ENERMAX HAS TWO new lines on the market and a preview of an upcoming one. Enermax is now getting into server power supplies, and once again raising the bar on efficiency.
The server, rack mount, and redundant PSU market is a big one, and it takes a bit more knowledge to do things correctly there than for a single gamer unit. The biggest problem is that when you have more than one PSU, like the three below, the one closest to the DC output cables tends to push out more power. Why? Because the cables are shorter.
The new line is redundant
This leads to higher temps on one unit, differing voltages, and sometimes premature failure. To combat this, many companies do the obvious thing and try to match cable lengths. This helps, but is a little bit of a blunt tool to combat a precise problem.
Enermax claims to have a new IC based method to match the outputs of each PSU, but the details are a closely guarded secret. The idea is to have all of the PSUs push out the same voltages, generate the same heat, and hopefully the same long lives.
If a redundant PSU fails and things are loaded, the idea is that the others smoothly take over. That of course never happens, and a lot of times you get spikes in the power as a PSU dies, and that will often cook more expensive components downstream. To combat this, you need what is called OCP, or Output Current Protection.
This can be anything from fuses to more sophisticated methods of dealing with the problem, and Enermax claims to have a novel method of providing OCP. When these PSUs ship in a few months, they will probably be more willing to talk about what they are doing, but for now, the company is tight lipped.
External magnetic USB fans
The other new product is an external USB fan. You can get them in plain versions, ones with a rubber case that houses some very strong magnets, or a shiny model with lots of LEDs. The magnets are more than strong enough so you can just slap them on any ferrous case vent for extra cooling.
If you get the LED versions, there are three rows of 18 LEDs, each bright enough to be painful. They are programmable, so you can set them from full on to full annoy. I prefer full off, but that is due to nothing more than good taste. What more do you need in an external fan?
Next gen PSUs
The last thing shown off was a little farther out, but they are probably worth the wait. The new and as of yet unnamed high end PSUs. These come in 1100, 1300 and 1500W versions, and are listed as 87++ percent efficient, way above 80+ Gold levels. Enermax would not tell us exactly what these PSUs are rated at, but 90+% efficient would not be out of line. Look around for them this winter sometime, around CES would be a good bet.S|A
Charlie Demerjian
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