Cheap psus, ur personal experience

d0b33 said:
I have a cheap/generic 350W PSU called "FSB group" running in one of my PC's for nearly 4 years now, the PSU came with the chenbro gaming bomb case I bought.
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What did it use to power for those 4 years?

The machine in ur siggie? :p

"● Q9300 | P5Q | DDR2 2GB 1066 | 9600GT | Zalman460W | CM690 | XonarD2 | LG 20" ●"
 
ld13 said:
Interesting thread: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=131880
I have heard too many stories like this...that is why I stay away from from iSonic power supplies eg.
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Is Isonic really a manufacturer or just a company that buys unbranded products from china and put their logos on?

I dont wanna start any rumours but Ive got their wireless mouse which is great but seen an exact same model used by a friend in china called "little kangaroo".

The their usb speakers and keyboard which are identical to another company called yodata sold by pick n pay (which is obviously from china?)
 
Nameite said:
What did it use to power for those 4 years?

The machine in ur siggie? :p

"● Q9300 | P5Q | DDR2 2GB 1066 | 9600GT | Zalman460W | CM690 | XonarD2 | LG 20" ●"
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The specs for that PC:
AMD Athlon64 2GHZ
1GB ram (2x512)
Radeon x300
Onboad sound
ATI chipset MSI mobo
3Fans
2 HDD
DVD drive
TV tuner

Able to play crysis on low but being used as a HTPC by a family member now, I even modded the PSU by snipping the fan cables and connecting it to a fan controller(ran silent for 2 years) but I reverted it before giving the PC away.

Was a very stable PC never had a BSOD or weird crashes.

Nameite said:
Is Isonic really a manufacturer or just a company that buys unbranded products from china and put their logos on?

I dont wanna start any rumours but Ive got their wireless mouse which is great but seen an exact same model used by a friend in china called "little kangaroo".

The their usb speakers and keyboard which are identical to another company called yodata sold by pick n pay (which is obviously from china?)
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I had the same suspicion, it's probably Chinese generic OEM.
 
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Praeses said:
You can check http://www.jonnyguru.com/SMPS_UL.htm to see where the parts of your PSU comes from. Just check the number at that lil backwards-RU logo on the PSU, if I remember correctly.
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Thanks Praeses, my old FSP group PSU is there looks like Aopen and OCZ uses them, so just as I mentioned in my first post, names can be deceiving always look at the specs first ;)
 
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FYI: "FSP Group" = Fortron Source Power, who were well known for their high quality PSU's. Their units were rebadged for AOpen and OCZ
 
flarkit said:
FYI: "FSP Group" = Fortron Source Power, who were well known for their high quality PSU's. Their units were rebadged for AOpen and OCZ
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Interesting, I only paid R500 for the case and that was the normal selling price at the time so I regarded the PSU as being cheap, just proves that name brands are not important.
 
tyerone said:
how loud is ur 460 w is it louder than ur case fans?? if the rooms its in can ur hear the psu above ur graphics card ect?
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I got this 460W before I got the rest of my system so I tried it out on my blown motherboard. It was dead silent even when I plugged the case fans out. I heard the other PC in the room more than this PSU right in front of me. I had to concentrate to even pick up that the PC was on.

At the moment the loudness from high to low is CPU FAN > 3D Card > Case Fans > PSU Fan

It is a winner :)
 
I use a Super Flower hehe 530watt. Never gave me probs. Running 2x HD's, 2x HD3850's, E4300 overclocked, About 4 120mm fans, DVD Writer and a watercooler for the GPU's.
The PSU cost me R550. Not cheap cheap but not expensive.
 
be careful on what PSU you are buying

Nameite said:
Anyone used a cheap psu before such as comstar 450w (R125) or an MC 450w (R150) or a Sahara generic 500w (R200 something) before? (or any other cheapo brand/oem)

And if you have, have you guys had any bombouts/sparks/toasted hardwares etc? (on what specs)

Or if you are still using one of those, how long you used it for with what specs?

Thanks!
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Hi guys
I read this thread with interest and need to share this with you
My cousin use to work at Comstar and told me that all the cases that came into the stores came with 180w or 200w PSU and the stores guys had to change the stickers to 450w , so you prob getting a 180w psu

I was in New Zealand last month on a project and spoke to a guy in a computer shop there and he told me that this very common even in New Zealand with the Chinese computer shops , as the most expensive piece of equipment on a case is the PSU, many of the Chinese imports into this country I am sure also change the sticker , however I must say that I have bought from mecer, rectron , sahara and esquire and all their psu's are all their SABS approved and have had no issues with them.

so it you buying a PSU make that it genuine article and make sure that it is SABS approved.
 
Joe_M said:
Hi guys
I read this thread with interest and need to share this with you
My cousin use to work at Comstar and told me that all the cases that came into the stores came with 180w or 200w PSU and the stores guys had to change the stickers to 450w , so you prob getting a 180w psu

I was in New Zealand last month on a project and spoke to a guy in a computer shop there and he told me that this very common even in New Zealand with the Chinese computer shops , as the most expensive piece of equipment on a case is the PSU, many of the Chinese imports into this country I am sure also change the sticker , however I must say that I have bought from mecer, rectron , sahara and esquire and all their psu's are all their SABS approved and have had no issues with them.

so it you buying a PSU make that it genuine article and make sure that it is SABS approved.
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Wow that should explain the low cost of their (comstar) psu's along with their "not knowing" of their 450w and 500w psu's amp ratings.

Shot for the info, thats one dodgy supplier we should keep a look out for.
 
Buy a proper PSU. That is no Thermaltake or other chance takers.
Chances are any brand PSU that is rated 800watts is good if not better than all 500watt "name brand units". I know this may sound n00bish, but I've yet to come across a rubbish 800 watt unit save from TT above.

Be reasonable with spending. Don spend R1K on a 450 watt Antec, Zalman or any brand that includes PC Power & Cooling. If you're spending R1K get at least 700watts for your money. spend R1,800 or so you should be getting 1KW and nothing less.
Since finding single rail units is hard these days, get a PSU with at least 4 20A rails. 18 is no good but not a train smash and if you happen to get one of those 6 rail 18A units for cheap then I suppose its fine.

Me, I stand by the ZM1000-HP, OdinGT 800 and the SuperChannel PowerX 1KW unit. They all cost more than R1K, but they'll last you an eternity... :P
 
what setup are you running? ie how many hd's, dvd drives, gpu ect? thanks
ld13 said:
I got this 460W before I got the rest of my system so I tried it out on my blown motherboard. It was dead silent even when I plugged the case fans out. I heard the other PC in the room more than this PSU right in front of me. I had to concentrate to even pick up that the PC was on.

At the moment the loudness from high to low is CPU FAN > 3D Card > Case Fans > PSU Fan

It is a winner :)
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tyerone said:
what setup are you running? ie how many hd's, dvd drives, gpu ect? thanks
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Intel Core2 Quad Q9300, Intel DG33FB motherboard, 2x2GB DDR2 RAM, ATI HD4870, 1x750GB-SATA, 1x80GB-IDE, 1xDVD-Writer, 1xStiffy drive -- All powered by the Coolermaster 460W :)

My 19" LCD screen is powered separately.
 
ShockG said:
Buy a proper PSU. That is no Thermaltake or other chance takers.
Chances are any brand PSU that is rated 800watts is good if not better than all 500watt "name brand units". I know this may sound n00bish, but I've yet to come across a rubbish 800 watt unit save from TT above.

Be reasonable with spending. Don spend R1K on a 450 watt Antec, Zalman or any brand that includes PC Power & Cooling. If you're spending R1K get at least 700watts for your money. spend R1,800 or so you should be getting 1KW and nothing less.
Since finding single rail units is hard these days, get a PSU with at least 4 20A rails. 18 is no good but not a train smash and if you happen to get one of those 6 rail 18A units for cheap then I suppose its fine.

Me, I stand by the ZM1000-HP, OdinGT 800 and the SuperChannel PowerX 1KW unit. They all cost more than R1K, but they'll last you an eternity... :P
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Many thanks for the input ShockG.

Those are 1k unit u vouch for, anything sub 1k for the lower budget ppl? :D
 
ld13 said:
Intel Core2 Quad Q9300, Intel DG33FB motherboard, 2x2GB DDR2 RAM, ATI HD4870, 1x750GB-SATA, 1x80GB-IDE, 1xDVD-Writer, 1xStiffy drive -- All powered by the Coolermaster 460W :)

My 19" LCD screen is powered separately.
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Do you possibly know the wattage on the V12 rails? Good to know it runs a 4870 fine :)
 
ld13 said:
It runs the 4870 more than just fine :D

I've uploaded the sticker on the side of the PSU here: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/album.php?albumid=122
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Thanks. You're really living on the limit IMO...don't expect your PSU to last forever :p That card can pull anywhere between 225W -> 300W at max load (75W from PCIe, 75W from 6pin, 150W from 8pin) so I think your 12V rails are under heavy strain since they peak at 312W (not continuous). I prefer to not push my PSU much (then it'll last longer) but that's just me :)
Feel free to prove me wrong though :D
 
Praeses said:
Thanks. You're really living on the limit IMO...don't expect your PSU to last forever :p That card can pull anywhere between 225W -> 300W at max load (75W from PCIe, 75W from 6pin, 150W from 8pin) so I think your 12V rails are under heavy strain since they peak at 312W (not continuous). I prefer to not push my PSU much (then it'll last longer) but that's just me :)
Feel free to prove me wrong though :D
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Prove you wrong? Easy. It is working - enough proof. :p

Remember, if it can pull 300W on its own does not mean it will. 2 Different things. Just have a look here. It peaks at about ~300W consumption for the whole machine. That PC outdoes my specs by quite a bit so I am not fazed.

I went to this site before getting the HD4870 to see if my 460W would be able to handle it. They have normalized usage figures for almost every card ever made - and it is quite accurate imo. It shows my card using sub 150W at Peak. My rails are safe :)

I estimated the PSU is about ~70% efficient so that gives me 322W. My total PC consumption estimation was sub 280W. I'm still ok for a few years or so. Yea, I'm not expecting it to be able to power this system for ever and ever. It'll run out of juice with aging etc etc. Still quite a bit away from my limit though. :D

I'll check out my UPS software out sometime to see what consumption it reports...
 
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Praeses said:
Thanks. You're really living on the limit IMO...don't expect your PSU to last forever :p That card can pull anywhere between 225W -> 300W at max load (75W from PCIe, 75W from 6pin, 150W from 8pin) so I think your 12V rails are under heavy strain since they peak at 312W (not continuous). I prefer to not push my PSU much (then it'll last longer) but that's just me :)
Feel free to prove me wrong though :D
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Dont worry dude, according this this http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=7&t=9354&p=0
the 4870 only chows 130w at max

And i believe it coz mt 3850 is running off my 300w psu :D
 
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