Be-Quiet StraightPower 550W Power Supply Review

[Tyreal]

Thanks for backing up my response Paul.

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by Tyreal

Thanks for backing up my response Paul.

You have no idea how hard it is for me to agree with Tyreal. I feel dirty.

[Jokerswild]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

You have no idea how hard it is for me to agree with Tyreal. I feel dirty.

As you should. :P

[Hitman]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

You have no idea how hard it is for me to agree with Tyreal. I feel dirty.

I would disagree just to keep my reputation.

[Tyreal]

Thats enough. We should stop the offtopic posts now.

[Lead Head]

What im saying is that, if the rails are balanced out PERFECTLY,

Like, 1 12v rail for the P4/P8 connector, 1 12v rail for the main ATX connector and drive connectors, and the other two rails going to the PCI-E connectors, that would be about a perfect rail layout.

Now on your average P4/Athlon 64 system the CPU is powered only by the P4/P8 connector, you are drawing average 70-110watts from the P4/P8 connector, thats around 5.8a-9 amps, then if you throw in the main board plus a hand full of drives+what ever the main board is powering you can add about 200watt( PCI-E video cards draw their power from the main board also), now if you have that thats 16.7 amps from that 12v rail, then if the video cards are 100watt ers, thats 25 extra watts or 2a for the remaining two rails, totaling 50watts. , thats 30amps, wich should be no sweat on the PSU, IF! all the rails are connected perfectly.

If you start OCing now, your CPU will be expected to draw around 140-160watts, add 4 amps, and if you OC your ram thats even more power draw, already almost maxing the allowed power for the motherboard, then if you OC your video cards so they are say drawing 130 watts add another 5 amps, and already then your about maxing the PSU to its limit on the 12v rail, or 456 watts for the 12v rail alone, not factoring in the other rails. And im not even going to begin considering its support for dual CPU rigs. Something like that would defiently trip the overload. So in short, this PSU would work good for no OCed SLI with a medium to high end system, but you can defeintly rule out quad SLI and dual CPU systems.

and yes, i do know thats how multi rail PSUs work if the total allowed 12v amperage is less then if you add all the rails total power uptogether

[One4yu2c]

First off, I win the bet Tyreal, you lose! :P For those reading, Tyreal and I made a bet in private, with me saying that Lead Head would dispute my post, and Tyreal saying he wouldn't. The stakes were 5 free CSS kills, and I look forward to collecting! :D

Originally Posted by Lead Head

What im saying is that, if the rails are balanced out PERFECTLY

Which stabilizes the load, and does not rob any component(s) of +12V amps. This also gives power hungry components (namely, videocard(s)) more amps to work with (if needed) rather than sharing a line's capability with other components. This stabilization and other benefits are why the ATX specification now requires multiple +12V rails.

Originally Posted by Lead Head

So in short, this PSU would work good for no OCed SLI

That's perhaps TOO short, to the point of being inaccurate. OCing isn't going to put a halt into this power supply's ability to run SLI, and quite the opposite really. Because it utilitizes quad-rails, in theory, OCing should enjoy greater success thanks to the power stabilization from running dedicated rails. Regardless, 41A is PLENTY for a mid-high end system, OC'd, with multiple videocards, Otherwise, someone needs to tell nVidia so they can completely revamp their SLI certified list, as well as all the enthusiasts running mid-high end setups on lesser spec'd PSUs...

As mentioned, dual 7900GTX or above may give it a run for it's money, but it's likely it could handle those too, just as its Dark Power Pro sibling does, with one less total +12V amp available (40A compared to 41A).

Originally Posted by Lead Head

but you can defeintly rule out quad SLI and dual CPU systems.

Or in other words, "all but the most powerful SLI configurations." Sounds vaguely familiar...

[Lead Head]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

First off, I win the bet Tyreal, you lose! :P For those reading, Tyreal and I made a bet in private, with me saying that Lead Head would dispute my post, and Tyreal saying he wouldn't. The stakes were 5 free CSS kills, and I look forward to collecting! :D

Which stabilizes the load, and does not rob any component(s) of +12V amps. This also gives power hungry components (namely, videocard(s)) more amps to work with (if needed) rather than sharing a line's capability with other components. This stabilization and other benefits are why the ATX specification now requires multiple +12V rails.

hThat's perhaps TOO short, to the point of being inaccurate. OCing isn't going to put a halt into this power supply's ability to run SLI, and quite the opposite really. Because it utilitizes quad-rails, in theory, OCing should enjoy greater success thanks to the power stabilization from running dedicated rails. Regardless, 41A is PLENTY for a mid-high end system, OC'd, with multiple videocards, Otherwise, someone needs to tell nVidia so they can completely revamp their SLI certified list, as well as all the enthusiasts running mid-high end setups on lesser spec'd PSUs...

As mentioned, dual 7900GTX or above may give it a run for it's money, but it's likely it could handle those too, just as its Dark Power Pro sibling does, with one less total +12V amp available (40A compared to 41A).

Or in other words, "all but the most powerful SLI configurations." Sounds vaguely familiar...

By balanced, I meant if each rail went to the right power cables,

Ex. Rail 1 goes to the CPU powr connector, Rail 2 goes to the main board, and Rails 3 and 4 do the PCI-E connectors.

Anyways, I'll let ty kill me 10 times later to make up for it :oops:

[Tuathal]

Originally Posted by Lead Head

Could you pop the PSU back open and take some high res shots of the transformer(s) and PCB, and tell me what brand the large cap is, and what brand the smaller caps are on the the other side of the PSU

Sorry it took so long to respond, I've taken a shot so you can see it for yourself :) - I didn't see any specific branding on any of the caps or PCB "DASH" which I wasn't familiar with - so I figured since a photo was worth a thousand words :P