PSA: never, ever cheap out on the power supply (PSU)

K.O.Kiki · 02-08-2016 09:26PM #1

RoyalMarine · 02-08-2016 09:55PM

You gotta wonder do they even go through any quality control at all

Xenoronin · 03-08-2016 10:25AM

Probably not. Most of those brands i've never even heard of, but there was that Coolermaster one in there which is worrying. The fact these things are literally exploding under their rated load is the scariest thing though. There are meant to be failsafes to just trip if the load goes too high I thought :O

Monotype · 03-08-2016 01:15PM

Xenoronin wrote: »

Probably not. Most of those brands i've never even heard of, but there was that Coolermaster one in there which is worrying. The fact these things are literally exploding under their rated load is the scariest thing though. There are meant to be failsafes to just trip if the load goes too high I thought :O

Coolermaster has had a few crappy lines - just because they have a 'name', doesn't mean that it should be trusted.

The "rated load" is just a figure put out by these manufacturers, which might be possible under certain circumstances - they can argue that it's a guideline figure and that the tests are most likely drawing all power from the 12V rail. Hence, standards like 80+ in more recent years to have some level of quality (though watch out for fake 80+ badges!).

Research every model you intend to buy; don't assume based on brand.

Cuddlesworth · 03-08-2016 01:40PM

JohnnyGuru for good reviews.

Redfox25 · 03-08-2016 01:49PM

Thought I would share this here, its from another site but might be useful if your thinking of looking at a PSU

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

TerrorFirmer · 03-08-2016 03:08PM

I really don't understand the logic at all behind these manufacturers. Why not just label them as what they actually are capable of - instead of branding it a 450w unit, why not branded it a 250w unit?

Because surely Amazon, Dabs, etc must get an absolute mountain of returns on a regular basis because of these crap supplies being bought on the basis of being a '450/500/700/etc' watt PSU that can't deliver half of that. All they are good for is in office PC's or ultra low-stress PC's like graphics cards that draw power from the lane and don't need a 6-pin.

Surprised at the Coolermaster one to pop on such a modest stress, I know they make some cheap lines but I wouldn't have thought that cheap. The CIT ones usually aren't as bad as the absolute bargain bin models and even in that test didn't pop until 350w which is more than I expected - I personally wouldn't trust them past about 280w on a 450w unit either.

It's like those Arctic '700w' PSU's you can get for €25....wouldn't dream of ever putting more than about 280w on them. But you can imagine all the naive people buying them to power their FX8350, GTX980Ti based build....

Places like OCUK only sell semi-decent supplies now even at the lowest tiers - they used to sell crap supplies like 'ACE' and 'Arctic' as well but I would imagine the headaches that it caused them just was not worth it.

jonerkinsella · 03-08-2016 03:27PM

Here's two great guides over at Guru3d ,

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=287485

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=205763

I have used it many times to educate myself about certain psu models and brands.

It is a bit dated , but still solid .

Squidgy Black · 03-08-2016 09:40PM

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I really don't understand the logic at all behind these manufacturers. Why not just label them as what they actually are capable of - instead of branding it a 450w unit, why not branded it a 250w unit?

Because surely Amazon, Dabs, etc must get an absolute mountain of returns on a regular basis because of these crap supplies being bought on the basis of being a '450/500/700/etc' watt PSU that can't deliver half of that. All they are good for is in office PC's or ultra low-stress PC's like graphics cards that draw power from the lane and don't need a 6-pin.

Surprised at the Coolermaster one to pop on such a modest stress, I know they make some cheap lines but I wouldn't have thought that cheap. The CIT ones usually aren't as bad as the absolute bargain bin models and even in that test didn't pop until 350w which is more than I expected - I personally wouldn't trust them past about 280w on a 450w unit either.

It's like those Arctic '700w' PSU's you can get for €25....wouldn't dream of ever putting more than about 280w on them. But you can imagine all the naive people buying them to power their FX8350, GTX980Ti based build....

Places like OCUK only sell semi-decent supplies now even at the lowest tiers - they used to sell crap supplies like 'ACE' and 'Arctic' as well but I would imagine the headaches that it caused them just was not worth it.

It's simply just to encourage people to buy them. How many people post build specs with PSUs rated for 650w or 750w when they probably have a power draw of less than 300w at best? They take the risk on people buying them and keeping below the load that'll destroy them, which probably outbalances the amount of returns tenfold.

Never understood cheaping out on something that supplies several hundred watts of electricity to expensive components. Similar to someone building a huge PC and then running it through a power strip from the tesco value range. When it blows, it's bringing everything with it :P

PSA: never, ever cheap out on the power supply (PSU)

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