Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

[tiresias]

Hello to everyone,

While rarely underrated by the PSU-connoisseurs among us, I've always felt that those power supplies marketed as "server accessories" by Supermicro/Ablecom get far less attention from the 'enthusiast crowd' than they deserve. Despite their often impressive price:performance ratio, suprisingly little information is available on the web as to their inner workings, detailed specs, and, of course, their true manufacturers. Hence this thread.

I'll start with the Supermicro PWS-0060 (Ablecom SP645-PS) model, which can be bought for $130 or so, a bling-free 'enterprise-class' workhorse rated at 645W total output, and 46A on its single +12Vdc rail. I've cracked open its hood to reveal a few of its "secrets":

1. Who's his daddy? LiteON, interestingly. (It's actually a Liteon PS-5651-1A1)
2. Output caps? All green Taicons - any experience with these?
3. Input caps? 2x N.Chemicon 450v 300uF (bottom image)
4. Fan is a Sanyo Denki San Cooler 9A0812G405
5. Output wiring for main rails is 16AWG, rest is 18AWG

[willawake]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

welcome

taicon caps are not so frequently seen in the market. we have seen them on an intel serverboard sai2, a few asus/asrock boards and a monitor from 1995 still working. i am still running an asus board with them on without probs for a few years.

but the asrock were not so fortunate
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1308

645W total output, and 46A on its single +12Vdc rail

thats remarkable...should be adequate for next years gaming systems lol.

sanyo denki are good fans but why no second fan. looks nice anyway enjoy.

[Rainbow]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

1. Who's his daddy? LiteON, interestingly. (It's actually a Liteon PS-5651-1A1)

LiteOn produces high-quality PSUs for OEMs.

2. Output caps? All green Taicons - any experience with these?

I haven't seen any problems with Taicons.

3. Input caps? 2x N.Chemicon 450v 300uF (bottom image)

450V - so they're probably connected in parallel which gives you 600uF. In most PSUs they're 200V and connected in series which halves the capacitance.

4. Fan is a Sanyo Denki San Cooler 9A0812G405

That's high-quality fan, it will still work fine after 10 years.

[tiresias]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

welcome

Thank you After a few weeks of 'lurking', I couldn't resist joining (in the active, posting, sense), following my perusal of your fantastic "Funny Stuff" thread, with such gems as the "World's tallest building", The Glory Smooth Company, and the Albatron Cap-Popper Pro.

taicon caps...

I had indeed heard that Taicon caps were, in general, adequate - although there had been a few instances (peculiarly, almost always those on ASRock PCBs) in which they had all failed. If I understand correctly, Taicon is a Taiwanese "daughter" of Nichicon - could it be that the failed Taicons are differently-skinned analogs of the occasionally-failing HN/M Nichicons?

thats remarkable...should be adequate for next years gaming systems lol.

sanyo denki are good fans but why no second fan. looks nice anyway enjoy.

I'm not a gamer myself (unlike my two kids!), although I am something of a PSU fetishist (Disclaimer: not in any way that my wife would mind).

The absence of the second fan is, I agree, peculiar - and, as far as I can tell, due to the fact that the same metal "chassis" is used for both this version and its twin, the SP650-RP (marketed as with redundant cooling feature, also known as 'two fans'. And a little buzzer to warn of fan failure.) The PCB/component choice on both PSUs is, however, identical as far as I can see.

450V - so they're probably connected in parallel which gives you 600uF. In most PSUs they're 200V and connected in series which halves the capacitance.

Yes indeed - I've noticed with Fortron units that they will often use two 200v input elco's (always Teapo, it seems) directly connected in series. Two Enermax I have here, on the other hand, each use a single 450v 330uf Hitachi.

And yes, my apologies - I've rather moronically 'typoed' the value of the Liteon's caps as 300uF, while they are clearly 330uF as can be seen in the enormous picture I included. That's what I deserve for trying to brag with my Nikon SLR on my first post.

[willawake]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

That's what I deserve for trying to brag with my Nikon SLR on my first post.

no need to say, we can see your exif. i was impressed enough to take a look.

[jonnyGURU]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

LiteOn produces high-quality PSUs for OEMs.

Take note:

Deer is a division of Foxconn.

But when Foxconn needs a quality power supply, they won't even turn to their own PSU partner to make power supplies. They use Lite-On.

Foxconn PSU's in Dells? Lite-On.

[Emacs]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

Maybe I missed something, but where can we buy one?

[jonnyGURU]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

If you're a VAR, ASI sells a lot of Supermicro/Ablecom and will often special order Supermicro for you,

I've always been able to get the occasional 4U 8-drive SATA hot-swap chassis from them in a moments notice.

[tiresias]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

Maybe I missed something, but where can we buy one?

Should you happen to live in the Netherlands (something which I wouldn't recommend, unless you're a fan of Big Government and devastatingly high taxes ) - you might be interested to know that I had bought this particular unit from:

http://www.4launch.nl

You'll have to look not under PSUs, but under "Accessories for Supermicro Servers", where they have quite a broad selection. The prices are generally very good, and I've found their service to be among the very best, as far as Dutch shops go.

[eatspam]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

This PSU looks like a bargain. With 46A on 12V, its as powerful as my Zippy 700w PSU, but less than half the cost.

Could you measure the dimensions of that supply, please? Is it deeper than a normal ATX PSU? Thanks.

[tiresias]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

Could you measure the dimensions of that supply, please? Is it deeper than a normal ATX PSU? Thanks.

I certainly can Measuring it with my trusty ruler as accurately as possible:

Width x Height x Depth

150mm x 86 mm x 185mm

Hence yes, it is 4.5cm deeper than the ATX standard of 140mm.

[tiresias]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

Due to popular request (I've even noticed a number of other forums linking to our "discussion" of this particular PSU! ), an update of sorts with some more not-easily-looked-up information regarding this unit.

1. Some have voiced concern about the very short motherboard cables Supermicro-marketed PSUs often use. This is probably due to the fact that SM motherboards almost invariably have both 24-pin and 8-pin connectors at the very "top" edge of the board, which, in an SM chassis, would correspond to the position directly below the PSU's outputs. Measurements taken after my intense re-grommeting and cable-tying session, which probably reduces actual length by a centimeter or so.

24-pin connector: 36cm
8-pin EPS: 36cm
4-pin 12v: 43cm

Not the longest, but not insanely short either. Unless your case or motherboard is very unconventional, it'll probably reach without incident.

2. The unit has Active PFC

3. Not evident from the pictures is the size of the main components in this power supply - they are easily twice as massive as those found in my 480W Enermax. Particularly striking is the size of the two toroids, which are the largest I've seen in any ATX-compatible PSU.

4. The two input caps, as mentioned are UCC KMM, 450v and each 330uF. Apart from these two, every single vented electrolytic I've been able to find anywhere in the PSU is a green-sleeved Taicon.

The fan-control board has one tiny, non-vented OST, just to be contrary.

[tiresias]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

5. As I promised in the other thread: the issue of the "returning" Vsense wires. Below are some pictures for better clarity, where you can see Vsense wires for both 3.3v and 5v on the 24-pin EPS connector. 3.3 Vsense is slightly thinner, and orange, while 5 Vsense is striped white/red.

As seen in the second photo, the PCB even has an unused solder point, marked as a 12 Vsense.

[greenwar]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

Tiresias, As per galvanized's suggestion, I had been doing some research on this Supermicro PSU that you had reviewed above. Since you own the psu personally here are a few questions I have:

1) How stable would you say is the 12V rail? I am looking to run an overclocked Pentium D 930 which is a fairly power hungry cpu along with 2 HDs, 1 DVD-RW, 1 x1900xt and a sound card in an Asus P5wd2 pre mobo.

2) During my research I found out that this psu does not come with any PCI-Express connector and no sata connector as well. Can you please confirm that?

3) I am considering this PSU over an OCZ Powerstream 520W and ENERMAX EG651P-VE FM(24P) unit due to Supermicro's massive 46A on the 12v rail. How would you rate the Supermicro among the two other psus I mentioned.

4) Finally, would you recommend this psu after owning it for more than a month or so now. Give us your take on it if you will.

Thanks in advance for your time.

[tiresias]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

Tiresias, As per galvanized's suggestion, I had been doing some research on this Supermicro PSU that you had reviewed above. Since you own the psu personally here are a few questions I have:

Welcome greenwar

Apologies for my delayed reply; I also see now that certain of the pictures I previously posted of this PSU are linked to a domain which I'd forgotten to renew - since one cannot edit posts in this forum, and since broken links are an infuriating thing, I'll be reposting them again later on today.

1) How stable would you say is the 12V rail? I am looking to run an overclocked Pentium D 930 which is a fairly power hungry cpu along with 2 HDs, 1 DVD-RW, 1 x1900xt and a sound card in an Asus P5wd2 pre mobo.

I can't claim to have 'loaded' its +12v output to anywhere near its rated maximum - since it's been powering a relatively tame (power-wise) Tyan K8E with an Opteron 165 and the onboard ATI video.

On the other hand, I have run a short test involving two instances of burnk7, and a 1R load resistor on the 12v (the latter alone draws 150w), and was not able to measure any significant fluctuation with my Fluke 337 from the reading of 12.1v.

So in conclusion, it would seem to be extremely stable, although more in-depth testing would be required to weed out any crossloading-related issues, or fluctuations at high load.

2) During my research I found out that this psu does not come with any PCI-Express connector and no sata connector as well. Can you please confirm that?

That's true. There are no sata, PCIe or AUX power connectors on this beast. Only a 24-pin EPS, 8-pin +12, 4-pin +12, and your standard 'molex'.

3) I am considering this PSU over an OCZ Powerstream 520W and ENERMAX EG651P-VE FM(24P) unit due to Supermicro's massive 46A on the 12v rail. How would you rate the Supermicro among the two other psus I mentioned.

This is where a comparison becomes interesting. I too was amazed after seeing the specs, and receiving this PSU. I had Enermax units powering our other machines, and comparing these with the Supermicro/Liteon, I did notice a few interesting differences:

1. The SM has the largest and heaviest components I've seen in a PSU of this class. Even by a quick visual inspection of the PCBs, one cannot help but notice that the 600W-rated Enermax Noisetaker looks absolutely puny by comparison.

2. The SM unit is very clearly targeted at Supermicro systems. Most resellers don't even list it under "Power Supplies", one has to look under "Servers->Supermicro->Accessories" or similar to find it. The main power cables to the motherboard aren't absurdly short, but would probably not reach if you use one of those unconventionally laid-out cases. I'm using a Yeong Yang W201 server box, in which it does fit perfectly.

3. Again, since it's targeted at the Server/Workstation environment, it isn't particularly quiet. The Sanyo Denki fan (fans, with the 2-fan configuration) run all the time, even when PS_ON is high and only +5vsb output is present. They are thermally controlled, however, and I haven't been able to make them speed up past their 'minimum' with the machine I'm using. When first powering on the PSU, however, the fans do briefly spin at full power with a small roar.

4. It's entirely free of all 'gimmicks'. No braided cables, funny LED fans, tweaky potentiometers sticking out of the back (although they are present on the inside), etc. The 2-fan version, however, does have a red LED to warn of fan failure, and a little 'reset' button for the alarm.

4) Finally, would you recommend this psu after owning it for more than a month or so now. Give us your take on it if you will.

I've been very positively impressed, so I would certainly recommend it, yes. For its price of $120-130, quality is exceptional, and its performance (and, from what I can 'foresee' ) reliability, is comparable to Zippy units costing over twice as much.

I have no doubt whatsoever that if I should have to buy another PSU today, it would be another such (or similar) model.

Still, be aware that it is designed as an accessory for Supermicro's dual Xeon serverboards which tend to use PCIX over PCIe, so if you plan to use PCIe graphics cards, you will need an adaptor.

Let me know if you have any more questions, or pictures you'd like to see.

[Rainbow]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

Looks simply great. Really a high-end PSU, not blinking coloured crap.

[greenwar]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

Tiresias, First of all let me start by saying that, this is one of the best answers I have gotten for questions I have posted online. Thank you!!

I dont have any other questions. You answered them all very well. From what I heard from you and Galvanized, there is no doubt this is a great psu. I do have few adapter laying around so it should serve my purpose very well.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions. Truly appreciate it.

Galvanized, I know you will be reading this, can't thank you enough for introducing me to badcaps.net . You guys

Opps sorry about the big quote.

[tiresias]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

Tiresias, First of all let me start by saying that, this is one of the best answers I have gotten for questions I have posted online. Thank you!!

Very kind of you to say so - I'm always glad to be of aid.

As promised, I've attached the three other pictures I had taken of the unit which had been 'offlined'.

1. The obligatory 'top down' shot of the power supply.

2. The EPS connector, note the 5v and 3.3vsense lines.

3. Shot of the PCB, where even an unused 12vsense solder joint is present.

[Howard]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

I cannot find the fan on SD's website. The closest I could find is the 9A0812G402:

http://sanyodb.colle.co.jp/product_d...master_id=1522

[tiresias]

Re: Supermicro-Ablecom PSUs

I cannot find the fan on SD's website. The closest I could find is the 9A0812G402:

http://sanyodb.colle.co.jp/product_d...master_id=1522

That's right - I couldn't find it either. If I were to make an educated guess, I would say that it's basically the same model as the 9A0812G402, except without the yellow tachometer wire. I'll post a picture of it later this evening, perhaps it can prove useful in identifiying it further.