Hi All,
I just ordered this Viotek 550W24 Black Titanium 600 watt "High
Quality" power supply from 3btech.net
http://3btech.net/vi600wahiqu2.html
In the past I have gotten good prices with free shipping from 3btech. I did
a internet search for this power supply and it seems to be something
specially branded for 3btech and a few drop ship re-sellers of 3BTech
equipment. The picture shows a modern looking black power supply with open
grill back. You would assume it had a bottom mounted 120 mm fan or some
other fan mounted in front (not visible). What arrived was some old grey
steel standard looking power supply with a 80 mm fan in back and 120V/240V
switch. Nothing like the picture. It had Viotek model VIO60 listed on label.
It has 20 pin ATX connector and no SATA connector. There was a 20 to 24 pin
adapter but no SATA adapter. This would have been very nice supply in 2003.
I plugged it in and was dead. There was no 5V standby or voltage on power-on
line. As an internet search for this comes up mostly empty, I am posting for
future reference. I will send this POS back to 3B Tech.

Claude Hopper (11) 5. ? wrote:
>
> I got a good power supply for $15.00 It has 24 pin mobo connector and
> SATA connector. Works great.

Does it come with a fire extingtuisher?
Hold on, is that /all/ its got, a 24 pin connector and a SATA connector? Not
gonna be much use, is it?
--
SteveH

Kent_Diego wrote:
> Hi All,
> I just ordered this Viotek 550W24 Black Titanium 600 watt "High
> Quality" power supply from 3btech.net
> http://3btech.net/vi600wahiqu2.html
> In the past I have gotten good prices with free shipping from 3btech. I
> did a internet search for this power supply and it seems to be something
> specially branded for 3btech and a few drop ship re-sellers of 3BTech
> equipment. The picture shows a modern looking black power supply with
> open grill back. You would assume it had a bottom mounted 120 mm fan or
> some other fan mounted in front (not visible). What arrived was some old
> grey steel standard looking power supply with a 80 mm fan in back and
> 120V/240V switch. Nothing like the picture. It had Viotek model VIO60
> listed on label. It has 20 pin ATX connector and no SATA connector.
> There was a 20 to 24 pin adapter but no SATA adapter. This would have
> been very nice supply in 2003. I plugged it in and was dead. There was
> no 5V standby or voltage on power-on line. As an internet search for
> this comes up mostly empty, I am posting for future reference. I will
> send this POS back to 3B Tech.

If what you were promised did not match what was delivered you simply
notify the vendor and demand satisfaction. More importantly, notify your
credit card company that you were ripped off. Then move on.

Expecting a "high quality" power supply for such a cheap price is beyond
comprehension. Do your homework. Read every review you can lay your hands
on. Look at what well-reviewed equipment sells for. If you suddenly find
something selling for 1/3 as much as the others in the category you can
pretty much write it off immediately. Their is no good power supply fairy
going around waving her magic wand filling the shelves of unknown sellers
with superior parts for free.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

"John McGaw" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:HjYXj.36979$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Kent_Diego wrote:
>> Hi All,
>> I just ordered this Viotek 550W24 Black Titanium 600 watt "High
>> Quality" power supply from 3btech.net
>> http://3btech.net/vi600wahiqu2.html
>> In the past I have gotten good prices with free shipping from 3btech. I
>> did a internet search for this power supply and it seems to be something
>> specially branded for 3btech and a few drop ship re-sellers of 3BTech
>> equipment. The picture shows a modern looking black power supply with
>> open grill back. You would assume it had a bottom mounted 120 mm fan or
>> some other fan mounted in front (not visible). What arrived was some old
>> grey steel standard looking power supply with a 80 mm fan in back and
>> 120V/240V switch. Nothing like the picture. It had Viotek model VIO60
>> listed on label. It has 20 pin ATX connector and no SATA connector. There
>> was a 20 to 24 pin adapter but no SATA adapter. This would have been very
>> nice supply in 2003. I plugged it in and was dead. There was no 5V
>> standby or voltage on power-on line. As an internet search for this comes
>> up mostly empty, I am posting for future reference. I will send this POS
>> back to 3B Tech.
>
> If what you were promised did not match what was delivered you simply
> notify the vendor and demand satisfaction. More importantly, notify your
> credit card company that you were ripped off. Then move on.
>
> Expecting a "high quality" power supply for such a cheap price is beyond
> comprehension. Do your homework. Read every review you can lay your hands
> on. Look at what well-reviewed equipment sells for. If you suddenly find
> something selling for 1/3 as much as the others in the category you can
> pretty much write it off immediately. Their is no good power supply fairy
> going around waving her magic wand filling the shelves of unknown sellers
> with superior parts for free.
>
> --
> John McGaw
> [Knoxville, TN, USA]
> http://johnmcgaw.com

I have found the magic hardware fairy selling 1/2 price quality equipment at
3B Tech several times. The way it works is manufacturers have bulk inventory
and they offload with steep discount to 3B Tech. With the Viotek power
supplies, Viotek is just a label they slap on some other power supply. Also
$30 is not an unreasonable price for a quality PS. Newegg has the Antec
Earth watts 380W for that price (with rebate). The whole point of my post
was the only info available for this specific model was one cryptic photo
and a scant paragraph. Now when someone Google's "Viotek 550W24 600W Power
Supply" they get a real description of what the part is. I submitted RMA and
am awaiting response. I am hoping this was an error and they can send me the
PS that was advertised. If so I will post an updated follow up. The Viotek
550W 24 could turn out to be a great deal. In either case this would be of
interest to the home build computer group and an on topic thread.

Claude Hopper (11) 5. ? wrote:
>
> If you ever built a power supply you'd know what's in it. High priced
> ones are mostly bull ****.

From many years of having built and repaired PC's, I would have to disagree,
except about the bullshit bit - your statement is indeed BS.
--
SteveH

On 2008-05-18, Claude Hopper wrote:
>
> If you ever built a power supply you'd know what's in it. High priced
> ones are mostly bull ****.

If you ever built a power supply you'd know what's in it, and what
differentiates a quality PSU from tat. The OP was talking about
a $30 supply. A first rate fan can cost more than that.

Cheap commodity PSUs usually work fairly well for unchallenging
commodity type machines but if your machine is a little special,
or you want it to run for ten years or more before it breaks down
then it's worth paying the extra.

Higher quality units tend to be more conservatively rated. As many
have noted a good PSU will deliver its rated power without problems.
Cheap PSUs don't. There may well be a good margin in component
specifications, such as coils or the choppers where theoretically
they are capable of much more than they are being asked to do.
That leeway gives you extra reliability and better performance
since things are not being pushed to their limits the same.

Good quality PSUs individually monitor and regulate each rail to
assure that it is the correct voltage at all times. Cheaper models
may only monitor one and assume all the others are loaded in a
fixed proportion in relation to that one rail. Higher end units
are faster to recover from sudden changes in loading. In many
subtle ways you do get what you pay for. If reliability is a
consideration, or simply saving money in a commercial environment
where failiures cost money, then better quality units are the way
to go.

--
Andrew Smallshaw
(E-Mail Removed)

Kent_Diego wrote:
snip...
> I have found the magic hardware fairy selling 1/2 price quality
> equipment at 3B Tech several times. The way it works is manufacturers
> have bulk inventory and they offload with steep discount to 3B Tech.
> With the Viotek power supplies, Viotek is just a label they slap on some
> other power supply. Also $30 is not an unreasonable price for a quality
> PS. Newegg has the Antec Earth watts 380W for that price (with rebate).
> The whole point of my post was the only info available for this specific
> model was one cryptic photo and a scant paragraph. Now when someone
> Google's "Viotek 550W24 600W Power Supply" they get a real description
> of what the part is. I submitted RMA and am awaiting response. I am
> hoping this was an error and they can send me the PS that was
> advertised. If so I will post an updated follow up. The Viotek 550W 24
> could turn out to be a great deal. In either case this would be of
> interest to the home build computer group and an on topic thread.
>
>

Have to disagree. For a _real_ top-quality 600W PSU $100-150 would seem far
more reasonable. Antec PSUs have shown themselves to be of reasonable
quality in my experience but not in the league of Seasonic. In computers
where really quiet cool operation was paramount I have pulled new Antec
units and replaced them with Seasonic. Then Antecs are always good to have
on the shelf as replacements for use in friend's computers.

I guess that sometimes one can get lucky and buy equipment that was sold as
stock clearance by the maker but every time I see such items offered I
start wondering why they couldn't sell it originally. Sometimes the reasons
can be figured out and are not a hindrance (overrun, failed contract,
discontinued line, etc) but sometimes it turns out to be a bad product
who's shortcomings became known to the public before the stock could be
dumped. In any case a lot of research is called for with the proverbial
"offer that is too good to be true".

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

11 Claude Hopper 5. ? wrote:

> I got a good power supply for $15.00 It has 24 pin mobo connector and
> SATA connector. Works great.

What brand and manufacturer? Because unless it's used, a pull, or $15
is the after-rebate price, I'd be reluctant to use a $15 PSU, except
for parts.

John McGaw wrote:

> Expecting a "high quality" power supply for such a cheap price is beyond
> comprehension.

Unless it's a rebate deal. I recently bought a $430 Antec TruePower
Trio (not regular TruePower, which will likely fail from capacitor
rot, but a Seasonic-made unit) from Fry's for $10, after rebate. My
previous PSU purchases were for 500W Antec Basiqs, made by Fortron-
Source, for $5 or $10, after rebate. The most I've paid in the past
4-5 years is $15, for a high quality 300W pulled Delta or a 350W Antec
& case. The only junk PSUs I've bought were a free, after rebate,
350W Ultra V-series (to transplant an Enermax into it) and a 500W
Antec SmartPower (Antec admits this model is a lemon, and failed units
will be replaced under warranty with much better Seasonics).

> Do your homework. Read every review you can lay your hands on.

But ignore the 98% of reviews that are junk, i.e., the maximum load
they apply is a fast computer running a game, and no output amp
measurements are taken. Some of the few good PSU reviews are at
XbitLabs.com, HardOCP.com, ExtremeOverclocking.com, TomsHardware.com,
JonnyGuru.com, and SilentPCreview.com.

John McGaw wrote to Kent_Diego:

> For a _real_ top-quality 600W PSU $100-150 would seem far
> more reasonable. Antec PSUs have shown themselves to be of reasonable
> quality in my experience but not in the league of Seasonic.

But many Antecs are now just rebadged Seasonics, including their
TruePower Trio (but not regular TruePower), EarthWatts, Neo, Neo HE,
and Quattro, while TruePower and SmartPower are by Channel Well
Technology and should be avoided because of their awful Fuhjyyu brand
capacitors. Antec's budget line, Basiq, is made by Fortron-Source,
another high-quality company, and is quite good, although noisy.