Computer power supplies

I've heard Antec are reliable, but they're too expensive. Are there any other brands out there which are known for reliability but offer cheaper options. What about Q-tec? Thanks

Spend the money on Antec. In the end you're actully saving money with them. If they rate a power supply at 400 watts, it puts out 400 watts sustainable. Alot of the cheaper supplies will put out 400 watts from the transformer but due to cheaper parts, the PC is only getting 350, or it will put out 400 watts for a few weeks then die.. So you end up needing a more powerful power supply which ends up costing the same amount. The Antec will last a long time and that means less trips/phone calls/emails/time wasted fixing it.

Now what can help is getting your parts from a cheaper source. www.newegg.com for instance has some of the best prices anywhere but they don't ship outside the US.

I use 400w Macron in my PC. It has run 24/7 for a couple of years now with no probs. You get what you pay for and it's money well spent. Antec, Enermax, Tagan, Zalman or Macron seem to be highly thought of. Q-Tec are cheap rubbish I'm afraid. Not suitable for any decent quality PC. If your PSU goes "tits-up" it can fry motherboard, CPU, graphics card, hard drives.........

Using good parts makes a big differance. I'm pretty differant from alot of the people here, at least in my role in the industry, so I get a little differant perspective then the installers. I'm one of the guys that installers (and thier customers) call when something goes wrong and it doesn't take much to spot the installers who take the time, build the machine right and those who cut corners. When one of the good one's (or thier customers) call me it's going to be a simple call, usually something along the lines of "How do I turn on this feature?". With the bad ones the calls tend to be "the system doesn't work...45 mins...problem fixed but it wouldn't have happened if the installer didn't cut a corner".

A prime example: Our software uses IIS to host the web page. This requires XP Pro, W2k or W2k3. An installer cut a corner and used XP Home. XP Home won't run IIS without some massive hacks that are more pain then a root canal. He was told that we needed XP Pro, not home but built the machine with home anyway. His customer calls up the next week and is trying to get the web client working. Well after 20 mins or so, I figured out that he's on Home. This situation sucks. It makes us look bad, it pisses off the customer and builds bad will between us, the installer, and the customer. All to save $50. I understand running a small bussiness, I ran my own for two years, my dad ran his for eight, and I know keeping costs low is important, but it's where you cut costs that matter.

I don't want anyone to think I'm flaming anyone because I'm not, it's just a subject I tend to take seriously. As far as I can tell, all of the regs on this board are the type that would be pleasant to support. I'm just trying to illustrate a point.

Once again Right On the Money TOM!

there are too many people building substandard systmes, this is why people like RORY can use the ol! "But a PC is not as stable" in reality , if you build a PC with good gear then it is indeed better made then any standalone as it has better parts.

I have had only 4 or 5 Antec supplies ever die on me out of the multiple thousands we have sold, that does not include the ones that get a lighting strike or something like that.. i have noticed though that there are two types, one with twofans and a truewave and one that comes with their cases (which I might add are also excellently designed for DVR's). Far too often we have had to repair other peoples gear, and then the customer has said "Why woes it not done this way in teh first place" well that is usually becasue you complained about the price... it is the same as cameras, lets face it you can buy a Junky Taiwanese cam that has 480 TVL and you can buy a Japanese one and I know which i would prefer.

The thing is that people just do not realise how much money they loose by wasted time...and phone calls and lost consumer confidence, just by saving a few bucks, I understand why they do it but, this does not justify it.

What about Silverstone PSUs? One of my suppliers claimed they were better than Antec which i knew was a load of crap. But anyone heard of them, they were $20 cheaper than the Antec ones.

I have never heard of them, but I am not saying that Antec are the ducks nuts either, they are just good value for money and have a low failure rate

Never heard of them. Seem to have mixed reviews at newegg. One thing you can do it test the voltage on it if you have it set up.

http://www.fonerbooks.com/power.htm

Has some of the voltage listings for what you should be seeing. Please keep in mind that the tolerance of PC parts is withing .2 volts.

enlite ps 420w dual fan ~$45 best for the money

http://us.enlightcorp.com/products/power_supply/index.php

http://www.enlightcorp.com/

http://us.enlightcorp.com/

save money and get more samsung tccc ram an biger hitahi hd

dusan