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MultiWave 300 Watt Power Supply
Page 1 - Why generic doesn't always suck
Being the cheap computer tweaker I am, I ended up with a cheap mid-tower Super Case (7A095-06).
Then, I decided my power supply was not adaquate enough for the heat dissipating off of my
Celeron 366's overclocked to 583 MHz. I began adding fans until I ended up with 2-80mm blow
holes (one intake, one exhaust), 1-80mm Fan in the standard spot in the bottom of my case,
2-80mm fans on top of my Global Win FEP32s and I added another 120 mm blow hole recently.
That is a lot of power consumption to expect from a cheap 250W Power Supply Unit (PSU).
Besides the fact that I needed more power, the generic one that came with my case was producing
a lot of heat its self so it was unable to act as an exhaust fan. I started looking around for
cheap/generic power supply reviews and couldn't find any. So, I went to a familiar place,
MultiWave,
and ordered their PSU (MultiWave 300 Watt Power Supply - $49). It shipped promptly as usual and arrived
at my door step nicely boxed.
[Update]
I've definetly implied that this unit is generic. On the contrary, it is far from being generic.
One of my readers has done his homework and/or is very intelligent and thus informed me that this
is far from being generic. He says it best; so here is what his email says,
"Upon reading your review, I noticed that you overlooked the model
number (FSP300-60GT) of the power supply, this power supply is
manufactured by the FSP Group sold under various brand names,
including Sparkle Power International, PC Power and Cooling, Powerman,
and possibly some others. Powerman is the brand name that most Inwin
cases come from and these units are anything but cheap. I've seen
this PSU in Inwin Q500N and SuperMicro 750A.
Look on AMD's list of recommended power supplies for Athlon and more
importantly, FIC's recommended list for the SD-11 (the most PSU-picky
K7 board) and you'll see the FSP300-60GT with some sort of brand name
there. I've used this power supply on 4 machines and have never been
let down by it.
The fact that it's sold by PC Power and Cooling is enough
justification alone to label this as one of the highest quality 300W
PSUs out there. Though somewhat misinformed, your review of the the
FSP300-60GT was great and accurately displays this units abilities.
Thanks Eric Wong!
[/Update]
Power Suckers #1, 2, & 3 |
Power Leeches #4, 5, & 6 |
Installation wasn't anything special or different from putting in any other unit. I just pulled
the old one out and put in the new one. Though I did have to do a bit of bundling, which I
will get into shortly.
4 - 4 pin connectors |
6 - 4 pin connectors |
[Update]
Apparently this "unknown connector" has multiple uses. Well, not really, it has
one use but is used in different applications. Its main function is to supply motherboards
with extra power, more power than the ATX or AT connector can supply. I've seen them used
in 386s and I have had readers tell me they're mostly used in servers for stability. I'm
pretty sure they are correct, that does make sense.
[/Update]
Ok, so you know that one has more connectors than the other. What does that mean? Pretty much
that since the 300 Watt Power supply is, well, 300 W it was built with more connectors becuase
it has enough power to supply all of them. The really nice thing is that the Power Man has two
floppy connectors. The Super Case came with a spot for two but only has one floppy power source
on it's PSU. Yes, I know it can be used for other things aside from a floppy drive, buy some
people might want direct floppy to floppy transfers without copying over to their hard drive
first.
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