Originally posted by: stevejstLooks good. Deltas are fine power supplies, only the +12V is a bit low, I guess you will not be able to put too many fans on this power supply. It is a great deal nevertheless.
True... If a system has 2 HDD, 2 Optical drives, it'll be limited to about a dozen full-sized fans. This model of Delta is NOT meant to be used in a server with half a dozen or more HDD, but the Enermax isn't either. If you have a P4 12V-biased system, then you do need more power on the 12V line, but again there are equal PSU for less $, or better for the same $ as an Enermax.
Enermax are the best power supplies there are, they are not overrated. Enermax 350W puts out 60W more on +12V line than this Delta, it is strange you wouldn't notice.
Oh no, not this discussion again! Open your Enermax up, and LOOK INSIDE. If you know what you're looking at, you'll see that an Enermax 350W does not have the higher-capacity components necessary to distinguish their 350W model from other 300W models, hence "overrated". Rather, the Enermax circuitry is more simplistic, which is ridiculous considering their price.
> It has two fans that are more quiet than most one-fan power supplies,
That is a good feature of the Enermax models... If only they found a way to do it without having to shrink the heatsinks to fit that second fan on the bottom, it would have been more significant to the cooling of the PSU. At least it does offer the potential for slight noise reduction and redundancy, but redundancy isn't very important unless the primary fan is junk or a sleeve-bearing model.
> they have gold plated contacts,
That would be very important somewhere like a MARINE environment, except that this is the only part of the PSU that is gold-plated (maybe the fan grill is too, but more likely "golden-color", not gold. Not that it matters.), so it isn't a significant difference. Actually, anyone who remembers back to the 486/Pentium systems and their tin vs gold plated SIMMs, might recall that it's a BAD thing to use dissimilar metals for contact, so if all your drives, motherboard, etc, aren't also gold plated, it may be best to avoid gold plated connectors.
> tied and long cables,
Long cables are crucial for a motherboard/case that needs them, but just get in the way and increase resistance otherwise. It's not a positive feature unless you really need long cables. As for being sheathed, remember when I wrote "pretty" before? The benefit is only to the eye, no functional difference since practically all PSU cables are tied.
> ventilation as good as to serve as a case fan ...
Unless you turn the fans down to be quiet, meaning you can have one feature or the other, but not both. It's a step in the right direction though, and the strongest feature of Enermax PSU... it's just a feature that's completely unnecessary if one follows the design guidelines for Intel or AMD CPUs. Granted, the Delta DPS-300BB doesn't follow those guidelines because of it's lack of bottom air vents, but this is usually problematic only if those guidelines were already being ignored, if there is no rear exhaust fan on the case.
> they are as stable as rock. Most of them have fan monitoring, some even adjustable.
Enermax are stable up to their rated capacity, as are most every name-brand costing half as much. I can't remember hearing of someone who had a quality name-brand 300W PSU and had problems that were solved by switching to a 350W Enermax. The same can't be said for switching from an Enermax 350W to another quality >=300W PSU. Whether you want to admit it or not, there are more problems using an Enermax 350W PSU than many other name-brands of similar cost.
>This power supply is a solid PSU with economic design and nothing more.
Open your Enermax. It's internal construction is cheaper (uhh, more "economic") than this Delta. This Delta could be better with a fan underneith like the Enermax, but it's a better power supply even without it. I suppose there are exceptions, like if the rest of the system is low-powered, poorly ventilated, and high-heat-producing. Those three phenomenon are unlikely to occur simultaneously.
> You don't like Enermax that is fine but branding them average is quite an
> exaggeration. For example take a look at the fans of Enermax and compare
> to any average PSU, you'd notice that Enermax has wire frame on the fans
> which doesn't have any feedback while average PSU has carved metal that
> sends a portion of air back to fan again.
They are only average in their ability to supply power, but are a little better at providing quiet ventilation. However, a decent case with rear (and front if necessary) fans doesn't need to rely on the PSU to cool the rest of the system. It's better if the rear case fan immediately removes the hot exhaust from the CPU, not letting it go into the PSU at all.
> I have not seen any educated evaluation of Enermax that would claim anything but excellent for the brand.
Frankly, I can't remember reading any educated evaluations of Enermax... I've mostly seen reviewers making poor (wrong) guesses. For example, I've read reviews of Enermax PSU in which the bridge rectifiers and switching regulators were called "resistors". Another review called a load resistor a temperature sensor. One review assumed that if the power connectors weren't gold plated, that they were aluminum. One reviewer seems to have felt that the readers would actually need a diagram to figure out how air flows when there are two fans! If you can provide a review by someone who knows what matters in a PSU, doesn't make glaring mistakes in their understanding of the most basic of concepts in electronics, and does more to differentiate between multiple PSU than just say "it works fine and looks kewl", please provide a link. Keep in mind that many of the reviewers also received these PSU FREE, making their assessment of value a little less objective than someone who buys and replaces PSU on a regular basis.
BTW, for anyone who is interested, these Deltas do have the
voltage adjustment POT.
stevejst, please note that linked picture, open your Enermax and tell us of ANY internal components/circuitry in your Enermax that are better (if as good), that justify it being >$9 more expensive than the price of the Delta or any other quality
300W PSU. We all know it has that second fan and the grills, but that's less than $3 worth of parts to a manufacturer buying in bulk. Add the longer cables, maybe $1 more. Now add gold-plating (even though it doesn't matter), maybe $3 more. Add main power cable sheath $1. Oh, the fancy cardboard box too, $1 ?