (SeaSonic) that will match the Zippy in all other ways and do it at lower noise levels.