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Product: EG365P-VE
Manufacturer: Enermax
Homepage: www.Enermax.com
Having spent a lot of time looking at the components within the system, we felt it was time to give some press to the little guy that lets the prima donnas show off. The least glamorous job in the pc world has to go to the psu. His main job requirement is the supply of a constant current and really that's it. So get ready for another fact-less, picture fuelled extravaganza of goodness.
We know how hungry AMD cpus are, couple this with a fair few case fans, a nice Delta blowing for Britain and all of a sudden your 235w is in over its head. So we wanted to look at one of the premium supplies available on the market today and therefore the Enermax was our choice. They have recently upped the wattage on their lowest rated supply up to 350w, which is ample for the non-peltier AMD and P4 crew. This is, as far as I know, the first review of this model, the EG365P-VE. For those who may suggest that this is not a proper review there are two points: One, we have never actually done a proper review of anything. Two, this is the second time I have seen this psu so technically it is a re-view.
The Enermax comes encased within bubble wrap inside an attractive and well designed box. Along side the psu is a power cable and a set of screws with which you attach the psu to the case.
The box contains the psu, screws, lead - American (DOH!) and a manual???!?
Upon freeing the supply from its plastic protector we could examine it more closely. Why look, it has another fan - ooooh and look- it is erm quite like the other psu we've got. The extra fan is a nice touch as it is see-through and as we always point out, the difference comes through in the details.
The mobo supply is covered with a black netting type set-up and has a good range which will allow you to take out the tray while still attached.
Despite all attempts at keeping fact and reason from these reviews, I was forced by the crack goblin to put in the following: The Enermax meets full Pentium 4 requirements and has a P4 connector and auxiliary. Both the 80mm and 92mm fans have dual ball bearings which should increase fan life-span and reduce noise. The supply has an enhanced +12v,efficiency rating for the 365 is 70% minimum at full load.If there are any other figures you want, then why are you here?
Installation
Once the old psu was removed, I put the Enermax in place and screwed it in. Job done. I'm not sure that any power supply could prove any harder or easier to install but hey being thorough is our review stylee (don't think I can't see you laughing back there). There are a **** load of wires attached to this unit and we could therefore refer to these as the Enermax's bitches if we were in a prison scenario. The upshot of these are your ability to keep adding more and more drives and fans but only two floppies, oh no ONLY two. Laughable really. This psu is great if you have a full tower but if like me you have a midi or mini then it is a real pain. I am reduced to stuffing the excess wires into a hdd space and this we have to file under the heading "bad".
The second fan that pulls air into the supply unit is situated directly next to the cpu cooler which is also trying to pull air in. This will lead to a disrupted air flow to both parties, especially the cpu cooler as the fan is smaller and therefore will draw less air. Again, I am not a fully qualified scientist (I have got a lab coat though) but the disruption will lead to inefficient cooling and ultimately increased cpu temps to some degree.
Noise
I really thought that the Enermax would be quiet compared to my last psu. Unfortunately as I understand it (time for another sound correction) sound is cumulative so two fans will make more noise than one but it is not exponentially so. This seems to be the case as it was noticeably louder and the sound was of a higher pitch than before. The readings are taken from the same distances as the cpu coolers, namely 15 cm and 150 cm with the latter being the assumed distance you would sit from the pc. As a caveat, the Enermax has a thermostat that controls the fan's speed according to temperature so this will affect noise levels.
Not bad figures when you consider a Delta will produce 70 dB at 15 cm. The noise is not very intrusive and you will quickly get used to it.
Efficiency
The hardware used for monitoring the psu performance is what we in the trade call "non-existent" so I shall lay down the results in the technical cipher of invisible typing. Check these out...
No, I haven't seen such a set of figures before. Amazing.
In all seriousness, I noticed that the values of supply in my Via Hardware monitor fluctuated far less than before and were at slightly higher levels. This we shall file under the heading "good". The difference may be because the Enermax uses gold connectors which not only conduct efficiently but are also more malleable than most metals thus allowing a better fit between male and female (stop it).
Conclusion?
Ah the best bit of a review, the end. Well, what can you say? It looks nice, comes in a nice box, produces more noise than most psus and has enough wires to .... I don't think we should go there. I am not really as impressed as I thought I would be, purely because I am not able to see any worthwhile difference.
Beware of other reviews that claim this is the mother of all supplies without any credible evidence. This is the best example of claims by supposed "customers" designed to make you buy a product - a temp. drop of up to 8C is such a ridiculous claim. If for some reason these are from bona fide customers, they are very inexperienced (not a crime in itself) if a second fan on the psu causes a temp drop as they "claim" or dramatically over embellishing the facts - a 1C would be acceptable..
The electricity bill may change or the components get a better supply but it is not really obvious. If you want one get one and if not then don't. Accordingly we deemed the Enermax to be worth an above average 7 crack crystals.
The final ChillBlast rating is *******
Enermax's site can be found at www.Enermax.com
Thanks go out to Vaz at Elex for his help in getting us the review material.