EXTREME Overclocking - Tweaking PC Hardware To The Max

PC Power and Cooling Turbo-Cool 475W ATX w/PFC

Company: PC Power and Cooling
Product: Turbo-Cool 475 ATX
Street Price: $200 USD
Date Reviewed: October 15, 2002
Reviewed By: Joey C. aka Chong345

Introduction:

You may have seen PC Power and Cooling in magazines like Maximum PC, however I had never really heard of them until a friend brought them to my attention. He told me that I had to try one of these power supplies, as they were the best he had ever used. That is why today we are doing a review on the Turbo Cool 475W power supply from PC Power and Cooling.

I have to admit that when I first went to the site, I was impressed by their wide selection of power supplies, they have some of the largest most powerful power supplies I have ever seen, as well as many specialty power supplies that you can't find anywhere else. However, they cost noticeably more than the average power supply that you might find elsewhere. I am one of those people that do believe price reflects a little on how well a unit performs. If you buy a really cheap computer or motherboard then you will get what you pay for. This theory doesn't always hold true, but in most cases it does.

After I received the package I was eager to test out the PSU and see exactly how well it performed, but I also wanted to see why the unit costs so much. Upon examining the inside of the unit, I quickly discovered why. First we will start with the contents though (it's a short list).

What you get:
· Power Supply
· Power Cable
· Mounting Hardware

Glancing over the power supply everything looked pretty good, there was nothing fancy about the unit in terms of looks, just your usual plain metal PSU. The first thing that I noticed is that the unit itself was very heavy in relation to other power supplies I have used. Generally speaking better quality power supplies are heavier due to the parts inside like larger capacitors, heat sinks, etc. which in turn equates to better performance.

There was only one fan on the whole unit, which seemed odd at first when most other manufacturers are boasting dual fan designs. The front of the unit had tiny holes obviously from which air would come into the PSU and go out the back of the case. I wondered why there were not more fans on the unit, if it is supposedly the best PSU that you can get. I asked the technicians at PC Power and Cooling and they assured me that having one fan was enough to keep the unit cool and that it would work just fine. It is rated at 100,000 hours of use so I don't doubt them. They also said that having more than one fan could disrupt the flow of air leaving "dead spots" where no air is moving inside the power supply unless the fans are placed properly and rotating in the proper direction.

There are six 4-pin drive connectors, and 2 of the mini ones that usually are used for floppy drives. It also comes with the standard 20-pin ATX motherboard connector, as well as the square 4-pin for P4s, and a 6 pin connection. So yes, this power supply is Intel and AMD compatible. One odd thing is that there is no power switch on the back of the power supply which I guess could be considered a bad thing for some, but I don't mind it at all.

Now it is time to take a look at the insides of the power supply. When I first opened up the PSU, I noticed a huge heat sink and some huge capacitors. This explains the extra weight and in a way shows that this is a heavy duty unit. Amongst other things were a set of potentiometers. These control the +3.3V, +5V, and +12V lines allowing you to tweak the voltages manually. Also there are potentiometers to adjust the over voltage protection on each rail I would highly advise that if you have never done this before that you should not attempt to change the pots because it is very dangerous and could harm your components as well as yourself. Now after taking a look at the insides, here are the specs.