A powerful supply with software control
Nick Race02 March 2008, 7:45 PM
Making your hardware go as fast as possible requires a certain amount of feedback. You need to know, exactly, just how fast a particular component is working. Gigabyte has applied this feedback and control mentality to one of the last bastions of ‘dumb tech’ inside a PC — the power supply.
The Odin GT 800W PSU from Gigabyte is the first software-controlled power supply for the home PC. The unit is bundled with a software application to monitor fan speeds, temperatures and voltages, but also lets you adjust them on the fly. This is useful if you want to cut noise down when not running intensive applications — apply more power for software-based overclocking (video card overclocking software could especially benefit from this) or dice with the devil and reduce currents to components to hopefully cut down on heat.
Connectivity is ample, with Gigabyte bundling 10 fully sleeved cables of varying lengths and connectors to suit your component load. There’s also four thermometer diodes in the box, which allows you to read the temperature from various locations within your PC.
This isn’t a power supply for everyone. If you’re a set-and-forget type, the added expense from the software and control functionality is unnecessary. If you’re likely to get down and dirty inside your machine, or run it right at its limits, this kind of feedback is invaluable.