Don't rush with an answer now, because it's not the one you're thinking.

A month ago, Phoronix performed a rather peculiar comparison among different operating systems, both from Microsoft and the GNU community: a power consumption test. It was one of a kind not only because of the subject chosen, but also because of the methodology employed. I've waited for a more "standar" way of measuring load conditions and nothing else has come our way, so let's make a recap.Using an old Intel Pentium 4 1,46 GHz (Northwood) on an ASUS P4SGX-MX (SiS 650GX + 962L), 2 x 512MB DDR-400, a Western Digital 80 GB, one DVD ROM and the IGP, they pass some tests on Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 2), Windows Vista Ultimate, Fedora 8 Test 3 (kernel 2.6.23) and Ubuntu 7.10 (kernel 2.6.22). On a side note, just remind you there was already a previous consumption test for Ubuntu here.

At idle, figures are very close to one another, the two OSes from Microsoft need almost the same amount of power and the Linux versions are 1W below or 2W above. It's when we go to the "load" data that things get interesting: Vista consumes more than XP (so much for that), but the Linux distributions eat 3W more than Vista and 7W more than XP.

Ugly but functional.

True, you can use just 600W for your SFF or HTPC but, why stop there? As good as manufacturers try to make their 1000+ units, they will inevitably add to the case cooling problems. Leaving the PSU outside of the case is a logical solution. If the market continues in the direction of consuming more and more watts, you will have to finally choose to either go external or noisy. The first choice may not look very stylish to you, but that can be improved. On the other hand, avoiding noise on a device that has to dissipate, let's say, 150W of heat in such a jammed space, without fresh intake air is impossible. Water cooling could do that, or a separate chamber for the PSU (like Antec does). Both solutions relay on the same principle behind the external unit, using outside air for cooling.

The name of the product says almost everything. We include the picture just to show we're not joking.

Tomshardware are the ones who noticed this "strange" (?) PSU at Computex. So big they had to make it external, at least the prototype. Maybe the final product will be squeezed into a standard case.

And have you any doubt that there will be those in need of so much power? Efficiency is sound and fine, but when we talk about ultimate performance, everything gets quad-duplicated. Even if the power consumption is frugal to begin with, it ends skyrocketing.

The idea of filling a PC with non-conductive liquid  to improve cooling is not very appealing. Tom's Hardware, among others, have been down that road and no manufacturer has taken any step towards mass production. Think about it and you will soon realize how inconvenient such a computer can be.

Anyway, what turns out to be impractical for a given size, may be interesting if we reduce the scale. And, what component that produces a lot of heat is already caged?

"The Koolance PSU-1200ATX-12S uses an external radiator to cool the circulating liquid coolant. Since it uses a special nonconductive fluid and is self-cooled, the power supply is not connected to any other cooling system for heat dissipation.

During installation, the radiator is removed and reattached to the power supply after mounting it inside the computer chassis."

When you buy this unit you also get a pumping system with radiator and fan. The implementation may not be without flaws but, for those who need a kilowatt PSU, is not completely useless. And it looks great on any LAN party.

eXtreme Outer Vision, an innovative provider of online PC enthusiast tools, today launched a new update for the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator.

The update contains up-to-date list of professional video cards, such as Quadro FX and FireGL from NVIDIA and ATI, as well as new NVIDIA 8800 GTS 320MB video card. In addition, we added ATI Radeon X300, X300 SE, X600 Pro and X600 XT. PUs update: added new socket 611 from the Intel and Itanium 2 processors; updated power consumption data for the Intel Xeon E and X series (Clovertown). The total number of processors which are currently available in the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator is 737.

“We also have some good news for our Pro version users,” commented Axel Brown, Senior Editor, “now they have an ability to select up to four video cards, which makes an eXtreme addition to our calculator.”

For more information or to find out what PSU you need for that mega monsta machine, logon to  the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator.

The power supply often gets overlooked when shopping for computer components. In an industry where bigger numbers rule, power supply specifications can often be misleading. A higher wattage power supply may sound like the better choice, yet if the rails don't have the amperage to back it up or is not being divided evenly among the components, then it could actually do more damage than a slightly lower wattage power supply built with high quality and stable rails. The latest nForce chipset and G80 graphics cards have put out a huge demand for quality power supplies and thatÙs why you see many manufactures are starting to enter into the already competitive market of high end power supplies, ranging from 800W to nucleur power stations. Bjorn3D take a look at yet another new player in the power supply market, NZXT, who have just introduced their latest 1000W rated power supply.

 More at bjorn3d.com.

What's that? A MP3 car player? A water cooling kit front end? No, it's the LCD information gadget included in AcBel's Digital Power Supply.   

If you thought it would stop with modular cabling or out-of-the-case AC/DC conversion, think again. The last innovation to attract buyer's attention (and money) has nothing to do with cooling or efficiency, it doesn't even only refer to the aesthetic quality of the product.

In times like ours, were information it's everything, it was odd to have a PC component that provided no monitoring tools. But now you can watch wattage, fan speed or temperature... among other things. Wonder what's causing that inestability? Check the ripple. Want to know if you can increase CPU voltage? See how many amps does already need it's rail.

This is one of those things that, once you have it, you can't go back to the way it was before.

If you thought it was enough to strap your PSU into a 4GHz system with twin 8800GTX graphics cards and ten raptor drivers and run Orthos for a few weeks, you're wrong. You've got to run it through a  Chroma Systems C8000 power supply tester costing $50,000 or your just not hip. The editor of Custom PC even concluded that manufacturers given a bad review by CPC were changing their brand names so readers of the magazine (god bless dorothy and burt from Dorest) couldn't recognise their crappy products.

Puts you off buying a power supply altogether really

With a name like a Red Hot Chilli Peppers song this power supply has to be cool.  The 3dGameMan gets to grip with the rails and finds out if the Zephyr is rock or just roll.

The HEC Zephyr 650W Power Supply is certainly not the highest wattage power supply on the market, but it will fit the bill for most people. ItÙs all steel so itÙs fairly heavy and comes with ultra high-gloss reflective paint finish. There are two fans; a blue LED 120mm and an 80mm. The 80mm is only activated when the PSU exceeds 60% load. This power supply also is 80% efficient and has Active PFC. Watch the video to find out more and check out the bloopers at the end.