FSP AX500-A Blue Storm

Supplied by FSP Group

Fortron Source Group (FSP) is a power supply that should be at the top of any PC buyer’s list. The FSP Group adopts aggressive pricing against competitors in wattage class and the product sits on the favorable side of the line between a “cheap” power supply that should be avoided and one that is a good price. FSP launched the AX500-A Blue Storm PSU late in 2004 to meet the demands of the “bigger, better, faster”. The “norm” is quickly becoming 500 watts and FSP puts in a good showing with the AX500-A.

The introduction of PCI Express motherboard and video card products has opened up new marketing routes for power supply manufacturers. Wattage demands increase as consumers build new PCs or upgrade current systems but more wattage means more heat. Often that excess heat is dissipated by noisy fans. It’s a balancing act that FSP has managed to maintain

Power supply design is a game of pleasing some most of the time and not everyone
all of the time. It’s a balancing act of what the buyer may want, what the buyer
will pay, what the power supply can deliver and how much it will cost to manufacture.
The ultimate power supply would have enough removable leads, emit zero noise,
consistently deliver the required wattage regardless of the demand upon it and
cost around $20. Until the perfect power supply pops into existence the buyer
has a wide variety of choice as manufacturers introduce different lead configurations,
paint schemes, cooling options and trendy effects such as LED fans.

PC users often complain about system instability. It’s assumed that more power
is better but this isn’t necessarily true. For a complete examination and explanation
of power supply specifications, PFC and what to look for read Power
Supplies: The Shocking Truth.

The FSP AX500-A PSU

500 watt power supplies used to be referred to as “monsters” but these monsters are becoming domesticated. The FSP AX500-A is the first of the PCI Express capable power supplies with both video and ATX support of the PCI Express products.

The AX500-A falls into the middle of the group for aesthetics. It is a rich blue color which is better than the OEM industrial gray color of cheaper power supplies but it doesn’t have the fancy “bells and whistles” such as an LED cooling fan or internal LEDs. A modder can easily change the cooling fan for a LED equipped fan but, of course, voids their warranty in the process and assumes all risk of damaging the power supply, surroundings or themselves.

FSP AX500-A Specifications (max loads)

When 3.3 Volt line is loaded to 30A the +5 max load is 12 A. When +3.3 Volt line is loaded to 6 A the +5 V maximum load is 28 A. The manual is basic and approximately 3 pages per language.

The power supply switch is the only “pretty light” for those who are drawn like moths to such features.

FSP looked to Protechnic for the 120 mm. x 25mm. cooling fan.

The cooling fan can spin at a rated maximum of 2500 RPM generating 80.97 CFM at 38.3 dBA. It is very important to remember that the fan specifications are maximum measurements but the FSP AX500-A employs silent technology. The fan normally operates at a very much reduced RPM thus providing cooling for the power supply at near inaudible levels. The PSU features a heat sensor that regulates RPM increasing or decreasing it automatically as required.

A modder can easily remove the PSU case cover to gain access to the fan area. The standard “you’ll void your warranty and risk damage to the product, your house, the cat, yourself or others if you do take things apart” disclaimer applies.

The blue color in the FSP Blue Storm is spray paint like most other PSUs that have color effects.

The AX500-A has seven leads each sleeved with shrink wrap at the trunk line from the PSU and before and after each connector. There is:

• 1 x main connector PCI Express ATX with adapter
• 1 x 12 volt power connector
• 1 x PCI Express graphics card power connector
• 8 x 4-pin molex connectors on 3 leads
• 1 x 3-pin molex connector on 1 lead
• 2 x SATA power connectors on 1 lead

The main power connector is designed for PCI-E motherboards but the included adapter makes the Blue Storm backwards compatible.

Leads and available power connectors comparison

* Does not include ATX, Accessory, 12 volt, AGP or P4 leads.

Length of leads (Centimeters)

Open PSU surgery

The FSP AX500-A Blue Storm will disappoint those looking for massive heatsinks. The 120 mm. fan balances the apparent need for large heatsinks.

The AX500-A doesn’t have any adjustment screws to fine tune the power supply. This is a hit and miss feature on power supplies. Some have it and some don’t. “Adjusting” power supplies in this manor is best left to the factory and it is rare that PC enthusiasts practice this.

The guts of a 500 watt power supply don’t look much different from those of a 400 watt or 350 watt power supply. The FSP AX500-A appears a tad inadequate due to some competitors installing massive heatsinks in their products if truth be known.

Test Systems

FSP AX500-A test system

• AMD Socket 939 3800+ Processor
• Gigabyte k8nsxnxp-939 motherboard
• ATI 9800 PRO 256 MB Video Card Catalyst 4.2 drivers (Application preference ticked for Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering in both Direct 3D and OpenGL, VSYNC disabled BIOS AGP aperture set to 256)
• 2 x 256 MB Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM in DIMM 1 and 3
• LG 52x DVD +/-R
• 80 GB Western Digital Hard Drive
• Samsung 950p 19″ Monitors
• USB Keyboard and Optical Mouse
• stock heatsink
• AMK SX1000 modded PC case (window, fans, cables, loom)
• Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 updated.

The rest

• AMD 3200+ 400 FSB
  Processor
• Gigabyte
  7NNXP motherboard
• ATI 9800 PRO 256 MB Video
  Card Catalyst 4.2 drivers (Application preference ticked for Anti-Aliasing
  and Anisotropic Filtering in both Direct 3D and OpenGL, VSYNC disabled BIOS
  AGP aperture set to 256)
• 2 x 256 MB Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM in DIMM 1 and 3
• LG 52x CD/RW
• 80 GB Western Digital Hard Drive
• Samsung 950p 19″ Monitors
• USB Keyboard and Optical Mouse
• stock heatsink
• AMK SX1000
  modded PC case (window, fans, cables, loom)
• Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 updated.

The Tests

The tests results are comparing archived results to that of a different processor/motherboard combination. They are not “apples to apples” comparisons. Competitor 500 watt PSU models were not available at time of testing. Purchasing conclusions should be made with this in mind. Results were monitored by a Fluke 73 Series II multimeter. Readings were taken
on the +3.3, +5 and +12 volt line on the ATX line. Secondary readings were taken
from the +5 and +12 volt lines of a Molex on two separate PSU leads.

Cold start tests were conducted after the system was powered
down for one minute. The lowest voltage was recorded during the process from
boot until Windows XP was fully loaded.

Operational voltages were recorded after running a two benchmark programs and
a disk defragmenter program. The lowest overall voltage of the three programs
is presented in the database. The lowest voltage was recorded during PC Mark
04 benchmark where all tests were selected and then run. Sisoft Sandra 2004
stress test was executed and the lowest voltage was recorded. (Enable CPU Arithmetic,
CPU Multi-Media, Memory Bandwidth, Cache and Memory, Network/LAN Bandwidth Benchmark)
Microsoft disk defragmenter was executed and the lowest voltage was recorded.

Power factor, kilowatt hours and load and idle watt usage was measured by a
P3 International Kill-a-Watt device. (0.2% accuracy). Aquamark benchmark was
executed at 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×1024 and 1600×1200 screen resolutions
at four levels of graphic settings: AA off & details low, AA off and details
high, 16x AA & details low and 16x AA & details high. Sisoft Sandra
file system benchmark was run 5 consecutive times on an 80 GB Western Digital
hard drive. (Floppy and external drive tests disabled.) The
remaining time after programs completed was inactive and results were recorded
after 6.5 hours from beginning of tests.

FSP AX500-A Observations

3.3 V line, 5 Volt line, 12 Volt line

No significant voltage fluctuations during any tests. Opening applications produced a
momentary 0.01 volt fluctuation.

USD from pricewatch.com. CAD from pricenetwork.ca. FSP USD price converted to CAD by xe.com.

Wattage Comparison (specifications)

Watt/VA Comparison (KillAWatt)

Peak and idle numbers were provided by the KillAWatt device. The KillAWatt
device also provide kilowatt hours and a power factor rating. Less is always
better. The KillAWatt device monitors the watts used by the system including
volt amperes. KWH usage was obtained after a 6.5 hour testing period. (It’s
about average home usage per session.)

PFC means Power Factor Corrector which is a converter device that precisely controls input current to match the waveshape of the input voltage. The benefits of an active (or passive) PFC are immediately important to a business. In layman’s terms the PFC acts like a traffic cop. A power supply will do what is asked of it; some more efficiently than others. PFC is part of the process of how efficient a power supply is at asking for and using AC current. PFC, whether active or passive, has nothing to do with power conditioning or surge protection.

Consumers are charged for electrical usage. Typically this is by kilowatt hours. A business may have several machines that draw electrical power. One machine has a high (good) PFC rating. 1.00 is the best PFC rating. The other machine may be identical but have a poor PFC rating. Both machines doing the same exact task may draw the similar killawatt hours and to the power company they look the same and are charged the same based on killawatt usage only.

But the machine with the poor PFC rating is less efficient thus poorly converting the electrical power to energy or the task it is doing.

If the PC components ask for 100 watts of power then the power supply demands AC current from the wall and converts it to the 100 watts required. An inefficient power supply can ask for more AC than it needs. A PFC equipped power supply allegedly reduces this by being more precise when asking for the AC current to convert to DC.

So the power companies got smart to this and measure on a secondary demand basis along with kilowatt usage. The business that uses machinery with high PFC ratings is charged less compared to an identical business with machines that have a poor PFC rating.

This is not a concern for the home user as of yet as power companies do not meter for PFC in the home.

Conclusion

The Fortron Source (FSP) AX500-A Blue Storm 500 watt power supply delivers. It placed well in price coming in the middle of the pack against power supplies rated at 100 watts less. The AX500-A held up well in power tests delivering the strongest 12 rails but just slightly below average for 5 volt and 3.3 volt rails.

This power supply is meant for those with PCI Express systems but it still will easily support standard PC configurations. Those with more than one 3-pin requirement may find the Blue Storm lacking. The lead sleeving and shrink wrap is a very professional touch. The Blue Storm isn’t the standard gray box nor does it have an abundance of add-ons such as LED fans. The FSP AX500-A plays it straight down the middle delivering solid value, features and performance.