Antec PowerCache

[MixMasta]

Does this really do anything?

http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=MTc1Nw==

"PowerCache™ is a technology that helps to stabilize the power output to CPU & video card. By adding a 2200µf capacitor at the end of the CPU and graphics cables, power can be delivered instantaneously where and when needed rather than from the power supply itself. For example, a 23A increase of demand from the CPU or GPU could cause a voltage drop of 1V causing a crash or reboot. With PowerCache™, the voltage drop will be just 0.2V, keeping the system running and stable. "

http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/inde...lossary&lan=us

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Antec PowerCache

Yes, it compensates for not having enough uF in the PSU OP filters in the first place.
.

[kc8adu]

Re: Antec PowerCache

bling.
makes up for too much drop in the leads.like a cap at a boom boom amplifier.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Antec PowerCache

What!
Antec is cheaping out and using steel wires too!

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Antec PowerCache

Don't see how that would work.
If the wires are dropping voltage that cap is never going to see full voltage anyway and so couldn't charge up to it.

Unless you mean something else by 'drop'.
.

[hardwareguy]

Re: Antec PowerCache

E= (1/2)CV^2

Where E is energy in Joules, C is capacitance in Farads and V is volts.

One Joule is one watt for one second...so lets calculate: [(1/2) * (0.0022F) * (12^2)]

The cap may be a 16 V cap, but since it will only be charged to a maximum of 12V, 12V is what you use for the calculaton.

That works out to be a little under 0.16 Joules...... which is JACK compared to the demands of the GPU. For a big GPU, it would have to be a drop of less than 1ms in duration.


Oh but it gets worse....because that assumes the cap will discharge completely! IT WONT! It will only discharge until the cap voltage is equal to the line voltage..... since its a fairly realistic assumption that the system will fail if the 12V rail falls to 11.0V, that gives your cap just ONE volt to give..... now how many Joules is available to the system?

Well since 1 squared is 1.... not much at all as you can see here [(1/2) (0.0022F) * 1V] That gives you a tiny amount of energy to work with, 0.0011J

Its worthless for dropouts. If voltage sags out of spec with the given load, the supply is faulty...plain and simple. Now what is Antec trying to say here?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Antec PowerCache

So what you are saying is the typical 3x470uF [=1410uF] 16v poly used in +12v VRM-in are useless.
Ummmm,,,,, dunna tink so.

The uF isn't for dropout, their uF matters for smoothing normal transients like CPU [or GPU] from idle to 100% or back, but they are just there to give the regulator time to respond. They aren't expected to carry the whole transient and recover the voltage themselves.
.

[ratdude747]

Re: Antec PowerCache

ANTEC SUCKS! my new conclusion. they fail when it calls to quality.

they have become pure bling. like this:



they even come with a BLING pricetag! at least a bling echo star is low cost (but tons worse than an antec)

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Antec PowerCache

Back to Antec's ad.....
-
If the voltage drop from a load change can cause a crash then the PSU is not compliant with the ATX Spec in the first place.

So a translation of the ad would be:
Our PSU is crap. We added this cap to help it out.

~~~
More bogus watch analysis:

A 23 amp change at 12v would be a load transient of 276 watts.
- Know any 276 watt PSU's or GPU's ??

The 23 amps is on the CPU or GPU voltage, not +12v as they imply.
The CPU/GPU voltage -> ALREADY HAS CAPS.
On a CPU it would be the Vcore caps.
On a GPU it would be in the OP of the on-board Vcc regualtor.

That cap could help by lowering ESR [which suggests inadequate filtering in the PSU.]
But their claim is it helps load transients.
For that purpose that cap is useless unless either the PSU or the load are not built to specifications.
.

Anyone looking for Swamp Land in Florida?
.

[370forlife]

Re: Antec PowerCache

I think antec is riding on the belief that capacitors just build up a charge, hold it, and can somehow release it whenever they want. Like the flash capacitor in a camera.

[kc8adu]

Re: Antec PowerCache

at any rate pure marketing fluff and bullshit.

[Toasty]

Re: Antec PowerCache

Didn't we just do this a month ago...

Where the hell is that thread with the cap in the lead BS....?

ah-HA! Here:

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7786


and to quote a famous Scotsman:

"...Aye, and if Grandma had wheels, she'd be a wagon."

Toast

[ratdude747]

Re: Antec PowerCache

i bet that thing is not a cap at all. ferrite ring.

[370forlife]

Re: Antec PowerCache

i bet that thing is not a cap at all. ferrite ring.

I got in that argument too at the JG forums. Then an antecrep came out of nowhere and posted a picture of one opened up. It actually has a 2200uf, 16v UCC cap in there.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Antec PowerCache

I've gotten into with antecrep both here and on experts exchange.
Throw this at him.
- If your products are so good why do you have to hire people to troll internet forums to patch up your companies image?
[He likes that one.]
.

[370forlife]

Re: Antec PowerCache

I got in that argument too at the JG forums. Then an antecreeper came out of nowhere and posted a picture of one opened up. It actually has a 2200uf, 16v UCC cap in there.

fixed, they must have some people who troll internet forums to do exactly as PCBONEZ said, fix their image. Kind of low.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Re: Antec PowerCache

fixed, they must have some people who troll internet forums to do exactly as PCBONEZ said, fix their image. Kind of low.

Some of Antec's competitors are worse. At least with AntecRep, you know right away who he works for.

[kc8adu]

Re: Antec PowerCache

a shill is still a shill.
didnt antecrep leave here with his ass on fire?

[370forlife]

Re: Antec PowerCache

Some of Antec's competitors are worse. At least with AntecRep, you know right away who he works for.

Got a point, I'm pretty sure the Compwiz person at the eggxpert forums is a rep for OCZ, for every psu they recommend is OCZ, and their tiered list OCZ is in list 1 or 2. They always talk about how high quality they are, low ripple, extremely good voltage regulation, how cheap they are, how good of a OEM sirtec is.

At least Antec products are good. Just it seems so far that you want to be a early adopter.

[ratdude747]

Re: Antec PowerCache

I've gotten into with antecrep both here and on experts exchange.
Throw this at him.
- If your products are so good why do you have to hire people to troll internet forums to patch up your companies image?
[He likes that one.]
.

maybe the antec banner should be removed from the forum. they gave us 1000 in freebies, but they sent us unrealistic samples. i think thats grounds for de-endorsement.

maybe a seasonic or delta banner?