Should I be concerned by this PSU?

Defunkt · 25 Mar 2011 at 20:51

A friend recently bought all the parts for a new PC which all seem to me to be good but I'm concerned that he may have chosen a bum PSU and I kept trying to make sure he understood the importance of a good PSU. What he has bought is an Epsilon 800W
Finding out much info on this via google and reviews isn't easy as most seem to relate to their 700W and below range which seem, to have made a good name for themselves but that was some years ago and not today. Is this PSU what you would consider "generic" and dangerous if he was ever to SLI/Xfire
The rest of the spec is an Asus Rampage Extreme 2, 6 GB of dominator GT ram an i7 920 (with a noctua cooler) and a ATI 6870 plus 4x HDD's (all mechanical no SSD *sigh*) and a well cooled coolermaster HAF mid sized case which runs 3 200mm fans and 4x 120mm case fans.
I know very little about this Epsilon PSU rated 800W. He isn't planing on overclocking right now in any way but may do in the future. I would have thought only running a single graphics card on this quad 12v railed PSU would be OK but is this PSU the kind of thing I read about here that are involved in horror stories or is it safe and sound to use on this spec?
This is the label on the side of it...

the unit itself...

The unit itself is darkish blue in colour. but only the power switch lights up blue not the 120mm fan.
Am I worrying on his behalf for nothing as it's way over powered being 800W for his spec and will be fine or am i right to be concerned on this "thing"?
4x 12v rails? is that a good thing?

Thanks for any feedback as I have to make a decision for him about this as soon as possible and I have to admit I am unsure on it. :confused:

Kosmiche · 25 Mar 2011 at 20:58

Its a offshoot of fsp, fsp psu's are highly regarded I believe. Not sure if that means its any good though

olivier renault · 25 Mar 2011 at 20:59

Not for SLI, but it looks good for a single HD6870. The rails 2 & 4 looks designed to support a decent midrange dual PCI-e graphics card (or two single PCI-e).

If he plans to update the graphics to XFire or something more hungry, he'll have to upgrade.

Seeing there's no reviews, but looking at the specs, he should be good to go with the HD6870. There are all sort of potential issues possible, such as load balancing, ripples, efficiency, heat and efficiency, but from the specs, it looks it can handle it.

this review looks ok.

Defunkt · 25 Mar 2011 at 21:14

Thanks for the quick replies guys. My personal feeling was that it would be OK with his single GFX card on it and it seems most would say the same. I just don't know what safety features this thing has and worry that if it went pop it would take out a range (or worse) of other components because of a lack of safety features.

PhillyDee · 26 Mar 2011 at 00:33

Is it heavy, or light? This is a bigger pointer to me!

olivier renault · 26 Mar 2011 at 00:55

PhillyDee said:
Is it heavy, or light? This is a bigger pointer to me!

huh?

Defunkt said:
Thanks for the quick replies guys. My personal feeling was that it would be OK with his single GFX card on it and it seems most would say the same. I just don't know what safety features this thing has and worry that if it went pop it would take out a range (or worse) of other components because of a lack of safety features.

It's manufactured and designed by FSP, who also do the OCZ StealthXStream 2. I would think it's a safer bet than no-brand PSUs anyway.

Still, a lot of assumptions, and this review dont rate them highly.

I don't know, looks old technology. Just about fir for purpose but I wouldn't bet my rig on it. He should get himself a TX750, XFX 850W Black or Antec Truepower New 750W to go with the rest of the components.

Defunkt · 26 Mar 2011 at 06:02

Old tech is exactly what my thoughts on it were from it's price and age olivier.
He's sending it back now anyway I have convinced him to for peace of mind and he is going to order an Antec Truepower New 750W as you suggested as I know these to be as good (if not better) as the TX750. price wise they are all much the same it seems so the Antec looks a good choice and will sit pretty in the case with his other chosen components.

Thanks for all the info and backing up my worries for him.
I don't get the "Is it heavy, or light? This is a bigger pointer to me!" comment either. It has solid heatsinks which obviously will make it heavy but solid block heat sinks are not good and are old tech so weight has nothing to do with it in this case. In fact PhillyDee the heaviest of all the PSU models mentioned in this thread is probably the Epsilon 800w but yet it's the worst.
I understand a good weighty PSU is usually a good pointer but in this case I think it's of no relevance over the safety aspect.

panyan · 26 Mar 2011 at 08:18

Defunkt said:
Is this PSU what you would consider "generic" and dangerous if he was ever to SLI/Xfire

personally - i wouldnt use it, the PSU has the potential to cause havoc so would only use ones that were highly regarded/recommended

bl4ckdr4g0n · 26 Mar 2011 at 09:51

i wouldnt use it either, never heard of it and after a bit of research it appears to be a "no-frills" type PSU... imagine if that blows, it could take the entire rig with it whereas if you get a Corsair, Antec, Enermax etc etc that won't happen. reliability is everything with PSUs don't cut corners!

Ace Modder · 26 Mar 2011 at 11:16

I would NOT use that PSU - get an OCZ StealthXStream way better, and prob cheaper too

Tealc · 26 Mar 2011 at 12:23

Ace Modder said:
I would NOT use that PSU - get an OCZ StealthXStream way better, and prob cheaper too

That makes no sense.

The OCZ StealthXStream 2 supplies are FSP made and are based on the Epsilon design. If you look at the FSP and the OCZ internally side by side they are practically identical apart from the colour of the casing and a slight difference on one of the coils which is probably cosmetic.

Ok so the Epsilon 80Plus are a few years old in design but then so are the OCZ SXS2. There would be no point swapping the FSP for an OCZ as you'd be getting the same thing. As I understand it these units are fine but are not as good as Seasonic units as regards power ripple.

As for loading a 6870 you could easily go with multiple cards as 20 Amps is ample for pretty much any card and besides the rails are generally only virtual rails anyway.

Ace Modder · 26 Mar 2011 at 12:27

The OCZ will use better, higher quality caps and will be more reliable than the "Epsilon"

pastymuncher · 26 Mar 2011 at 14:45

Tealc said:
That makes no sense.

The OCZ StealthXStream 2 supplies are FSP made and are based on the Epsilon design. If you look at the FSP and the OCZ internally side by side they are practically identical apart from the colour of the casing and a slight difference on one of the coils which is probably cosmetic.

Ok so the Epsilon 80Plus are a few years old in design but then so are the OCZ SXS2. There would be no point swapping the FSP for an OCZ as you'd be getting the same thing. As I understand it these units are fine but are not as good as Seasonic units as regards power ripple.

The original Stealthxstream psu's were based on the Epsilon. The Stealthxstream ll psu's are a complete redesign and are far superior to the originals which suffered from very bad ripple and were quite unreliable.

Defunkt · 27 Mar 2011 at 20:52

Thanks to all contributors in this thread.
He's replacing it as I said earlier anyway. It seems like a "middle ground" PSU. not good but not really bad either but it's more about peace of mind when it comes to PSU's hence the concern. Thanks all.