PSU modular or not

[Samuknow]

I have been spending alot of time looking at PSUs lately. I see the big names ,Enermax, Antec, Fortron, OCZ, and so on. These PSUs boast some great performance and also carry a nice price as well. The thing I do notice is that they all look rather plain. My current PSU has been disassembled, painted, sleeved (UV BLUE) and modded. I would rather not have to do all that again on a 100.00 dollar PSU and void my warranty. So I have been looking at premodded PSUs.

Most of these are well known and boast some great performance as well. I have noticed many with modular connections. These are the best looking ones and also carry a nice price tag.

Now to my question, finally. Electronic science tells me that another connection in the line can cause several problems. Heat, noise, voltage drops and so on. I have seen no mention of these things on reviews. Is this an issue on these types of PSUs?

Ultra has a new dual rail unit that is nice.
Rosewill also does.
Hiper, coolermax, and Kingwill also do. The higher end Enermax and OCX units also sport modded PSUs.

All have great reviews and seem to do very well. The Ultra actually sports a lifetime warranty with registration.

Any input?

[aghastpumpkin]

I would think modular is purely an aesthetic thing. Excess cables on non-modular PSU's can always be tucked away behind the motherboard tray.

[Samuknow]

Well I like that part of it. Looks quite clean. Plus the PSU units are usually polished or something cool like that. I will dig up some links to a few I have been looking at.

[aghastpumpkin]

Modular are better - without a doubt! But you don't HAVE to have one and power wise, I don't think it's any improvement! I MAY be wrong.

[cadaveca]

If you want good info about PSU's, check here:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/

jonny does some great reviewing.

I recommend non-modular, but that's personal preference. You will loose a bit of power by having modular connectors, and they are just another place where EMI can enter.


Besides, my last modular PSU, the Enermax Liberty, blew up. I've been left kinda afraid to leave my systems on at night, because of it.

[Samuknow]

Thanks for the link. I will check it out.

There are plenty on non modular, great PSU that still look good. That is still important to me. Not above performance but a good second. Other than really not wanting it to burn down my house....

[cloasters]

After reading cadaveca's post about his Enermax Liberty causing a fire, I doubt I'll ever run a system without supervision again.

[cadaveca]

When ya fall off the horse, you get right back on, or the horse wins. I'm not about to be a sore loser.

[Samuknow]

Hey I had stuff happen when I first went to water. You just keep going. My WC rig runs 24/7.

I just need to install a halon system I guess. Just to be safe....lol

[cadaveca]

Wife desk is now metal and glass, and the pc is away from anything that would burn lol. Any of the pc's would have to shoot out 3 foot flames before starting a fire, and all powerbars have recieved lower-rating fuses.


Anyway, stuff like this happens. Usually you just hear about it...this time it happened to me. It's not like every psu will die this way(after running 6+ months 24/7)...some might last longer first I tend to push my hardware, and this is the first part in a long time i had die of it's own accord...usually I've sold them first! I think Pitch has a worse record....

[Gizmo]

As a practical matter, so long as they use decent connectors, it shouldn't make much difference whether you use a modular PSU or not. Beware of the ones that use gold-plated connectors though. I've heard that some of them use gold on one connector, and tin on the mating connector. That's Bad! Any connection mating has got to be like-to-like, so either gold-to-gold or tin-to-tin. Anything else is just asking for trouble.

Personally, I tend to side with Cadaveca; I prefer the non-modular PSUs, simply because I regard the modular connector as bling-bling; extra cost for no real functional improvement. I'd rather take the extra $5 that those fancy connectors cost me and put it into better electronics in the PSU.

[Samuknow]

I am a little supprised by some of the reviews on that site Dave. He gives the power supplies a good beating, and some have unexpectes test results. I never even heard of cross loading before. Thanks again guys...

[cadaveca]

LoL. most new systems ARE crossloaded, so it's very important.

[Samuknow]

This is what I gather. It is important for all to know this when looking for a new PSU.

If your looking for a PSU check out the link.

[d16man]

I have the ultra modular/dual rail and I love it...I got it and an ultra case on sale at TD for 99$ for both...I have lots of cables in my case and not having the ones I don't need is a benfit to me...plus, they are UV cables so they glow bright since there are less shadows...(from more cables)

[Samuknow]

That is the one I have been lloking at. It gets good reviews. Does youe have the silver cables that glow blue in the UV?

[danrok]

Originally Posted by gizmo

Any connection mating has got to be like-to-like, so either gold-to-gold or tin-to-tin. Anything else is just asking for trouble.

Otherwise risk of corrosion or ?

[cadaveca]

corrosion, and dissimilar metals do not conduct the same.

[Gizmo]

Originally Posted by danrok

Otherwise risk of corrosion or ?

Corrosion primarily. Since the connectors are plated (either tin or gold, depending on the connector) over a base metal, the harder of the two metals will tend to 'hammer' the softer metal plating off the connector. This condition is aggravated by heat expansion and vibration, and is refered to as 'fretting corrosion'. In addition, with like-metal connections, the connectors will tend to 'soft-weld' providing an improved electrical connection over time, or the exact opposite of what happens with fretting corrosion. For high-current connections the material of choice is solid silver, since silver has the highest electrical conductivity of all metals. Gold is used on plated connectors because it plates better than silver and resists tarnishing, which degrades the conductivity.