Group Buy for full ATX Linear PSU from Teradak

[Marcell]

Hi Ben-M,

 

 

Please count me in, I need one ATX-350 and I live in South East Asia.

[Marcell]

Thanks for adding me Ben-M,

 

 

Just want to share my 2cents with you and others who want to order. General rules of thumb is that you are only recommended to put load 80 percent of total max power. Which means:

 

ATX 350 --> 280

ATX 275 --> 220

ATX 210 --> 168

 

Not really recommended to go over that. Well, I maybe wrong but personally i am not very convenient to go over 80 percent.

[Marcell]

Hi Ben-M

 

 

I hate to make things more complicated but how about putting an options for the length of wire?

 

For external cable (PSU to backplate) if I am not mistaken it is 1 Meter? Well that's enough for me. But for internal wires (backplate to HD/Motherboard/GPU) I need at least 90 cm.

 

People may laugh at me for using full-tower case such as Corsair 780T but where I live, the average temperature is around 34-37 Celsius at noon through out a year. I am dealing with a lot of heats, I need to put them inside a full-tower case with low-rpm fans (my choice) or a med-tower case but with high rpm fans (very noisy). Casing like STREACOM is a very beautiful case but I am out of luck from using it

 

So how about putting an options for internal wires like 50 cm, 70 cm or 90 cm?

[Marcell]

Hi Marcell,

 

I can understand the heat issues, living in a place that's hot like that would require a full size case for sure. Though I'm not saying you're wrong, 90cm wires are very, very long. Standard wires from an SMPS ATX loom are 50-60cm, even for full size towers. You should be fine?

 

Unfortunately when I was discussing the internal wiring with Michael he told me that 50cm was the only length, so there won't be any other options.

 

However, if you read up a few posts Hans commented on a similar post about wire lengths by _JL_. I agree with him; if you need extra lengths just buy some standard extenders from eBay. It'll be cheaper than getting Teradak to do it and you'll get the length you want.

 

Anyway, sorry. that will be your best option here because there won't be multiple lengths for internal wiring :-(

 

Yes, 90 cm is extremely long and long cable is generally always bad in audio world. I wanted to manage my cable neatly inside my case and not having them "flying around" inside. Depends on the position inside a case, normally i'll be using ATX PSU which have a length of approximately 15 cm. With Teradak PSU, I am using internal wires from backplate which I already lost advantages of 15 cm compare to normal ATX PSU. So if before I need 60 cm, with Teradak PSU I would need 60 cm + 15 cm.

 

 

Well I guess Teradak design this PSU with people using cases like STREACOM in their mind. Can't really blame them, I am the one who is on the other minor side

 

Anyway, I'll manage the other way around by using extenders Thanks

 

Other question, do you mind to share why you use Xeon processor instead of using i5 / i7? Does Xeon make things better, I mean produce better sounds with lower jitter?

[Marcell]

Hi sgr, I will answer some of your questions

 

I think these Teradak PSU's are a replacement for your seasonic PSU and not to be used together, although you can do that which I do not recommend that.

 

If you are not sure, you can always buy in ebay a cheap "power meter" or "watt meter" to measure total power consumption for your PC. Then your can stress out your PC by running something like futuremark, cinnebench or other heavy applications to see max watt that it use.

 

My hunch tells me that your PC1 and PC2 will only be using less than 200 watt. Which means it can do well with ATX 210, although you might want to buy an extra power by choosing ATX 270.

 

 

 

I have some questions before I order.

PC 1. One PC full Atx Built into Silverstone GD 08 case with i4770 with Fanless cooler, 16gig of RAM, 2 SSD Cards for dual boot windows 8.1 and Server 2012 with AO and jPlay, PP USB, and Ethernet card powered with with Seasonic Platinum Fanless PSU 520. 8tb of Music files are stored on 2012 based Server.

 

So which of the ATX PSUs should I purchase? How and where will this plug into to power the PC? Could I just use the Seasonic for Mobo and RAM while purchasing small linear PSUs for usb card and solid state drives? In the future I'm wanting to use this as the control pc in a Dual boot system.

 

I'm thinking of switching everything above into a fanless case. Will the new Streacom FC 10 pro accommodate the Seasonic PSU above?

 

PC 2. This will be the Audio PC. I'm thinking of the mini Zuma or one of the other builds in this thread. I'm thinking of the Streacom FC 10 for the case, using the PP USB or Sotm,

16 gb ram, etc. The builds at Quiet PC sound interesting too. Of course it would use an i7 as well.

 

So which PSU would be best for this build? I'm not sure about the plate which attaches to the case where the power is attached to either. Can someone explain this?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

 

Which PSU would be best for this build?

[Marcell]

Hi Ben-M

 

 

Many thanks for showing us the performance figure on these units, finally we do not feel like buying a cat in the bag. But honestly, these figures are not what I had expected before. In my case, I often watch music videos in which I am using GTX 660 or later i'll be upgrading to upcoming GTX 960 with TDP approximately 100 watts. That's why I ordered ATX-350 Teradak, because i'll be expecting my total system would be around roughly 200 -250 watts max (worse case when doing music video). Of course it would be less than 150 Watts when listening to audio only.

 

With that number, means I am looking ripple noise at around 10A-12A? Is that correct? How these Teradak units are better than a Corsair Platinum Power supply AX860i? 200-250 watts means roughly 30 percent usage on Corsair AX860i.

 

If my calculations are correct, 6A means roughly 120-130 Watts? the figures are terrific at 6A or lower, as expected of Linear Power Supply. It out perform Corsair AX860i, but what happen when it goes above 6A.......? What are your thoughts on these figures?

 

 

[TABLE]

[TR]

[TH=class: th1 tac, colspan: 6]Ripple Measurements

Corsair AX860i

[/TH]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=width: 100, bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]Test

[/TD]

[TD=width: 80, bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]12 V

[/TD]

[TD=width: 80, bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]5 V[/TD]

[TD=width: 80, bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]3.3 V[/TD]

[TD=width: 80, bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]5VSB[/TD]

[TD=width: 80, bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]Pass/Fail

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]20% Load

[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]7.8 mV

[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]8.1 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]6.7 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]4.5 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]Pass

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]40% Load

[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]10.7 mV

[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]8.8 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]6.3 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]4.7 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]Pass

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]50% Load

[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]13.7 mV

[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]9.1 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]7.1 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]6.5 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]Pass

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]60% Load

[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]14.1 mV

[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]10.6 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]8.2 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]6.9 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]Pass

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]80% Load[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]18.9 mV

[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]12.0 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]8.7 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]8.1 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]Pass[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]100% Load[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]22.3 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]14.3 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]10.2 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]11.3 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]Pass

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]110% Load[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]23.5 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]15.4 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]10.4 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]11.7 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]Pass

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]Crossload 1[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]7.3 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]7.5 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]7.0 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]4.4 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f0f0f0, align: center]Pass[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=bgcolor: #dee2e7, align: center]Crossload 2[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]22.3 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]14.5 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]9.5 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]11.0 mV[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #f9f9f9, align: center]Pass[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

 

 

 

As many of you have been asking, here it is. We have finally gotten a bit closer to assessing the performance of these units with this reply from Teradak.

 

I have gotten a reply for the ripple/noise readings on the ATX 275. Michael told me that all 3 ATX PSUs run at similar levels, so we went with the middle of the road PSU for the testing to get some numbers.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]14886[/ATTACH]

 

* Of course your own unit may test slightly higher or slightly lower than this, and the closer you get to the ceiling the more ripple there will be, but this is a good insight to what we're getting. I think it looks fantastic :-D

[Marcell]

Hi prot,

 

 

For efficiency I think you can calculate by yourself 210w/308w, that's around 68 percent as on pic in the first post.

 

Ripple and regulation, I think most PSU suppliers does not include this, not that I know of. Try to browse in Corsair, Thermaltake website for their PSU, they do not include ripple and regulation but only 80 plus certificate.

 

Jonny Guru, Guru3D, Anandtech etc are independent third parties to review those PSU. Of course it would be great if Teradak can provide those measurement but I am just trying to be fair here....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Ben-m,

 

The ripple measurements look pretty good for such a big and fully-featured device, I am interested in a 210w model. Before confirmation, I would like to see two more measurements:

 

1. Efficiency. I know linears cannot compete with the 80+ switchers in this department, but I do not want any surprises (e.g. efficiency lower than 50%).

 

2. Regulation. That is the diff between the stated voltage (5v, 12v..) and the actually supplied one. It varies with load but a good linear should be under 1%... and from a highend device like this I expect even better (I.e. diff numbers into the single digit mV.)

 

Ripple, regulation and efficiency numbers are provided by all serious PS manufacturers and I wanna be sure that $500 buys me a better PS than the best switching picoPSU setup (e.g. less than 50mV ripple and .0x% regulation with the FSP brick tested here Pico PSU Round Up Review )

 

Thanks in advance.

 

P.S.

may want another 350w model for my NAS but that's a pretty long shot ... need 5x molex for the hdd cages and efficiency is very important for a 24/7 machine.

[Marcell]

Hi Ben-M,

 

I have been trying to deduce this puzzle why it shows 18 mV on 10A. Something does not make sense..... Try to browse more on typical linear PSU, they have 1mV of ripple noise. 18mV is definitely of the chart......

 

This is from 12VDC example:

1) 2A (2.13mV) + 4A(additional load) = 6A (3.51mV) --> make sense

2) 6A (3.51mV) + 4A(additional load) = 10A (18.3mV) --> does not make sense

 

 

First additional 4A to the load it becomes 6A and has 3.51mV. Well until this part, it does make sense that additional 4A to the load would increase ripple noise as well. Another additional 4A to the load, I would be expecting roughly around 5mV - 7mV but instead ripple noise increase exponentially..... something wrong with this number.

 

If we analyze it further more:

 

ATX 210 --> using 6A-8A --> Ok

ATX 275 --> using 8A-10A --> Not OK when go above approximately 3/4 of load

ATX 350 --> using 10A-12A --> Not Ok when go above approximately 2/3 of load

 

 

 

Can you see a pattern here? Well at this point.... we maybe getting near a possible answer for this anomaly. Now lets take a look at the basic main parts of linear PSU:

 

 

[TABLE=align: left]

[TR]

[TH]Component or module[/TH]

[TH]Purpose[/TH]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Transformer[/TD]

[TD]To change mains input voltage to provide voltage required[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Rectifier[/TD]

[TD]To convert AC to DC[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Smoothing capacitor(s)[/TD]

[TD]To reduce the amount of AC ripple on the DC voltage[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Voltage regulation[/TD]

[TD]To provide the required output voltage[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Current limiting[/TD]

[TD]To provide protection for both internal and external parts[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Feedback[/TD]

[TD]To eliminate the effect of line resistances[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Teradak may have done was at first he designed ATX 210W PSU. Then Teradak wanted to do more variety of his product, he gave birth of ATX 275 and ATX 350 along the line.

 

What's the differences on ATX 275 and ATX 350 compare to ATX 210? Of course Teradak must put bigger "transformer", "Rectifier" and "current limiting" to handle bigger load. Lets skip "voltage regulation" and "feedback" for now. What I had suspected is "smoothing capacitors", that might be the main culprit for this anomaly. Teradak put exactly the same capacitor for all three models!!!

 

If this is true then this is a bad way for saving cost. Can you consult back to Teradak? Since we are a group buy, we might be able to do something about it. 18mV is definitely off the chart, I would expect less than 5mV performance and I don't think I am being harsh here. As I said, try to browse on typical linear PSU, they typically have 1mV of ripple noise.

[Marcell]

Does Switching PSU vs Linear PSU with the same ripple noise at 18mV provide a same sound? The answer is no because of pulse, transient etc which make Linear PSU still more superior, produce better sound even with a same number of ripple noise...... alright, this question has been answered.

 

Okay now moving on to the next question:

 

12VDC example

1) 2A (2.13mV) + 4A(additional load) = 6A (3.51mV) --> make sense

2) 6A (3.51mV) + 4A(additional load) = 10A (18.3mV) --> does not make sense

 

I would expect the ripple noise increase bit by bit accordingly to the load, not a sudden exponential increase. Probably I am expecting something like on Corsair AX860i chart in post #63. There you can see ripple noise increase bit by bit accordingly to the load given. My suspect still stand on the same exact capacitor which is use by all three models.

 

And other things to put in mind when comparing to the other linear PSU brand, they typically have 1mV ripple noise or even less than that. 18mV is simply off the chart. Unless somebody can says that "18mV, 3mV, 1mV in Linear PSU does not effect the sound or only subtle. Please ignore it", I would say we may have an issue.

[Marcell]

Hi Ben-M,

 

 

Thanks for your reply. Your explanation are well accepted that L-PSU blasted off SMPS even with higher number of ripple noise.

 

 

Let me put it in very simple way, the situation is almost like this:

Me: Hey Teradak, do you sell Linear PSU for PC? What's the ripple noise by the way?

Teradak: Yes we do sell ATX 210 and it comes with ripple noise of 3.51mV.

Me: Okay that sounds very great. But I might need a bigger model, do you have that? And what's the ripple noise for that model?

Teradak: Yes we also have ATX 275 in sale if you need a bigger wattage for your PC and it comes with ripple noise of 18.3mV

Me: huh??? *confuse

 

 

Please do ask why it shoot up like that, why can't ATX 275 and ATX 350 have similiar performance to ATX 210? Specifically in terms of ripple noise.

 

 

Well adding GPU options is because some of my collections are BluRay Music Videos.

Yes its gonna be harmfull for serious audio listener, but i am on a different path from anyone else ;-)

Anyway i can always switch it to onboard GPU and plug off GPU card anytime when doing audio. I just want an extra options for my system and not limiting my collection to audio only. Try JRiver with MadVR codec for video, it consume your GPU like a black hole... but of course it produce the best video!

 

 

 

I don't know that ripple follows any kind of linear/straight line/bit-by-bit style of progression across any PSU's power range. It may do so with the Corsair you've showed, and other well regulated ATX SMPS's, but I don't know that it's the same for multi-rail L-PSUs being used in computers.

 

Also, I know that L-PSUs can have low ripple, but I can't agree that they typically have 1mV or even less. If that were the case I'd have flown down to Shenzhen and shot Michael when he tried to trick me with an L-PSU that functioned with 1.44 at it's lowest draw, 2.5 at medium draw, and 18 at higher draw...

 

I can contact Teradak and see if their engineers can say why the ripple seems to shoot up when they hit that range of draw, but I have a feeling that they're not going to have a clear answer for me. Even if they did, I'm not sure how it would even translate to "oh, ok, that should be fine, it'll still sound great" or "oh, that's too bad, that's not going to sound good in my PC because it happens that way". That's over my head.

 

Now ever if they did know why, I am 100% positive they will not have experience in testing how their ripple spike L-PSU sounded vs. the Super Flower/Corsair/'audiophile approved low ripple ATX SMPS'. It's just not in the cards.

[Marcell]

Hi Ben-M,

 

 

Please don't forget NOT to include invoice in my shipment. Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

[TABLE=width: 100%, align: center]

[TR]

[TD=class: label, align: right]Sent to:[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD=class: small]Li Michael (The recipient of this payment is Non-U.S. - Verified)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=class: label, align: right]Email:[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD=class: small][email protected][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=class: label, align: right]Payment sent to:

[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD=class: small][email protected][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=class: label, align: right]Amount sent:[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD=class: small]-$651,75 USD[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=class: label, align: right]Fee amount:[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD=class: small]$0,00 USD[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=class: label, align: right]Net amount:[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD=class: small]-$651,75 USD[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=colspan: 3]

---

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=colspan: 3][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=class: label, align: right]Date:[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD=class: small]Oct 28, 2014[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=class: label, align: right]Time:[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD=class: small]23:31:43 GMT+07:00[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=class: label, align: right]Status:[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD=class: smallLong]Completed

[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

[Marcell]

Hi Ben-M,

 

 

Thanks and congrats on your happy wedding! Enjoy the time with your families, for they are the most precious!

[Marcell]

FYI: I got my shipping number about 2 hours ago.

 

I assumed my unit has been fix with green LED and mod capacitor.

 

 

Capacitor is always a fix to electrical noise. Many cases have use capacitor(s) as solution in audio world, which result in better SQ. But many has try to put more transistors which ended up in "sucking out the life" of audio or simply making the sound become dull. One must be careful in putting the right amount or the right type of transistor.

 

Example of "overdose" use of capacitors: I believe Ben is using PCI Apexi power filter, which is a card made out of a bunch of various capacitors. In other forum, other people has try to put two PCI Apexi and they said it simply made a cleaner but dull sound compare using one card.

 

JL, you have a chance of trying out before and after putting mod capacitor in your PSU. Does it make a better sound or does it make a cleaner but dull sound?

 

Hearing with your ear is the ultimate final testing rather than a good low figure (ripple noise) on the paper

[Marcell]

Hi Ben,

 

 

I received mine today, that is ATX-350. I haven't got time to fire it up, probably this weekend. But i did check things around and found a strange thing. Two fuses that were installed in fuse box are 8A and while i got another spare fuse wrapped together with back-plate which is 3A.

 

Please correct me if i am wrong, but ATX-350 should consume max 500 Watts according to your spec sheet and if divided by 220V (my country's electric) that should be 2.3A approximately. 8A is obviously too much, even 3A is over the line.

 

Even if i use 110V as an input, that would be 4.5A fuse. I don't know why they gave me two 8A and one 3A. I could buy another fuse, they are only few dollars, no worries about that. But i do want to know which is the correct fuse for this power supply? Can you confirm back to Teradak about this?

 

To other people, please check your fuse before using it!!!

[Marcell]

The 3A fuse is for the separate +5VSB rail, since we've asked to use it for more than it's supposed to be used for it now needs protection.

 

Then the 8A fuse is for the entire PSU.

 

I don't know about fuses or why it's 8A, which I will ask them about, but that's the deal as to why there's 2 differently rated ones.

 

 

I got this from searching via google. It seems that Teradak ATX-350 would required 3A fuse for 220V-240V or 6A fuse for 110V input. I am wondering if that they miss-read between 8A and 3A. The font they use on the label of the fuse makes number 8 and 3 pretty damn similar, i am not joking you.

 

Let us hear what Teradak says about this....

 

 

Calculate Fuse Rating

 

 

[h=2]How To Calculate The Fuse Rating[/h]Using the guideline that the fuse is rated at 125% of the normal operating current.

Power (Watts) = Current (Amps) x Voltage (Volts)

Therefore:

Current = Power/Voltage

Therefore:

Fuse rating = (Power/Voltage) x 125%

OR, put another way:

Fuse rating = (Power/Voltage) x 1.25

OR, put another way:

Fuse rating = (watts/volts) x 1.25

 

• Note the power of the appliance – usually in the appliance manual,
  
• Note the voltage (240 volts in the UK).
  
• Use the next highest fuse rating after the calculation.
  
  • Say the calculated fuse rating is 2.2679 amps, use a 3 amp fuse.
    
  • Say the calculated fuse rating is 4.9431 amps, use a 5 amp fuse.
    
  • Say the calculated fuse rating is 8.9032 amps, use a 13 amp fuse.
    
  • Say the calculated fuse rating is 10.6421 amps, use a 13 amp fuse.
    

[h=3]Fuse Rating Calculations[/h]The assumption in this calculation is that their are only 3 fuse ratings, 3 amp, 5 amp and 13 amp.

Say the power is 500 watts.

Fuse rating = (watts/volts) x 1.25

Fuse rating = (500/240) x 1.25

Fuse rating = (2.083333333) x 1.25

Fuse rating = 2.604166667 amps

Next fuse up is a 3 amp fuse, use a 3 amp fuse.

Say the power is 200 watts.

Fuse rating = (watts/volts) x 1.25

Fuse rating = (200/240) x 1.25

Fuse rating = (0.83333333) x 1.25

Fuse rating = 1.04166667 amps

Next fuse up is a 3 amp fuse, use a 3 amp fuse.

Say the power is 1500 watts.

Fuse rating = (watts/volts) x 1.25

Fuse rating = (1500/240) x 1.25

Fuse rating = (6.25) x 1.25

Fuse rating = 7.8136 amps

Next fuse up is a 13 amp fuse, use a 13 amp fuse.

Say the power is 900 watts.

Fuse rating = (watts/volts) x 1.25

Fuse rating = (900/240) x 1.25

Fuse rating = (3.755) x 1.25

Fuse rating = 4.6875 amps

Next fuse up is a 5 amp fuse, use a 5 amp fuse.

[Marcell]

The 6-pin is for the graphic card.

I believe no one from group buy will use it.

 

I am happily using it for my NVIDIA GTX960 I am probably the only one here using it. some of my collections are music videos (1080p and 720p), which i am playing it with jriver and madvr codec. Of course i do turn it off all GPU functions including GPU fan when listening to music only.

 

Believe me, that madvr can easily consume the whole GTX960 easily as an appetizer and still asking for more GPU performance. Even NVIDIA GTX 980 is not enough to set max quality in madvr, other forum has confirm testing on this.

 

I am happy to report that Teradak - 350 can fully support NVIDIA GTX960 that has TDP of 120W. The card itself consume approximately 120W when stressed to the max, not including processor, memory, SSD etc.

[Marcell]

Ben,

 

One other minor item for the information of others. The spare fuses that came in the plastic bag with mine were also 8 amp and 3 amp 250V fuses. However the actual fuse fitted in the IEC power inlet on my unit is 5A 250V. There is also a spare 5A fuse in this holder. I am in Australia on 240V so a 5A fuse should provide 1,200 watts. I would be surprised if this is not adequate for a 275W power supply but if it blows on start up I can always try the supplied 8A fuse. As for the 3A fuse for the separate +5VSB rail I assume that fuse is internal and you need to take the top cover off to access it. Arrrrre the top cover again ! (Couldn't resist).

 

Mark

 

 

I am still not fully satisfied with Teradak's answer. I am suspecting that they gave us 8A FAST BLOW fuse. What we probably need is not more than 3A SLOW BLOW fuse. I am now ordering 3A SLOW BLOW fuse and will experiment myself.

 

Most or all amplifiers and DAC use SLOW BLOW fuse due to the nature of the way it consume big power at start up.

[Marcell]

I'd prep an email to Teradak, quote your Buyer ID#, and attach the same photos. This is definitely something that needs to be logged on their end in case you have any future warranty issues. Send it after the 15th of March.

 

 

Hi Ben,

 

 

Mine also does not have any sticker. I thought that was normal until i read this post.

 

By the way, my screw is very tight at the bottom, so i do not need to open my case.

[Marcell]

Hi,

 

Can someone post robust SQ review of Teradak ? Now it looks like everyone concerned only about build quality, but not the sound.

 

Thanks

Kuni

 

 

If you can't wait for others to review, here is what i got currently. Initially out of the box, it sounded rather harsh, muddy etc. What i was using previously was Corsair AX860. I've been burn-in this Teradak for 130+ hours and still sounds a bit harsh and fatigue on my ears, i think this is why others has not give any proper reviews yet until they fully cook up their Teradak.

 

To sum up after 130+ hours burn-in, first impression was it really has a dynamic sound. Overall it does improves in everything, dynamic, sound stage, details, resolution/focus, better bass/treble/vocal. I can say this PSU has brought me to another level than using Corsair AX860.

 

My review may not be that interesting, of course linear PSU will win over SMPS PSU. It is almost an unfair comparison. This may also be the reason why nobody give review. Perhaps some other people will give more interesting review such as they previously using a linear PSU and how they compare to this Teradak.

[Marcell]

Thanks Marcel. Very honest review!

I am about to complete my PSU and it is similar schematics like Teradak. I am really keen to hear feedbacks. In first 2 demos I felt like treble were a little bit stripped, but as you say improvement everywhere else. I did not do though burn it and questions is how much it will change sound ?

 

 

You mean you are building your own PSU like Teradak??? Woww.... That's very cool..... I am impressed for your effort!

 

Well as a matter of burn-in, I was once a non-believers to burn-in process, then i tried to hear/analyse to burn-in process each time i purchase audio parts. To analyse i hear at certain interval of time, first time, then 25 hours of burn-in, 50 hours, 75 hours, 100, 125, 150 till 250 hours. It does sounds very different, mostly the sound stabilize, won't change much after 200 hours. i have done these analyses with my speaker, headphone, DAC, amplifier, XLR cable, USB cable, speaker/headphone cable, power cable..... even my Corsair AX860 could not escape the necessity to burn-in process.

 

My advise is to complete 200 hours of burn-in before giving any final judgement. Don't try to keep on modifying your PSU before that, you are probably wasting your effort. From 0 hour to 200 hours of burn-in, i'd say it change a lot!

 

anyway, by dynamic sound i firstly notice, i mean it is really fluid. If you ever heard a tube amplifier, it sounded towards that in terms of fluid/easy hearing.

 

The lost in treble or high frequency may come as the sound get darker and lower white noise. That is because you now have a cleaner power supply. If you are using all copper cable, not a single silver cable in your system, you may experience this. It also depends on the nature of your DAC and amplifiers.... finding a balance equation is hard, that's why we sometimes end up in an endless tuning in audio... but that's also the fun part

[Marcell]

Well, this is a disturbing news regarding quality control and reliability issue for all of us I hope everyone else PSU are working fine.

 

Anyways, i am updating info regarding fuse. Mine is Teradak 350, running 220V and i am now using 3A SLOW BLOW Fuse. It has been working fine for few days and i've been trying to turn on/off many times. Including Stressing out CPU/RAM/GPU to the max by running benchmark, various applications. No issue so far, it does work fine with 3A SLOW BLOW fuse.

 

I almost certain that Teradak gave us a 8A FAST BLOW fuse. I am not sure that is the correct fuse, usually all linear PSU use SLOW BLOW fuse due to the nature they consume high current at start up. That is why most or all of DAC and amplifiers use a SLOW BLOW fuse because they have Linear PSU built in.

 

Other who wants to change, i would suggest you need not more than 6A (110V) and 3A (220V) SLOW BLOW fuse. You might want to use even lower rating fuse for Teradak 210.

 

Well, this might not be such an important issue, but i am just sharing my experience and knowledge. it is not likely you would ever have a blown fuse playing audio in your lifetime! You'll be lucky (unlucky) to ever experience once. But i am following old people saying, "Safety first!!!" before i play

 

To other people, please share info as much as you can to this forum of whatever you find out regarding your Teradak. We are on the same boat after all. Your review regarding SQ is also much anticipated.

[Marcell]

I believe in the beginning of this group project we... or some people requested 5VSB on a separate line so that enables us to build battery system to feed USB card (or other things else)

 

Can anyone share who have done this? I think some (or many) of us did not plan to build this battery system when we first ordered Teradak PSU nor we have knowledge / experience on how to do this.

 

I myself just simply plug it in on my PPA usb card.... How much the sound would be different when using battery system and how to do it?

[Marcell]

Hi Hans,

 

 

Thanks for replying. This sounds like a complex project to build a battery system, especially for non-technical person. I would appreciate if you can share yours once you finished building yours.

 

 

Marcell

[Marcell]

 

 

I have a feeling that people are not very satisfied about the SQ results. The largest comment I have read is about little harsh after 130h burn. Maybe people are enjoying it so much they don´t care about the thread! This is another possibility.

 

Best,

JM

 

 

Hi JM,

 

 

I had a feeling that many people have left this thread, they are enjoying their PSU and the deal is done.

 

I can update a little bit, now that I have completed 300 hours burn-in time. The harsh sound is now gone, it now sounded very fluid and expanded sound stage, well that's my first impression. Other things also improve, better focus, detail etc. But i mind you that power cable and any power filter or power distribution you use to feed this PSU is effecting a lot. I believe some of us are actually have different outcome due to these factors, but would rather agree that Teradak PSU is an upgrade especially compare to switching PSU.

 

I believe Teradak PSU would do poorly on environment where there are many electrical problem such as EMI, RFI, poor grounding, voltage instability etc. I believe on such environment and combine with poor power cable plus without any power filter, Teradak would sound harsh and makes your ear easily fatigue, muddy bass etc.

[Marcell]

Hi Marcell,

 

Thank you very much for the feedback. I will follow your recomendations around burn-in time.

 

But, why do you think that the psu will be more sensitive than other devices?

 

Best regards!

JM

 

 

 

I didn't mean to express Teradak PSU is super sensitive in that way or more sensitive than other brand PSU's, but i mean that this is not a magical device to fix all your electrical problem. Note that most or all DAC and amplifier are using linear PSU built-in inside. Does your current DAC or amp makes difference in sound when you use audio grade power cable/distribution/filter compare to 5 USD power cable/distribution/filter? If yes then this Teradak PSU would do the same thing.

 

Some of cable power maker even suggest this order of importance whenever you want to upgrade your power cable:

1st: Source (CD player; DAC)

2nd: Power Amps

3rd: Preamplifier

4th: Power conditioner; regenerators, power distribution units

 

Source is always the most impacting factor towards sound. Same rules apply when you want to upgrade interconnect cables. First is source to DAC, second is DAC to amps and last is amps to speaker/headphone. So in a way the answer to your question is YES this Teradak PSU is more sensitive than other devices, but not super sensitive in that way or more sensitive compare to other L-PSU.... you got what i mean...

 

I myself have tried this Teradak using cheap power cable vs audio grade cable and the difference is quite big because i got a very dirty electricity in my house. But this may not apply to everybody.

 

So does a power cable is more important than interconnect cable? The answer is NO..... i have tried vice versa situation, using crappy 5 USD interconnect cables combine with using audio grade power cables. I only hear a very small difference in sound. I may even have guess wrong when doing a blind test with this experiment.

 

Put a correct priority in your upgrade path, then you will get a good result towards your spending. Lastly i want to say is i would not be surprise or i rather expect this feedback of Teradak PSU. That some people would say something like "The sound is much improve now using this Teradak, but i still got muddy bass and overall the sound still a bit harsh although it is already reduce a lot"

 

Well that means the problem is else where, can't expect this PSU to fix everything for you.