Aris wrote:
I would challenge you to prove that any system built on current technology would ever demand a power output above your current PSU lineup. With the current trend of power/watt, and power profiles comming down, larger PSU capacities seem to be opposite of current and future needs. Even with SLI setups (which btw have basically been proven to provide no real benefit and only seem to exist to sell aditional units to the wealthy), power requirements are still under 500-600w.
Thanks for the suggestions you made, I will definitely bring them up.
The thing that's tough is imagining a real-world system that will take more power than we can provide isn't that tough.
Imagine next-generation video cards use 250W per card, a 25% increase over something like the HD 2900XT. Also imagine that the physics solution, with a 3rd card, is implemented and becomes the standard for high-end builds from OEMs and System Integrators.
So now we're using an overclocked quad-core CPU, say 130W, plus 3 possible 250W cards, for 880W of power before we count hard drives, fans, motherboards, etc.
Do I think that's likely? No.
But it's possible, and some people want a product to run it.
Whether it's currently feasible to use more than 620W or not, the products are on the market and there is a demand for them. Without meeting that demand, we'd be sitting around allowing our competitors to sell their products to that market while we did nothing.
I want Corsair to be the best consumer power supply company in the world, shooting for anything less than that isn't my style.
This means that we'd have the best products on the market for everyone from you guys who are concerned with silence, efficiency, and a great price/performance ratio, to guys that just want the world's fastest system with the most exclusive parts they can buy, and everyone in between.
As for your comment about the 300W supply, it's a tough sell. Most cases come with "450W" supplies or around there, and trying to get somebody to upgrade from a crappy 450W made with balsa and tinfoil to a rock solid 300W made with industrial grade components is tough because the number is the key selling point.
My goal is to make a product that pleases both the guys who know a lot about the technology like yourselves, and the "newbie" enthusiast who maybe is building his first rig and doesn't really understand everything but wants to learn. We've all been there, right?
Anyway, this forum is fantastic and there are lots of great ideas. A passive external PSU...hmmm.....