"Despite its plain appearance, which lacks any distinctive aesthetic that would differentiate it from a generic PSU of the 1990s, the EVGA 400 N1..."
I'm not aware of any 1990s era power supplies that were painted black by the OEM. They were generally unfinished steel. And AT was still a power delivery standard that was commonly available until early in the next decade whereas ATX was not widespread in the consumer electronics space until the very end of the 90s. You've gone out on a pretty long, shaky limb here. It's history to be sure and not that critical, but it really does hurt credibility when the very first PSU in the recommendation list is laden with poor understanding and false assertions. It makes a reader lean back from their screen and ponder what else might be off the mark amid more relevant and critical information in a component that, if it fails, can take other hardware down with it.Reply
As a matter of fact, there were black PSUs in the late 90s. They were as rare as hen's teeth, but they did exist.
And I should know. They were in Dells that I had to fix! The vents were admittedly smaller, though, since that was back in the day when fans were rear-facing.Reply
10+ year reader, who rarely posts, but reads most of these FREE articles... I actually only hate the people on the site who comment like this pompous dude here... Why is it part of the culture for people who don't know what they're talking about, to walk into a room and act like they do?Reply
I just got a Corsair HX1000i on Newegg. For me, the main selling point is that you can get detailed power measurements via the iCue interface/software, which is supposedly even supported on Linux.
I just wish the ATX 3.0 spec would've added an extensible communication protocol between the motherboard and PSU, so we didn't need this extra USB connection and could use standard software to query such details (much as we do with SMART, for querying storage devices). ATX 3.0 took about 20 years, so I'm not optimistic this omission will get remedied any time soon. Our best hope is ATX 3.1.Reply
BTW, my "ATX 3.1" reference was hypothetical. I have no idea if such a thing is planned or in the works.
Also, note that only the 2023 refresh of the HX2000i has ATX 3.0 + PCIe 5.0. The markings aren't very prominent, but these will be listed on the box if it's this version.Reply
I was surprised to see the XPG Fusion 1600 W beat the Corsair AX1600i, which is selling for about a $100 less and got a glowing review by the same author (admittedly, 5 years ago). Is XPG really that much better? Or was the Corsair unit simply omitted due to lack of an ATX 3.0 version?Reply
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PeachNCream - Thursday, November 23, 2023 - link
"Despite its plain appearance, which lacks any distinctive aesthetic that would differentiate it from a generic PSU of the 1990s, the EVGA 400 N1..."I'm not aware of any 1990s era power supplies that were painted black by the OEM. They were generally unfinished steel. And AT was still a power delivery standard that was commonly available until early in the next decade whereas ATX was not widespread in the consumer electronics space until the very end of the 90s. You've gone out on a pretty long, shaky limb here. It's history to be sure and not that critical, but it really does hurt credibility when the very first PSU in the recommendation list is laden with poor understanding and false assertions. It makes a reader lean back from their screen and ponder what else might be off the mark amid more relevant and critical information in a component that, if it fails, can take other hardware down with it. Reply
Ryan Smith - Thursday, November 23, 2023 - link
As a matter of fact, there were black PSUs in the late 90s. They were as rare as hen's teeth, but they did exist.And I should know. They were in Dells that I had to fix! The vents were admittedly smaller, though, since that was back in the day when fans were rear-facing. Reply
littlebitstrouds - Wednesday, December 6, 2023 - link
10+ year reader, who rarely posts, but reads most of these FREE articles... I actually only hate the people on the site who comment like this pompous dude here... Why is it part of the culture for people who don't know what they're talking about, to walk into a room and act like they do? Replymode_13h - Friday, November 24, 2023 - link
I just got a Corsair HX1000i on Newegg. For me, the main selling point is that you can get detailed power measurements via the iCue interface/software, which is supposedly even supported on Linux.I just wish the ATX 3.0 spec would've added an extensible communication protocol between the motherboard and PSU, so we didn't need this extra USB connection and could use standard software to query such details (much as we do with SMART, for querying storage devices). ATX 3.0 took about 20 years, so I'm not optimistic this omission will get remedied any time soon. Our best hope is ATX 3.1. Reply
mode_13h - Friday, November 24, 2023 - link
BTW, my "ATX 3.1" reference was hypothetical. I have no idea if such a thing is planned or in the works.Also, note that only the 2023 refresh of the HX2000i has ATX 3.0 + PCIe 5.0. The markings aren't very prominent, but these will be listed on the box if it's this version. Reply
mode_13h - Monday, November 27, 2023 - link
I was surprised to see the XPG Fusion 1600 W beat the Corsair AX1600i, which is selling for about a $100 less and got a glowing review by the same author (admittedly, 5 years ago). Is XPG really that much better? Or was the Corsair unit simply omitted due to lack of an ATX 3.0 version? Reply