I found a use for a Q-tec

[Pob255]

Yes I was one of thoes suckers that fell for the big numbers and low price.

A couple of years back when I realised that the PSU that came with my cheap case was to put it simply Crap, so I splashed out a whole £25 on a Q-tec 400w dual fan PSU
In my defense it powered my AMD XP2400+, Epox motherboard and 6800LE fine, and at £20 I never fully trusted that 400w clame.
But moveing up to my current ASrock & P4 D it couldn't hack it so I stuck it in my pile of "you never know" hardware

Now at work we have been haveing a clear out and as I stripped down an old P2 266mhz server for any salvageable bits (we can always reuse 48x CDroms) I pulled out the two 120mm fans but the bareings are pritty much shot

Then I noticed that the Cheiftech PSU was pritty new looking, however the connectors will not go on anything we have now.
Out of curisoity I opened it up to see what they are like inside (they are decent PSUs and about half the size of normal ones so fit in our mini tower cases)
Inside was some robust components, a couple of meaty heatsinks and a 80mm fan with a standard 3 pin connector.
As my gf's pc really needed a case fan . . . It works a treat, the cable was a little short but it reached, it's very quiet and her stock hs&f has now stopped roaring.

SO . . .

That got me thinking and I attacked that old Q-tec with a screw driver.
The net resault was:
Two pink 80mm plastic fans, only 2 pin, however carefully removeing the guide lug with a scalpel and they connect to a 3pin motherboard connector and work a treat They are quite quiet, loudest fans in my case but only just.
Also netted 2 wire fan covers.

I'm currently undecided what to do with the rest of it, I'm thinking of enlargeing the hole for the bottom fan so I can stick on a 120mm fan I rescued from the server.
I managed to get at the bareing, oil it and get it turning freely again. it's just noisy and not very good (doesn't push much air for the size and noise)
Then keeping it as an emergency back up PSU as I know it can cope if I stick my old Geforce2MX card in.

EDIT:Corrected spelling and english a bit

[Agent]

The only possible use for a Q-tec is a present for someone you hate

[Thorsson]

Another one to avoid. Latest Shopper has a review of PSUs. The Sumvision Power X 500W exploded at 75% load. Hope no-one has one of these.

[Clunk]

You could also use a few q-tecs for weighting down a bag of celebrities.

[Pob255]

The only possible use for a Q-tec is a present for someone you hate

Not at all I've got two 80mm fans around 25-28dB and 2 fan guards.

I'm not adviseing buying one, but if you have one or some other old unused PSU kicking about and are in need of a case fan or two then you might want to consider takeing a screwdriver to it

I also opened up the 350w *cough* bull**** *cough* PSU that came with my case and it's actually worse than that Q-tec (it's about half the weight of the Q-tec and couldn't cope with the xp2400+ and gf2mx unless I under clocked it to 1500mhz) however that fan was soildered to the pcb

[Fabula]

Be careful when taking PSUs apart, as they can store quite a bit of charge.

Anyway, certainly a good use for a Q-tec.
Though if I was building a very budget system, I wouldn't have too much of a problem putting in a 600W Q-tec if I only needed 350-400W for the system.

[shaithis]

Just thought i'd chime in here and mention to people that the companies Q-Tec and Q-Technologies are different but still both make PSUs.

The former are dire, the later are good and often used in HTPCs for their quiet operation

[mycarsavw]

Eh?

[saltynay]

use it as a paper weight..... or as a case for a mini-itx system

http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/psu...ult.asp?page=3

[MarcLister]

I used to be a sinner by buying Q-Tec PSUs. No more though. Considering all the negative reviews of Q-Tec I've read I'm surprised they are still in business.

I don't even keep a Q-Tec PSU for a spare nowadays, wouldn't trust it further than I could throw it. Actually I'm sure I could throw it a fair distance so forget the last comment.

[MadduckUK]

Eh?

[lost eden]

It's not necessarily that Q-tec's aren't the wattage they state, but they certainly won't have that wattage where it counts - on the 12v rail.

[Agent]

Eh?

Thats q-tek, not q-tec

[Thorsson]

That got me thinking and I attacked that old Q-tec with a screw driver.
The net resault was:
Two pink 80mm plastic fans, only 2 pin, however carefully removeing the guide lug with a scalpel and they connect to a 3pin motherboard connector and work a treat They are quite quiet, loudest fans in my case but only just.
Also netted 2 wire fan covers.

Yeah, I did this a few months back when my Hiper R-580 burnt out. The fans are quite good, and the grills are very nice.

[MadduckUK]

Thats q-tek, not q-tec

i know i know.... was following on from q-tip

[Clunk]

q-tip

Its Q-Tek.

Youre thinking of the rapper.