Terry said:
Impatience got the better of me. Went to town Saturday afternoon and
bought a 500W replacement from my local computer shop. Seems to be
working OK. Although it's a Q-Tec, a brand apparently frowned upon by
some experts, I know the store and it will definitely go back if I
encounter any trouble. I could obviously have done far better
pricewise by buying online. I saw what seemed bargains at under 10UKP
Buy Now on ebay UK, but for 35UKP (20USD) this has got me back up and
running over the holiday weekend. Its spec *seems* reasonable too:
500W, Extra large 120 mm fan, temperature-controlled fan speed, Noise
< 26 dB(A). As for reliability, time will tell <g>.
Look at what an older model 550W Q-tec looks like inside:
http://static.flickr.com/41/79709280_e68a4d0001_o.jpg
Compare it to this high quality PSU:
http://static.flickr.com/38/75117436_1de7a3142d.jpg
The latter's heatsinks are bigger, its high voltage filter capacitors
are almost twice the size, yet it's rated for just 300W (was able to
put out at least 380W). More importantly, it's probably a lot less
likely to damage your hard drive and wipe out your data if it ever
fails.
Here are some good PSU buyer's guides:
www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=232592
www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=974240 (what to avoid)
http://jonnyguru.com/ratethebrands.html
Many manufacturers sell products under several brands, some cheaper
than others despite being very similar inside. For example,
Fortron-Source Power has budget brands Hi-Q, PowerQ, and Powertech that
differ from their Fortron and Sparkle brands only in having sleeve
bearing fans, but fans are cheap and easy to replace. This company's
model numbers usually start with FSP, but some start with ATX. But be
careful with the latter because some vastly inferior manufacturers also
prefix their model numbers with ATX. Another company that produces
several brands is Channel Well Technology, mostly known for supplying
Antec, but CWT's quality varies greatly by model series, so you want
only those with model numbers of the form CWT-pppsfc, where ppp = power
in watts, s = A for A series (virtually identical to Antec TruePower),
B for B series (SmartPower), f = S for Single fan, f = S for Dual fan,
and c = P for power factor correction. Avoid CWTs with different
suffixes, like ATX or ISO, or no suffix.
Avoid anything with a model number starting with DR or LC, indicating
it's from Deer, a maker of junk.
Don't overlook brands used mostly to big computer makers because
they're high quality and sometimes great bargains. But they can be
hard to find on the retail market and are usually sold only as surplus
or pulls from major brand computers. Some makers of these PSUs are
Lite-On/SuperMicro, Delta, Etasis, NMB/Mineba, Newton, Astec/Emerson,
and Win-tact. I've never seen a junk PSU in a major brand computer,
except an eMachines with a Powmax.
The actual manufacturer can usually be found by looking up the safety
certification numbers under the RU (backwards R) or CSA symbols at
www.ul.com or
www.csa.ca.
