Qtec dual fan 450w?

[FishD]

Ive had this for a year. Have had some stabiilty problems recently.

How does this psu rate ?

Fish

[SK8]

Ive never heard of Qtec, i guess since the psu is going bad i would think of it to be a reason to get a pc power and cooling psu and call it a day :)

[fac_29]

Qtec have a bad rep...

[larrymoencurly]

Inside, the 550W Qtec looks wimpier than some high qualtiy 250W PSUs:

http://www.bit-tech.net/images/review/123/7.jpg

[smerko]

i am a q-tec fan after running a 550w for 1 1/2 years with no problems. i will say however that the reviews given to the lesser versions leave much to be desired.... the way i see it is buy the 550w version by any means but stay away from the smaller versions of their twin fan family. the 550w is only a few pennies more anyway;) .

[FishD]

Originally posted by smerko
i am a q-tec fan after running a 550w for 1 1/2 years with no problems. i will say however that the reviews given to the lesser versions leave much to be desired.... the way i see it is buy the 550w version by any means but stay away from the smaller versions of their twin fan family. the 550w is only a few pennies more anyway;) .

That's a bit like closing the gate when the horse has bolted, since I now am the proud (?) owner of a 450w 'twin fan' Q-tec. Me thinks I should invest in a fan which will have longevity, of performance through future system upgrades. And the Antec appears be my best (though not insxpensive) option.

Fish

[smerko]

Originally posted by FishD

That's a bit like closing the gate when the horse has bolted, since I now am the proud (?) owner of a 450w 'twin fan' Q-tec.


true but as you seem to have found the only solution to a bad psu is to replace it. the 550w is only £20 from ebuyer so upgrading would not be that costly. failing that yes you could go with another brand at a price but get a good one and you could carry it on to your next system. all depends how much money you have to spend etc

[Sturm]

Q-tec are very poor quality PSU's hense they are so cheap.
They are also rated wrong and do not perform to the rated spec by a long shot.

In short stay away from Q-Tec, you get what you pay for.

[L337 M33P]

Originally posted by Sturm
Q-tec are very poor quality PSU's hense they are so cheap.
They are also rated wrong and do not perform to the rated spec by a long shot.

In short stay away from Q-Tec, you get what you pay for.

= Truth

[FishD]

Thanks all
Just made the upgrade

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=297517

[malinois1]

Good luck with the 380 Antec. Hope it does well for you it is a good PS

[fac_29]

Originally posted by Sturm
you get what you pay for.
That isnt necessarily true... There is one "cheapo" make to look out for that has rave reviews, Starnet.
Last year they did a test and put the "£20" 550watt Dual Fan Starnet up against a "£100" 550watt Antec True Power. The £20 Starnet beat the Antec in every department :D
Trying to find a Starnet now though is like looking for Rocking Horse S*it ;) I think they are mainly OEM...
I have a 350watt Starnet which i was lucky enough to get with my system when i bought it. They put mine up against a more expensive Enermax and it beat it...
I've just put it in my new Chieftec Case. I am on the look out for a good, cheap, quality PSU with more power though for when i get my DVD-RW, extra Hard Drive etc. A nice 550watt would be perfect but i wouldnt go for a Qtec ever...

[L337 M33P]

Originally posted by fac_29

That isnt necessarily true... There is one "cheapo" make to look out for that has rave reviews, Starnet.
Last year they did a test and put the "£20" 550watt Dual Fan Starnet up against a "£100" 550watt Antec True Power. The £20 Starnet beat the Antec in every department :D
Trying to find a Starnet now though is like looking for Rocking Horse S*it ;) I think they are mainly OEM...


Link to said test?

[fac_29]

Originally posted by L337 M33P


Link to said test?
Well it seems that the actual review/comparison isnt available anymore.
http://www.pcextreme.net/archives/00000138.php :(

All i can find now is a page with a quote from the full review. Its highlighted by Google Cache so aint that hard to find:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:l7tK_UOl2x4J:k6plus.com/newsarchive/archive.php%3Farchive%3D7c02news.inc+Starnet+Antec +Review&hl=en

They tested all the rails and the Starnet came out tops in almost every single test they did.

I even tried searchin for the full review with www.archive.org but could only find the first page of it.
If i do manage to find it anywhere i'll post it. It was actually posted here in these very forums around the time the review was done. Starnet is a Euro only make though, they dont have a distributor in the US.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

After doing some searching, I finally found a review of a Starnet 350w: http://www.teccentral.de/artikel/artikel_113.html

A couple of things about it concern me. First, there is no UL or CSA approval - not exactly confidence inspiring when considering even Deer has these certifications. Second, the unit appears to be a little weak for a 350w or even 250w - the capacitors, heatsinks, and main transformer are all on the small side. In fact, the heatsinks of my Deer 250w are actually a little bigger.

I would surmise without further info, the reviewed 550w was probably only checked for voltage levels with a computer under load to arrive at the conclusion it was somehow better than the CWT made Antec unit. Unfortunately, higher rails does not necessarily equate with better quality. Not to say that these Starnets are total garbage, I don't have enough info to make such an assumption. However, no matter how great the price difference I would still pick the Antec 10 times out of 10. The odds are just not in Starnet's favor to be as good on build quality as CWT/Antec has proven to be.

Edit: I believe I've found the real manufacturer of Starnet units: http://www.professionalhk.com/

They apparently are UL certified for at least one model: http://database.ul.com/cgi-bin/XYV/template/LISEXT/1FRAME/showpage.html?name=QQGQ8.E137162&ccnshorttitle=Power+Supplies,+Information+Technolo gy+Equipment+including+Electrical+Business+Equipme nt+Certified+For+Canada+-+Component&objid=1074219315&cfgid=1073741824&version=versionless&parent_id=1073992443&sequence=1

[fac_29]

Nice find, very interesting :)
What makes you think they are Proffesional Industries?
They are TUV approved anyway so surely thats something? My PSU is TUV approved. Its not great for a 350watt, 180watt combined 12+ and 5+ volt line, but its good enough. And its rails seem solid enough. Its very quiet too. It has a Sunon fan in it.

Err isnt UL a Canadian rating or am i wrong? Starnet dont sell in the US or Canada, i know that for a fact.

EDIT: Oh man those cases are awful :D
I cant see anything like my PSU there(and it was made November 2003) or my old case that it came in. It is possible the PSU didnt come with the case though...I always assumed the case was a JNC(but i could be wrong...). Who make PSU's for JNC?

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I found the manufacturer by googling the model number from the review and then comparing the label to those at the Professional Industries site. Many companies that sell PSU's don't actually make them, or have them made to their specs. For example, Antec uses Channel Well recently for a supplier (Heroichi has also supplied them). Thermaltake, Highpower, and Enlight use Sirtec for a supplier. Even PC Power and Cooling has been shown to get at least some components if not complete PSUs from Win-Tact, Zippy, and Fortron. Part of the fun is finding out who makes what ;)

UL - Underwriters Labs, USA
CSA - Canadian Standards Association

Not sure what TUV does exactly, but if it's like UL and CSA it's probably an organization that validates products to insure they meet safety standards. Doesn't always mean a quality product at least in UL or CSA cases though - as I mentioned before Deer has indeed been approved by them ;)

[fac_29]

TUV are German and do product testing and certification. They are very highly regarded. I imagine they are something like UL and CSA, but they are worldwide.
Heres the American TUV Site:
www.us.tuv.com

Or:
www.tuv.com

Basically, if its TUV rated you know your safe. Or thats what i've always been lead to believe.

[SavageBasher]

:eek: oh my god, I never thought that I would see a crappier psu than my deer!

[smerko]

Originally posted by Oklahoma Wolf


Edit: I believe I've found the real manufacturer of Starnet units: http://www.professionalhk.com/



and it seems, q-tec;). superb find!

[fac_29]

Originally posted by smerko


and it seems, q-tec;). superb find!
:D You love Q-Tec dont ya! So is yours ok then? And what makes you think they make Q-Tecs?

After a bit of searching i'm not 100% convinced Proffesional Industries do(or did) make the Starnets.

EDIT: Nah, Q-tec arent made by Proffesional Industries...
http://www.qtec.info/corporate/

[smerko]

Originally posted by fac_29

:D You love Q-Tec dont ya! So is yours ok then? And what makes you think they make Q-Tecs?



lol 'love' is maybe slightly over the top. personally for the price (£20 in the uk) they are a superb product for the cash in my mind. too many people will simply say they are rubbish because of what they have heard. the reason they are rated so badly is that people expect too much of them. saying they are complete junk is in many cases just not fair - do you really expect a £20 psu to perform like a 550w antec? even someone who knows nothing about pc's would be able to tell it is not going to happen. granted from what i have read in reviews the lesser powered versions are a bit dodgy but the 550w is only an extra few quid so just stick with that! for most people the 550w version of this psu would be more than enough to power their rig.

my 550w unit has been fine for the year and a half ive had it for. you soon get used to the quirks you get for buying cheaper (unit is mounted 'upside down', has no on/off switch and uses 'cdrom installation screws' to install it). the only problem ive had with it is a dodgy cooling fan which gave me the excuse to replace the oem ones with led ones - looks pretty good. i am thinking of trying dual psus soon as a project and have no hesitations in using two of these.

regarding pi making them the look and specs of the units seem similar. compare the pics here http://www.bit-tech.net/review/123/ to this http://www.professionalhk.com/NewMT%20Folders/PS%20for%20Web/Xerva%20PS/Xerva%20PS3.jpg and the rest on pi's site. the 'rose gold' unit comes in 550w so i figured that the q-tec units are just the 'rose gold' product in the 'xerva gold' case. i may be wrong but even the fans are the same! no?

[fac_29]

Hmmm, no power switch on the back? Thats a big no no imo, well for me anyway. I'd want one with a power switch on.


Oh wow, they do look the same dont they. I see what you mean.

What are the rails like on your 550watt Qtec?

On my 350watt Starnet(i assume its Starnet but to be honest i'm not 100%, i went off the model number on it but the one i saw was a little weaker than mine and looked nothing at all like it so i assumed mine was an upgraded model because its same model number) the Bios reports my rails as pretty rock solid:

12+Volt = 12.28
5+Volt = 5.11
3.3+Volt = 3.33

And thats powering 5 TT Smartfans(inc HSF), CD Rom, 1 Hard Drive, 1 Floppy Drive.

MBM5 reads the 12+Volt a little lower at 11.71 i'm thinking because i have to use the config for another board.

My Starnet? PSU also has a really quiet Sunon Fan in it.

[smerko]

Originally posted by fac_29
Hmmm, no power switch on the back? Thats a big no no imo, well for me anyway. I'd want one with a power switch on.

What are the rails like on your 550watt Qtec?



the power switch was an issue for me also before purchasing but once i found out how little i actually use it i am fine with it. i just switch off from the wall. i am considering the mod here though http://www.bit-tech.net/article/91/

regarding voltages my new motherboard has no voltage monitoring ('stripped' board im told). however all the hardware i am using is the same and my last machine reported healthy voltages on all lines. i will confirm this with a multimeter when i have time. at the moment i am running 2 cdroms, floppy, hdd, pci firewire (charging ipod), 3 fans inc. cpu though and it seems fine. at one point i was running a 2.25ghz overclock on my duron that was limited only by ram.

[FishD]

Just to confirm to All.

My problems were not related to my PSU. Its down to either CPU or MB. So my Q-Tec is not a suspect.

See this post
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=296492



Fish