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Ultra "500W" PSU free after $40 rebate!


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EDIT: Frys / Outpost.com is doing this again, now until 11.30.06: http://shop2.outpost.com/product/4587977

 

This offer is good until 10.31.06.

 

Circuit City sells this PSU for $60: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Ultra-V-Ser...roductDetail.do

 

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Here is the link.

 

http://shop2.outpost.com/product/4587977

 

Note that the rebate is done in conjunction with onrebate.com, which means you should get your money back in about a week:

 

http://image.ak.outpost.com/art/rebates_pd...7977_100106.pdf

 

 

Here is a review of the PSU:

 

http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/V-Series/V-Series.html

 

JonnyGuru is a very critical PSU reviewer. So, this PSU is not a piece of junk, but rather more than good enough for mid-performance PCs. Note that the "500W" only put out 463W in testing but actually has 28A on the +12 rail, the 18A in the review is a typo.

 

User reviews:

 

http://www.pricegrabber.com/rating_getprod...d_type=masterid

 

 

For more PSU deals see these:

 

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=18

 

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=117785

 

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=112326

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I just noticed the Circuit City has some user reviews for this PSU. There are a few negative comments in there: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Customer-re...lReview.do#tabs

 

But on the otherhand, this PSU has a Lifetime Warranty (if you registrer) and short circuit protection: http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_detai...p;productID=369

 

Here is another review of Ultra V-Series, this one is more positive and tests with a Pentium D 805: http://techgage.com/article/ultra_products..._psu_round-up/1

 

Here is a rebate discussion: http://beta.fatwallet.com/t/18/658768/

 

More discussion: http://www.motherboards.org/forums/viewtop...asc&start=0

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Thanks, Mash. Now, I think I need to add some kind of Caveat ("Buy Beware") clause.

 

Not everyone here is thrilled about this idea of a free PSU for good reasons: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...0396&st=31# When a PSU goes bad it can destroy the rest of your system by exposing it to high voltage. The Powmax Assassin is s classic example of such dangerous junk: http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/Assassin/Powmax_Assassin.html But Ultra V Series has short circuit and over voltage protection which should prevent such a catastrophe.

 

While cheap PSUs should absolutely be avoided in most cases, some people are now scared into spending an absurd amount of money on PSUs. I believe the Ultra V Series 500W may be an exception to the "rule" against buying cheap PSUs. I would not have posted this idea if it had not been thoroughly reviewed by a professional PSU engineer (JonnyGuru). Furthermore, I consider the Ultra V Series 500W to have excellent end user comments, almost all were very positive and of the handful of negatives, no one claimed the PSU blew up and destroyed their computer.

 

Finally, it should be noted that Ultra V Series is overrated at 500W, JonnyGuru's testing indicated that it is more like a 460W PSU and I would not recommend pushing that limit.

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Reviews or not, Ultra PSUs are junk :P If someone wants a good low priced PSU I would personally suggest Antec's low end or check NewEgg for a brand called HIPRO. The power supply is the most overlooked component and yet it is the most important.

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Reviews or not, Ultra PSUs are junk :2cents: If someone wants a good low priced PSU I would personally suggest Antec's low end...

 

Joe, it is funny that you mention Antec, because I have a 450W SmartPower 2.0 that came with the Sonata II that I bought for my first hackintosh in January. It is supposed to be a good PSU and is on SPCR's reccomended PSU list: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article260-page1.html

 

But guess what? :compress:

 

A whole slew of Antec SmartPower 2.0 that were purchased about the same time I got mine are now failing. I count no less than 26 failures in a row listed on NewEgg's customer comments: http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingRe...N82E16817103936

 

The reason I checked into the Antec SmartPower 2.0 450W record today, is that my Ultra V-Series "500W" archived. Since the rest of my Conroe parts will not arrive until next week, I was thinking about swaping PSUs, testing the Ultra in my old box and using the Antec (which I had thought might be more reliable) in the new build. Not anymore, futhermore this SmartPower 2.0 losing streak combined the problems of Antec Neo 430, mean that Antec should get the "junk" PSU award in my book.

 

Anyways, I did hook up the Ultra I recieved to my old box to make sure it was not DOA. It ran fine, the voltages were in range and I was impressed as to how quiet it actually was (like a whisper). I certainly am not going to judge a PSU on its appearance (umm... other than obnoxious garbage like the Powmax Assassin), but this Ultra looks, feels and smells of quality to me. I did not crack it open, but shot some pictures and the inside seems very well designed.

 

Now, it is time for me to register with Ultra for the lifetime warranty and get my $40 rebate online. We will see how much your :2cents: is worth later.

 

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My :compress: was free so don't sweat it :2cents: I have a 350W SmartPower 2.0 that I use for back up, it was ran full time for about 6 months. It was $19.99 after rebates from CompUSA. I put it through hard overclocking of my board and gpu and had no problems at all. I'm disappointed to hear about your experience, but I would never say Antec is junk. I have never owned a Ultra, and will never, maybe if it was free. I have had 3 friends who have had various Ultras and I say they are junk bast on their experience's. I use a Hiper 580W now and can say I am impressed. I hope you the best with your new PSU and still think they are junk.

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My :D was free...

 

So was my Ultra V 500W. :gun:

 

I'm disappointed to hear about your experience...

 

Well, I have not had problems with Antec yet. I want to get rid of my Sonata II for aesthetic reasons, but I knew that I really did not like case when I bought it and I still think the Antec P150, which includes the Neo HE 430 PSU, is a good choice for a slick hackintosh case.

 

However, now that I know my Antec Smartpower 2.0 might fail, I am actualy ordering a second Ultra V 500 for backup (or to use with a new case when I dump my Sonata II).

 

... but I would never say Antec is junk.

 

Numerous owners of the Antec Smartpower 2.0 450W and Neo HE 430W would disagree with you. Note that the Neo 430's problems are no longer limited to Asus AMD board incompatiblity either: http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewt...asc&start=0

 

Furthermore, JonnyGuru reports that the rails on the Neo 430 are not so stable:

 

The Antec NeoHE would appear to be stable to most people that do reviews of power supplies by just plugging it into a PC and testing the voltages with a DMM, but I have to wonder what the long term effects of what I witnessed were. Every rail would bounce from 11.98... 11.99... 12.00... 11.99.... 11.98, while under a static load. Really strange actually. And it did this under all of the load tests. To get numbers for my load test result table, I had to grab the "middle number" from whatever it was fluctuating back and forth from. This fluctuation also resulted in a very thick line on the O-scope. Honest to goodness, the Powmax I reviewed had voltages that stayed put better than the NeoHE's.

 

http://jonnyguru.com/PSU/NeoHE430/

 

A poll on general Antec PSU quality was recently conducted at Arstechnica, while results are fairly positive it is clear from numerous comments that Antec's reputation has suffered lately:

 

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums...owpollresults/Y

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I have read reviews also. When I think Antec, I consider the 500 or 550. My 350 was a emergency purchase. In todays computers anything under 450W is almost under powered, and with more cores and higher clocks in CPUs and GPUs, power needs will only increase. I have always tried to buy higher wattage PSUs in fear of them holding back my overclocks. Most PSUs are adequate for general needs, I would only be concerned with longevity.

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This offer is too good to pass up so I just ordered both the power supply and wizard case :blink:

 

Has anyone else filled out the rebate form? When it asks for a copy of the invoice to be sent do they mean a photocopy of the invoice thats going to be in the box or do they just want me to print out the print order summary you get at the end of the order process?

 

Thanks a bunch for sharing these deals , I was planning on building a budget system soon and this really helps me out.

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This offer is too good to pass up so I just ordered both the power supply and wizard case :D

 

Here is the thread on the free Ultra "Wizard" case: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=30877

 

Has anyone else filled out the rebate form? When it asks for a copy of the invoice to be sent do they mean a photocopy of the invoice thats going to be in the box or do they just want me to print out the print order summary you get at the end of the order process?

 

I had the same question, but decided to just send a copy of both.

 

 

DHL just delivered my second PSU, these Fry guys ship fast. I will be testing it for DOA later.

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When I think Antec, I consider the 500 or 550. My 350 was a emergency purchase.

 

I think brings up another relative advantage this Ultra V "500W" has. Unlike the Antec's, it only has one +12V rail. This means one does not have to worry about placing more than 18A on a split rail.

 

In todays computers anything under 450W is almost under powered...

 

While a little dated, SPCR's PSU guide (which looks excellent) suggests that a 350W PSU is plenty for many PCs: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry215771

 

... and with more cores and higher clocks in CPUs and GPUs, power needs will only increase.

 

Oh, I think we know that Conroes consume quite a bit less power that Pentiums.

 

I have always tried to buy higher wattage PSUs in fear of them holding back my overclocks. Most PSUs are adequate for general needs, I would only be concerned with longevity.

 

Given the outrageous prices of the fastest CPUs and the long lifetime of a quality PSU, I think it is reasonable to spend perhaps hundreds of dollars on a PSU guaranteed not limit overclocking. But that is from the prespective of an overclocking hobbyist or gamer. I am neither, my needs are pratical and require finding the best value (performance per dollar). I may be building many (indentical) Conroe boxes.

 

bofors, If you have a multimeter can you report back the voltages of the rails :hysterical:

 

Is there any wrong with just reading the voltages from BIOS?

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I didn't realize what I wrote could be scrutinized so much. The bios or software voltage readings are no where near accurate. The only way to get true readings is with a multimeter, checked when stable after boot and then under load. If overclocking or gaming is not a concern then a good 350W PSU can get by. Any one thinking of buying a PSU can easily calculate there wattage needs and get what is appropriate. Even though CPUs are running under less volts there is an increase in MHz and bandwidth which both consume power. Less voltage on a duel core processor is deceiving because now you have to multiply by two. The bigger concern is duel graphics cores which can deplete 500 or 600W PSUs. Multiple 12v rails offer cleaner more stable power then a single rail, which should be appreciated by all users ;)

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The bios or software voltage readings are no where near accurate. The only way to get true readings is with a multimeter, checked when stable after boot and then under load.

 

I guess I am not too surprised because I know how bad the temperature sensors are. I will see if I can dig up a real voltage meter.

 

Even though CPUs are running under less volts there is an increase in MHz and bandwidth which both consume power. Less voltage on a duel core processor is deceiving because now you have to multiply by two.

 

Conroes consumes less power than Pentium D's (they generally run at much lower frequencies). While I know that the FB-DIMMs increased power consumption negatively impacts the power savings in Woodcrest (Xeon, Mac Pro) systems, I do not know if the move from 677 DDR2 to 800 DDR2 (and FSB from 800 to 1066 MHz) is significant in terms of power.

 

The bigger concern is duel graphics cores which can deplete 500 or 600W PSUs. Multiple 12v rails offer cleaner more stable power then a single rail, which should be appreciated by all users :D

 

For such demanding systems, it looks like it makes a lot of sense to run two smaller PSU's. Stability should be much better on two totally isolated systems and of course, it is a lot cheaper to buy two 350W PSU's than one 700W.

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You could do that but you would be talking about a total custom system then. I don't know if you've seen Thermaltakes 5in bay PSU, but its pretty cool. Conroes do consume less power than Pentium D's, but most serious users do overclock, so thats only relevant to notebooks or consumer PCs that cant be played with. Your memory bandwidth definitely pulls power at higher clocks, I have measured 3.47 on the 3.3 volt rail at 333MHz and 3.42 down to 3.39 at 400MHz, that may seem slight but in PSU terms that is significant. The power concerns of graphics cards gets worse with every new release, first it was 250W, then 300W, now were up to 350 or 400W. Soon most low end GPUs will probably be in the 250 to 300W range with the Vista needs and Leopards abilities, and that will impact everyones needs for power :(

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  • 1 month later...
I got some chip on my shoulder with Ultra, but this one is a little better.

 

icon13.gifMaybe not, I just read a report that one of these Ultra V-Series "500W" PSU has died and taken a new BadAxe2 motherboard with it: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpo...p;postcount=175

 

I suspect the PSU may have been overloaded with a high power graphics card though. As noted above, these are actually 460W PSU. They should not be used to power anything like an Nvidia 8800GTX.

 

EDIT: A low power graphics card was in use when that Ultra died, so that was not the cause of failure.

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