For the love of god noooooo!!!

[megah0]

I have one of these: http://www.blacknoise.de/shop/de_DE/...400-60_PN.html

And its fantastic, silent and ultra stable rails.

[blueprint]

"hangbags are for n00bs" ?! WTF does that mean? You mental people!

[Stoo]

It was a thread in general chat last week, Hexus Pink Handbag day..

[skattrd]

"hangbags are for n00bs" ?! WTF does that mean? You mental people!

I have no idea mate, but there was a thing the other day with people having pink handbags in their sigs
I decided it was best not to ask.

Back on topic - most people round these parts like CWT psu's from scan or Tagan, both are good value for money.

[PMM]

Qtec's are cheap and chearfull PSU's

In a unstressed system they do provide very good result and a fast response
to differences in power drain maintaining decent voltages.

However they do get to a point where they keel over far sooner than a decent
PSU.

As with all PSU's its can be crafty wording but the quoted watts will be correct
what's rarely discribed is at what temperature that measurement is taken at.

Qtec 550 if I remember right are rated at 25deg for the peek output in comparison to
say a top range PCP&C TurboCool 510 thats rated at 40deg for its 510watts so in reality your prob
getting 350+ out of the 550 quoted on a qtec 550 considering 40deg+ is a typical
Psu running temp.

Noticable difference in abilities are also noticed when modding a Qtec 550 with modded
5/12v rails and 3.3v rail shows no noticable improvements and negative effects are
seen due to elevated temps where other e.g. enermax for example stand up and deliver
that bit extra against the same mods.

i do like Qtec's for systems that are not stressed as such but would never use one
in a decent system.

[Firelord]

I would rather spend an extra fiver-tenner over a QTec just for minds sakes, if a PSU blows and takes the HDD, mobo out etc on a system you've supplied that means your out of pocket replacing the parts!

Even on an unstresses system....better to be safer than sorry!

[Goreblast]

I think it says a lot that QTEC do not state the voltages on their website of the different rails.

[Firelord]

totall agree Goreblast.... very suspic! Any decent PSU manufacter posts their rails!!!

[Axxus V1.01]

i've never owned a Qtec psu. nearly bought a 550w one when they first came out though.. damn idiot in shop saying "yes they are good, good as any other psu" - thank frap i didn't have the £ and didnt buy it. my mate had one, and it blew, killing the L2 cache on his great clocking 2500 barton - never had a PSU kill a rig yet despite running a XP2100 pally system 24/7 on a £3 300w (165w really) screamer - didnt have the £ again to get a decent psu got a Antec Smartpower now though

[Stoo]

/me pats his very nice enermax

[Goreblast]

I just had an Antec TrueControl 550W self destruct - thank god it only killed itself and nothing else.

[nichomach]

PSUs are an area where I don't think it makes sense to economise; I've seen enough cheapie PSUs blow - and nastily, too, taking the motherboard or CPU or both with. My work rig runs off an Enermax 550 and my home rig off the 380W Antec in the Sonata. Both reasonably quiet, and very very stable. Why spend £160 and up on your graphics card if you're planning on frying it with a £10 PSU?

[mr_anderson187]

nichomachs got a point there, u get wot u pay for, if u pay a cheap amount u get cheap stuff, it isnt really a bagrain, its just tat

[blueprint]

Some people earlier were on about rails. What are rails, and how does the PSU temp effect the output?

[Firelord]

rails are the voltages ie the 12v, 5v and 3.3v lines. These are very important BECAUSE you want stable rails ie that move within +/- 0.5% less than that is ideal. Unstable voltages and low voltages makes for a very unstable PC!

Temps affect PSUs because they are only so effecient. Its the same as CPUs really. If they are hot their losing too much power to heat and not producing enough. Companies like QTec put 550w cos thats how much it can peak at, at 25c for 5seconds as companies like Tagan, Enermax, ThermalTake etc etc put the maximum sustained voltage so a Tagan 480w produces 480w whether the temps 12c or 45c. It peaks at 560w I believe.