Scan PSU's

[grazina31]

Anybody has feedback they wan't to share regarding scan's own brand of psu. I need a sfx psu for my M1 and silverstone is taking to fffffing long to release the new 600w model. Thinking of buying a cheap model until the silverstone comes out.

this is the model I'm glancing at.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...e-rail-atx-psu

[KeyboardDemon]

According to the page you linked it has an average of 2.3 out of 5 stars from 4 reviews and the biggest issue that the low scoring reviews mentioned was the loud/poor quality fan on the unit.

[peterb]

Moved from the Corsair support pages to general PSUs as the subject under discussion had nothing to do with Corsair

[grazina31]

I did read that, but since it's going to be temporary I'm ok with the noise. I was more interested in build/delivery quality. don't want to buy a cheap psu and have my components fried. but I'm done with waiting for silverstone to release the new 600w model to star making my new machine.

[pastymuncher]

Cheap and nasty rubbish. The psu is the most important component in a pc and is not the place to save money. £11.40 for a 500w psu says a lot about it's quality. As a rough guide you should be looking to pay at least £10 per 100w for a decent psu. This is a excellent site which has links to reviews along with who actually makes the psu and it's actual 12v rail ouput. On a lot of psu's ignore the capacity on the label as a lot of them won't come near their stated output on the all important 12v rails. Always double check to see what they are capable of on the 12v rails. The cheaper psu's will make the rest up on the minor rails.

[acemodder]

I would not trust this PSU with any of my components. It wont have any real protection.

Good PSUs all have a full suite of industrial grade protections: Over Current Protection (OCP), Over Voltage Protection (OVP), Under Voltage Protection (UVP), Short Circuit Protection (SCP), Over Power Protection (OPP), Over Temperature Protection (OTP), Surge & Inrush Protection (SIP), No Load Operation (NLO) & Brown-Out Protection (BOP)

The Scan unit has about 4 of these.

[cheesyboy]

If you need an SFX power supply, then this ATX unit won't fit anyway.

And it's total junk.

[Xlucine]

Are you sure you need 600w? with a single GPU and as long as you aren't using one of the AMD FX 8-core space heaters then it'll be hard to draw more than 400w at full chat

[Pob255]

If you need an SFX power supply, then this ATX unit won't fit anyway.

And it's total junk.

Check and check

One thing to note about that psu, not only the suspiciously low price, is that it's listed as only 22a on the 12v which is suspiciously low for a so called "500w" psu, not the sticker says "max output" so it's probably peak not sustained, efficiency is listed as 70% which is also bad.
Sounds like it's actually a 200-250w psu

On SFX psu's we've recently had a load of the silverstone 300w units http://www.scan.co.uk/products/300w-...lus-bronze-psu
These are really nice

I'd ask what you tend to put in the pc as you probably don't need a 600w psu, a good 450w psu should be able to cope with anything you and squeeze into the M1 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w-...an-sfx-eps-12v

[Agent]

22Amp on the 12V line on a 500W unit?

The first random lower wattage unit I looked at in the same section was a 430W EVGA, which has 34A on the 12V line.

That's a pretty bad unit.

[Pob255]

Yep and that's "max output" not sustained, the 300w silverstone SFX I linked can do 22a sustained.

Scan really shouldn't put their name on junk like that.

[Saracen]

....

Scan really shouldn't put their name on junk like that.

That's what surprises me.

Assuming it's junk, I'm surprised they do. I'd have thought the reputational risk too high.

I've never used a Scan PSU, or bought a Scan system (do they use their own-brand PSU?) so have no personal experience. I do, however, utterly endorse the notion that it's not a good place to over-economise, as the risk of extensive damage if it breaks down internally is too high.

Picking a decent PSU isn't that easy, though. Some brands seem to have good and bad years. Short of specialist PSU review sites, where people that are expert with PSU design can take them to bits and review both design, build and component quality, all I can do is stick with reputable brands I've used and trusted. And that costs.

Personally, I tend to use Enermax and Seasonic, though I've a Delta or two in more specialised machines.

I'd rather pay £50-£70 for a known name and have confidence in it, than £15 for something that may be junk, and have me worried every time I turn it on. They also tend, though it's by no means certain, to have better fans, avoid cheap sleeve bearings that wear quickly, etc. Money well spent, IMHO, for peace of mind if nothing else.

[acemodder]

Delta PSU's are the most solid units in the world ever!

[UseItNow]

Delta PSU's are the most solid units in the world ever!

Haha, you've just reminded me of my old Antec Signature.

[peterb]

Personally, if I was looking for a cheap power supply, this is about as inexpensive as I would go, and still be assured of a reasonable quality product.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...an-atx-v23-psu

The OEM is FSP - and while the specs that Cooler Master require of FSP aren't known, FSP power supplies tend to be quite well built.

That is not to say that the SCAN PSU isn't - I haven't looked at it, but my experience tells me that to build a 500W power supply for that sort of price, there may be compromises in the design that I would find unacceptable.

I don't know what the value of the components in your computer is, but is it worth risking them to save £20?

Of course high price doesn't necessarily ensure high quality, but very low prices should prompt a closer look.