Single or double rail PSU? Antec debunks myths

[Lounger]

http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/PSU/

Myth 1: Only Single Rail Power Supplies Can Power Up High-end Graphics Cards!
Myth 2: A Single-Rail Power Supply Is More Powerful Than A Multi Rail Power Supply!
Myth 3: A Single Rail Power Supply Is As Safe As Multi Rail Power Supply!
Myth 4: Larger fans are better than smaller ones!

Etc.

 

[Pada]

Interesting.

They really have a few important things to know, but they could've put in a bit more effort to make it more structured and understandable.
I'm also getting a feeling that this multi-rail article of theirs is only applicable to their latest series of multi-rail power supplies.

I'll still stick with single rail power supplies, unless the manufacturer specified the power distribution of the individual +12V rails!
So far I've seen so many multi-rail power supplies do damage / required replacement, but this was mostly due to them being cheap and under spec.

I do agree with them that protection on the multi-rail PSU's should be better, but its not always the case, which is why I said that this myth buster should be limited to Antec.

I'm still not sure about the 75W maximum power that a card can draw via the PCI-E connectors. IIRC the card can draw up to 150W from a PCI-E 2.0 slot?
The other thing that I'm wondering about is why they said that the 6-pin and 6+2-pin PEG connectors are both rated at 200W. I really thought that it was different from that: 75W for the 6-pin and 150W for the 6+2-pin one?!

 

[Gnome]

Well let's see. Intel whom sets the ATX specifications, decided on multi-rail design. Then that requirement was removed. There has to be a reason why all the review sites say it sucks and Intel removed it from the ATX specification.

IIRC one of the principle points was also that multi-rail designs are less efficient. Also cable management needs to be well thought out or you'll have overload on one of your multiple rails. The Antec article is focused on their OWN PSU designs only because there are plenty of multi-rail designs out there and the vast majority sucked. Looks like marketing to me, that whole article.

I recommended Antec to my friend (Neo) and my brother (another Antec can't remember the name). Friends PSU died 3 times during the warranty and then he finally gave up and bought another brand. My brothers died a month after the warranty expired (1 year warranty). I have no respect for Antec so excuse me if I stay away from their multi-rail or otherwise PSUs.

Also they do have some factual errors in their "debunking", just saw some now, like no OCP on single rail designs. A few reviews of Seasonic PSUs will prove them wrong very quickly. Everything they write in the "debunking" is aimed toward their products.

 

[Pada]

Well said Gnome. I have exactly the same impression of that article.

I find it quite funny that they release an article like that and then they still produce single rail PSU's like the HCG series which is exceptionally good value for money.

I'd really love to see how the power is distributed to the graphics card in reality.