PSU's to Avoid

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madmat said:
The way you keep protesting the whole Aspire thing makes me wonder if you're on their payroll..."Methinks he doth protest too much"
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I asked for evidence...nobody has provided anything except pussyfooting around the issue...maybe you should question who employs others, not me
 
Aspire sells PSU's that it blatantly over-rates. The rating is at twice the ATX spec of 5% (hence Aspires's 10%) and even then when you try to push that kind of wattage at the wildly improbable spec of 10% out from the rated voltages the PSU will either fail or shut down.

You've been shown this in post after post after post. How much more "evidence" do you need?
 
madmat said:
Aspire sells PSU's that it blatantly over-rates. The rating is at twice the ATX spec of 5% (hence Aspires's 10%) and even then when you try to push that kind of wattage at the wildly improbable spec of 10% out from the rated voltages the PSU will either fail or shut down.

You've been shown this in post after post after post. How much more "evidence" do you need?
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You haven't proven that Aspire units are dangerous. I'm aware of how they use the 10% regulation to calculate wattage, I'm the one that brought it up here. Lots of other brands will give out before they reach their advertised wattage too and yet they don't seem to have this DANGER add on. Some companies are selling 500w power supplies that the maker had labeled 400w. Thats a full 25% off and yet they aren't on the list of psu's to avoid.
 
I set a number of presets on the load tester. Little did I know, I'd only be able to use one. I started with 8A on all of the primary rails. This worked, but the 12V rails were very low. I then tried to proceed to "Test 2" which was supposed to just add 2A to each of the 12V rails. An increase of a mere 48W. The power supply tripped and shut down. I cycled the power on the Aspire unit a number of times and continued to attempt the > 300W load. Every time the power supply's overload protection tripped the power supply.
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From this review showing that at a mere 266W that this PSU was running 1.35V down on the 12V rail (well above the 1.2V 10%) thereby earning it the designation "Dangerous".

If you contend this again I'll label you a shill and add you to my ignore list because you're either on Aspire's payroll or just unable to deal with the reality of what constitutes a danger to your PC.
 
Guys... guys... it's not just the 10%. It's the whole "over-rating" thing. I mean, sure the typical mind-set is, "let's rate this at XXX because nobody will ever find out."

That's what's got MGE/XG, Hiper and Cooler Master in hot water with me.

But nobody has done it with as much consistancy as Aspire.

Sure, you can say that a PSU is rated given the rail can fluctuate as much as 10%, but they can't even do the maximum wattage on the labels. They slap a 600W label on a 500W Youngyear, for goodness sake. Put it in an Aluminum housing and have three fans blowing through it so it has a better thermal temperment? I don't think so.

I'm not one to say that an Aspire is "dangerous," but I do recommend against them because for the same amount of money one can get a PSU that actually does what the label says it does.
 
ok Jon thanks...so you don't consider them dangerous. Do you think that they are constructed outside of the 5% regulation on the 12v rails? I ask because I do think the list implies this. Also who makes the power supply in the Aspire X-qpack?
 
Makalu said:
ok Jon thanks...so you don't consider them dangerous. Do you think that they are constructed outside of the 5% regulation on the 12v rails? I ask because I do think the list implies this. Also who makes the power supply in the Aspire X-qpack?
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I know they are rated outside of the 5% regulation because it says that right on the label. ;) The label says something like: "12V -/+10%" where it should say 5%.

If they did that to save face, I'd say that was a bad idea. ;)

The X-Qpack PSU might be a Youngyear, but I don't know for sure so can't really say.
 
jonnyGURU said:
I know they are rated outside of the 5% regulation because it says that right on the label. ;) The label says something like: "12V -/+10%" where it should say 5%.

If they did that to save face, I'd say that was a bad idea. ;)

The X-Qpack PSU might be a Youngyear, but I don't know for sure so can't really say.
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Yes but I don't believe power supply rating labels ;) Seriously though, Youngyear gives much different specs for the units. As I recall the two you tested that aren't the ones they put in their cases stayed within 3% which isn't exactly indicative of shoddy regulation to me.
 
Makalu said:
Yes but I don't believe power supply rating labels ;)
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As you shouldn't. But everyone else does. It's fraud.

Youngyear is capable of making a decent 500W, sure. Within 5% regulation? Ok. They're QC is a whole other issue, but that's a whole other thread. The fact remains that Aspire mislabels their PSU's by pulling numbers out of thin air. I'd give Aspire a fighting chance if they could show that they make a PSU that actually does what the label says it does.
 
Since this is the internet and English may not be everyones first language I'll clarify some thing. I never once said that Aspire should be removed from the list. I very clearly said the exact opposite on that subject.

What I do think should be removed is the comment next to it because it's simply not true. It's a misinterpretation of a deceptive claim that Aspire made. You aren't doing consumers any favors by propagating this. Due to a lack of evidence to the contrary I have to conclude that Aspire units aren't any more dangerous than any others on the list and they do meet specs (not so sure about powmax and deer lol). If the comment next to them said "they grossly exaggerate the capabilities of their units" that would be true and valid, but that's not what it says.
 
It is dave's list, I only update content for him I do not change his wording or intent as that would be dishonest.....in addition he explains his reasoning for the label right next to it. If he chooses to change it he can. Otherwise that is it.
 
Can you add the Master Power brand to this list? My parents threw out a perfectly good power supply and replaced it with this POS they picked up from CompUSA. (The actual problem was a dying fan on the heatsink, but that didn't stop them...) Recently that computer started misbehaving, first the network adapter died, so I replaced that and all of a sudden the hard drive wouldn't spin up... I get a replacement hard drive, start rearranging molex plugs and they start *sparking*. Lo and behold, one of the rails was giving almost 15 and 7 volts when it was turned *off*. This, unsurprisingly, was what killed the hard drive. Moral of the story: avoid Master Power branded PSUs.
 
Which Master Power?

Truth be told, they're made by a plethora of manufacturers. I actually reviewed, and eventually installed in my wife's machine, a modular 520W. It's actually a pretty solid unit for non-ATX12V systems.
 
lazybratsche said:
Can you add the Master Power brand to this list? My parents threw out a perfectly good power supply and replaced it with this POS they picked up from CompUSA. (The actual problem was a dying fan on the heatsink, but that didn't stop them...) Recently that computer started misbehaving, first the network adapter died, so I replaced that and all of a sudden the hard drive wouldn't spin up... I get a replacement hard drive, start rearranging molex plugs and they start *sparking*. Lo and behold, one of the rails was giving almost 15 and 7 volts when it was turned *off*. This, unsurprisingly, was what killed the hard drive. Moral of the story: avoid Master Power branded PSUs.
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The only reason I have a MasterPower 350w is because it was free after MIR @ CompUSA (and yes, I got my rebate). It's powering the secondary rig in my sig without any problems, but I ended up jumping on the Ultra V-Series 500w for $10 after MIR @ Radioshack.com for a more solid option. Needless to say, I'll be using the MasterPower sparingly and for emergency situations only. :p
 
Haha!! I jinxed myself!

The MasterPower modular 520W died today. Wasn't even overloaded, IMHO. Wife's machine which is Athlon64 3400+, 1GB of Corsair XMS, Gigabyte 6600GT, SATA drive and one DVD/RW. Nothing to extreme, right?

Suddenly, the PC locked and she got a phys dump error. On reboot, the PC posted (beep, etc.), but wouldn't post to monitor. I'd get RAM beeps, etc.

Turns out the 12V rail died! I had voltages on everything but the 12V! OMG!

Luckily I had an old, dusty V-Series 500W laying around.

My wife about killed me, though. I told her the PSU died. She asked me what kind it was. I said "CompUSA." She said, "Why was their a CompUSA PSU in a 6 month old eMachine?" I told her that I liked how the modular cables made the PC look nice and neat inside. She said, "there's no window on the case! Nobody's going to see that except for you!!!!"

:rolleyes: Oops!
 
OCD to the rescue.


I bet it'd be great being married to JonnyGuru. Having a neverending stack of PSU's to "use" all the time.
 
rcf1987 said:
Umm you need to revise that list guy I have a rosewill that rules ass
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Rosewill is junk.
I ordered one of their cheap cases + psu a few months back. Worked out fine.
Ordered the same case for another build a few weeks ago and the fricken psu,
which was supposed to be 20+4 pin ATX, only had 20 pins !

The same exact case I ordered before came with a 20+4 pin psu, but on this one
the extra 4 pin connector was just not there. RMA'd to newegg and lost $15 in shipping.
I also called Rosewill to ask them wtf, they would not cross-ship a new unit, and even said if I sent the defective one in, in may take a few weeks to get a new one sent out.

Horrible service. I gave it a 1 star review on newegg, which I see newegg never posted.
I don't expect much from such a cheap product but holy shit, you'd think it would have at least had all of the specified power connectors before it left the factory. :rolleyes:

That was the last straw. Now when people ask me to build them computers they pony up for name brand cases and psu or they can ask someone else to do them the favor.
 
Stereophile said:
Rosewill is junk.
I ordered one of their cheap cases + psu a few months back. Worked out fine.
Ordered the same case for another build a few weeks ago and the fricken psu,
which was supposed to be 20+4 pin ATX, only had 20 pins !

The same exact case I ordered before came with a 20+4 pin psu, but on this one
the extra 4 pin connector was just not there. RMA'd to newegg and lost $15 in shipping.
I also called Rosewill to ask them wtf, they would not cross-ship a new unit, and even said if I sent the defective one in, in may take a few weeks to get a new one sent out.

Horrible service. I gave it a 1 star review on newegg, which I see newegg never posted.
I don't expect much from such a cheap product but holy shit, you'd think it would have at least had all of the specified power connectors before it left the factory. :rolleyes:

That was the last straw. Now when people ask me to build them computers they pony up for name brand cases and psu or they can ask someone else to do them the favor.
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Maybe you got lucky!

Rosewill uses so many different OEM's, you never know how bad it is until you get it! :rolleyes:
 
Stereophile said:
That was the last straw. Now when people ask me to build them computers they pony up for name brand cases and psu or they can ask someone else to do them the favor.
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Ditto. the cheapest PSU I'll use is the 450W FSP unit for $51 at newegg. They can whine about cost of the psu, and how there are $30 psus, but I don't budge.
 
Makalu said:
Since this is the internet and English may not be everyones first language I'll clarify some thing. I never once said that Aspire should be removed from the list. I very clearly said the exact opposite on that subject.

What I do think should be removed is the comment next to it because it's simply not true. It's a misinterpretation of a deceptive claim that Aspire made. You aren't doing consumers any favors by propagating this. Due to a lack of evidence to the contrary I have to conclude that Aspire units aren't any more dangerous than any others on the list and they do meet specs (not so sure about powmax and deer lol). If the comment next to them said "they grossly exaggerate the capabilities of their units" that would be true and valid, but that's not what it says.
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Pardon me?? They are doing consimers a huge favor. Why should consumers be led to believe it is OK to purchase an ASPIRE PSU? ASPIRE PSI`s are the only brand I will say to absolutely stay away from! I would even list the old Antec PSU`s as being of better quality than anything ASPIRE has ever or will ever make!!

It is NOT doing the consumer any good to tell them that it is OK to buy an ASPIRE PSU!!
In fact it is a diservice and misleading to even allow the consumer for even a brief moment to allow them to even entertain the thought of getting an ASPIRE PSU!!
 
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