[jamie_bkc]

Now I know people say to avoid these psu's like the plague but I'm sure i read somewhere that one or two of them are good, has anyone else heard about this?

[SavageBasher]

Nope.

Fortron, Antec, PC Power & Cooling.

[larrymoencurly]

This picture of a 550W Q-tec shows why you should avoid this brand. The main transformer is only as large as those in many 300-350W PSUs, and the heatsinks are as light as found in some 250W models. In once saw a 400W Q-tec, and it seemed better built than this one but still didn't look like an Antec or Fortron/Sparkle (heatsinks were sheet aluminum, cut and bent into "fingers").

What brands are available to you? Sometimes unusual ones are cheap but very high quality, especially if they're sold primarily to big computer makers.

[jamie_bkc]

I don't have too much money to spend so I thought about a fortron because I heard they were reasonably priced, but the only place I can find the in the UK is www.overclockers.co.uk is £65 reasonable for a 400w psu?

[_slh_]

Go to www.microdirect.co.uk . They do the 350w Fortron with 120mm fan for about £30.

[jamie_bkc]

I already have a 350, want something with a bit more oomph ya know? There are some major upgrade coming soon so I don't wanna be underpowered.

[L337 M33P]

350W is less than current dual CPU rigs use. It'll do fine if it is capable of performing at rated capacity. Which Fortrons are.

[_slh_]

The Fortron 350 is running the system in my sig with no problems at all...it wont be underpowered.

[larrymoencurly]

A 350W Fortron can probably put out more power than a 550W Q-tec.

Fortron goes by several names, like Sparkle, Powerman, PowerQ, Hi-Q, Powertech (not Powertek, which is often wrongly spelled "Powertech"), Aopen, Trend, and maybe InWin and Casedge (but Casedge varies -- look for model numbers that start with "FSP" or even "ATX", i.e., ATX-350GU).

[jamie_bkc]

ok thanks, i'll go for that!