EZ Cool PSU!

[Technogeek]

Can anyone tell me why EZ Cool PSU's are so badly reviewed?

I tried to google this and did not get very far.

Has anyone really tested one and if so what was the outcome?

[BUFF]

look at the price, feel the weight - you are getting what you pay for i.e. not a lot.

[TAKTAK]

open it up and compare it to a decent quality one...

just have a look at the extra safety measures in the more expensive one...
the quality ones use quality components to keep the output voltages stable and reliable, while the extra safety stops the psu taking out your whole system if it implodes...


they get bad reviews because they are unstable, and cannot perform to their specified ratings...

by comparison a 700w ezcool may be able to provide 400w stably whereas a corsair vx450w can provide 700w stably...

its quality that counts, especially so when it comes to PSU's

[Hicks12]

It depends on the parts they use, its like resistors have different tolerances so the cheapy ones are like 10% and the good ones are 3% and less but the price is very different. Its a budget psu, its good for things like media centers that are cheap so if they break its ok(kinda). I have to admit though that the Xclio is a justified budget one as the performance is right there.

[Agent]

Just search the forums for EZCool and you'll find threads like this: http://forums.hexus.net/help-technic...-exploded.html

There is absolutely no system an EZCool should be used in.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I am not one to buy cheap PSUs too but two of my friends have used the 400w EZ Cool PSUs in builds I assembled for them. I told them to spend a bit more to get better PSUs but they had a very small budget. Nearly two years later both PSUs are still working fine.

I think you need to think about what components and what type of tasks you are using your computer for. If you are going to need a separate graphics card which needs extra PSU power and are going to do tasks that could stress the CPU to more than 50% you will definitely need a decent PSU. If the computer is not going to be stressed ,ie, it is only going to be used for web browsing,paint and word and is using integrated graphics you may get away with a cheaper PSU! As an unofficial rule I consider any el-cheapo PSU only capable of supplying 40 to 50% of it is rated power output. So for the 400w EZ Cool I would say that your system should not need more than 160w to 200w in a worst case scenario.

However when you can get a decent budget PSU like a 400W Silverpower(made by Tagan),425W Hiper or 350W FSP for under £25 it is well worth spending the extra £10 to £15 IMHO!!

[shadowmaster]

Can anyone tell me why EZ Cool PSU's are so badly reviewed?

I tried to google this and did not get very far.

Has anyone really tested one and if so what was the outcome?

Everyone above has given you solid advice, don't buy an Ezcool. Too much of a risk, spend the extra £10 and save yourself the hassle.

[Jay]

these guys need to be take to court over their crappy PSUs and how they are rated.

[Webby]

As a general rule of thumb you should be spending at least 10% of your total budget on your PSU. Thats total budget for the entire system so if your upgrading the graphics card your budget isn't £100 its the £100 plus the cost of all the other components.

Think of the PSU as your computers heart, you need a healthy heart and better to have one which is not stressed and strained, the EZCool is the heart of an 60 year old smoker who eats lard for every meal he might live to be 120 or he may drop dead tomorrow dropping his cigarette and burning the house down around him. A quality PSU (Corsair, Enermax, Seasonic etc.) is a 20 year old who eats a healthy balanced diet and does regular exercise his life expectancy is much better, of course he could be hit by a bus but these things happen.

[Clunk]

They have changed the name to EZ-Xtinguish.

[iranu]

I am not one to buy cheap PSUs too but two of my friends have used the 400w EZ Cool PSUs in builds I assembled for them. I told them to spend a bit more to get better PSUs but they had a very small budget. Nearly two years later both PSUs are still working fine.

I think you need to think about what components and what type of tasks you are using your computer for. If you are going to need a separate graphics card which needs extra PSU power and are going to do tasks that could stress the CPU to more than 50% you will definitely need a decent PSU. If the computer is not going to be stressed ,ie, it is only going to be used for web browsing,paint and word and is using integrated graphics you may get away with a cheaper PSU! As an unofficial rule I consider any el-cheapo PSU only capable of supplying 40 to 50% of it is rated power output. So for the 400w EZ Cool I would say that your system should not need more than 160w to 200w in a worst case scenario.

However when you can get a decent budget PSU like a 400W Silverpower(made by Tagan),425W Hiper or 350W FSP for under £25 it is well worth spending the extra £10 to £15 IMHO!!

I agree. The problem comes when these PSUs last (see my bolding above). It's not how long a PSU lasts it's what does it take with it if it goes bang. I'd quite happily pay for a PSU that was guaranteed to go bang after exactly one year of use but didn't take any components with it over one that may last upto 10 years but had a 50% chance of killing my rig.

I made the mistake of buying a cheap PSU once and got away with it. The fan started dying and it was replaced before it died. My brother wasn't so lucky and when his went bang it took everything except the case with it.

[Agent]

two of my friends have used the 400w EZ Cool PSUs in builds I assembled for them

You built a system for them, with an Ez-Cool and call yourself a friend?

Friends don't let friends use cheap PSUs.

[moogle]

Friends don't let friends use cheap PSUs.

Similiar to the XS one - "Friends don't let friends use Thermaltake" (For watercooling)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You built a system for them, with an Ez-Cool and call yourself a friend?

Friends don't let friends use cheap PSUs.

Like I said I told them to spend more money on better PSUs as the cheapo ones could die early but they did want to spend the money. They knew the risks and they bought the components after all. I just assembled the computers for them. In the end I told them if the computer went bang it was not my problem after all!

The worst thing is that one of them bought a bundle off Scan which had the PSU included!! Perhaps Scan should include a better PSU for their bundles??!!

BTW I pressed the thanks button by mistake...!

[peterb]

Duplicate

[peterb]

BTW I pressed the thanks button by mistake...!

No, I think that thanks was entirely deserved!

A friend brought in a computer that had started smoking (fortunately not in a public place...)

Inside all the output power leads had overheated and melted the insulation. Swapped out the PSU for an FSP, and compute failed to start. It turned out that he had altered something and displaced the floppy drive power connectotr by one pin - shorting out the PSU (and again with teh FSP) The cheap and nasty (it wasn't an EZ-cool, but something similar) PSU just supplied what current it could - the FSP detected the fault and just quietly shut itself down.

Thats (one of) the difference(s) between quality and cr*p.