• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

FPS Booster X3 GPU Power Supply

jpmonkey69

jpmonkey69

jpmonkey69

Soldato
Joined
27 Aug 2003
Posts
3,001
Hi guys,

I just read about these, and I think that it's a really good idea. I'm getting another graphics card soon so I can SLi 2 7900GTs.

I was gonna replace my PSU as well, but I think it'll be easier to pick up one of these puppies instead, and power both cards off it.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/10/review_fsp_booster_x3/

Is this something that OcUK are planning on stocking soon? It's 61 quid, but it looks quite cool. I'd be happy to spend that much on one.
 
Hi there

We can get them, but I don't think they are such a great idea.

£60 is better spend towards a decent PSU. Better to have your whole system running from one single decent power source.
 
As I posted in the other thread on these things, I think they're a great idea for those who can only fit an MATX power supply but a proper ATX SLI/Crossfire-capable mobo (OriginAE cases, for instance)

It's not an ideal solution - yes, of course, the money (probably around £90 total on PSUs) would be better spent on a single solution - but unless manufacturers of nice-looking cases can be persuaded to fit both ATX mobos and PSUs into the same, good-looking case, there won't be any other way around it.
 
I just checked the prices on this and it works out to around £70 inc postage. Its seriously expensive. Would it not be cheaper to simply buy an another power supply unit and somehow find a place to house this in the case or if you are not bothered, run outside of the case with the cables exclusively supplying power to the graphics card. Surely even a cheapo £25 psu could power a graphics card on its own?
 
sunama said:
I just checked the prices on this and it works out to around £70 inc postage. Its seriously expensive. Would it not be cheaper to simply buy an another power supply unit and somehow find a place to house this in the case or if you are not bothered, run outside of the case with the cables exclusively supplying power to the graphics card. Surely even a cheapo £25 psu could power a graphics card on its own?
Click to expand...

A cheapo PSU might not do the job due to how well fed its 12V rails are...
I was running 2 PSU's in a case with only room for a single PSU so I bought one of these as a neater option...
Why didnt I put it towards a top end PSU?
Because I recently bought a very good and very silent 600W jeatech artic PSU.
These are good items, and provide your gfx cards with a clean supply of power, taking a lot of stress off the main PSU giving, you slightly more headroom for OC'ing. 300w is also a lot of power, my 2 X1900's consume about half of that, so the device is good for a generation or 2 of gfx cards. Its all down to your situation, to some this might be useful to others it might not...
 
What worries me is that this supplementary psu will add to the noise factor. It runs 40mm fans so I presume they will emit a high pitched whine.

Just how loud are these fans?
 
not as bad as a lot of people make out, during normal play its fine but whilst playing games it does rev abit higher... put it this way its not as loud as my DVDRW drive or my 120mm @100% CPU cooler for that matter(its an akasa amber fan on my cooler).
 
Ok, so you are saying that the fans are dependent on the amount of power being pulled by the card? When you are on the desktop, are the fans running loud?

120mm@12v is very loud to my ears. I am watercooled so everything runs very quietly on my system.
 
the fans are not loud whilst doing 2d tasks, if you want silence then steer clear, but its all dependent on how hard your pushing it, i do a lot as my cards need there own nuclear reactor:P
 
airflow and coolig would also be affected, and therefore you would have to be careful on placement within the case.

I posted something a few weeks ago in gh I think in regards to this also - it seems like a good idea until you get down to the nitty gritty

in the end too expensive and too many minus points to make them worthwhile
 
Gibbo said:
Hi there

We can get them, but I don't think they are such a great idea.

£60 is better spend towards a decent PSU. Better to have your whole system running from one single decent power source.
Click to expand...


wrong you are. if his current psu is even a decent brand 400w unit, this second psu booster is a very good idea. it will take all the gfx card load off the main system psu which will then have even more solid rails, and the gfx cards can work on their own psu which is independant of the primary psu.

for example:

my current psu has 24a on the 12v rail. i would not scrap my psu just for something with more grunt on the 12v rail. if i use a supplementary psu like this x3 booster, i can remove all the stress caused by gfx cards on my current psu and its 24a on the 12v rail will be used to power nothing but the rest of the system.
i guess i am the only one who is smart enough to understand this. the rest of the kiddies on this forum just are't smart enough to make this decision. :cool:

then again it all depends on the price of these booster units. they should be around the 30 quid mark which would make them really good for people like me.

only people who should really do a full on psu upgrade should be the qtec masters around here.
 
Cyber-Mav said:
wrong you are. if his current psu is even a decent brand 400w unit, this second psu booster is a very good idea. it will take all the gfx card load off the main system psu which will then have even more solid rails, and the gfx cards can work on their own psu which is independant of the primary psu.

for example:

my current psu has 24a on the 12v rail. i would not scrap my psu just for something with more grunt on the 12v rail. if i use a supplementary psu like this x3 booster, i can remove all the stress caused by gfx cards on my current psu and its 24a on the 12v rail will be used to power nothing but the rest of the system.
i guess i am the only one who is smart enough to understand this. the rest of the kiddies on this forum just are't smart enough to make this decision. :cool:

then again it all depends on the price of these booster units. they should be around the 30 quid mark which would make them really good for people like me.

only people who should really do a full on psu upgrade should be the qtec masters around here.
Click to expand...

Well as to my opponion and I am one with vast experience and an overclocker of many years such a device will only add further heat to a system and generate more noise. It won't make your cards run any better and is only of use to those who skimped when buying their PSU in the first place.

If your trying to run a PC of a poor power source then the PC stands a good chance of been unreliable, unstable and never overclocking to well.

As I've said I can add these to the OcUK site, no issues but never will I recommend somebody buys one. Do the decent thing and power your entire PC from a single quality power source such as a Sparkle or Enermax PSU with approx 600W.

Yes if these were in the £30 region then I'd agree, but once you've added VAT and shipping your looking around the £70ish area, absolute joke. :)
 
One 600W decent PSU > Any bay PSU type thingy.

Cyber-mav wtf. PSUs are designed to be stable if they arn't then it isn't working correctly.

People have survived quite well without these expensive things that are quite frankily usless.

I won't be buying one.
 
I think it really is a price point matter more than anything. If they are easy to install and don't cost a bomb then they might be a good idea for someone with a weak power supply (for example an off the shelf PC from one of the catalogue companies) who wants to get a decent graphics cards.
 
huh 70 quid? what a joke, i thought they would be more on the lines of 30 quid all in. for 70 quid its a complete waste of money, can get a gangster psu for that price. :confused:
 
Apart from all the other problems with it, you have a power cable to feed from one side of your case to the other - and there's not even a PCI blanking plate for it so you've got to find some hole somewhere to route the cable through.

fini
 
fini said:
Apart from all the other problems with it, you have a power cable to feed from one side of your case to the other - and there's not even a PCI blanking plate for it so you've got to find some hole somewhere to route the cable through.

fini
Click to expand...

There is a PCI blanking plate ....


.
 
Last edited:
wierd - when bit-tech reviewed it they made a point of pointing out that there wasn't one.

EDIT: just re-read the bit-tech review and it doesnt actually say it in the review, it was everyone in the forums saying it...

fini
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom