Why are some PSUs considered better or superior?

[user 18]

I know the general opinion on this site is that some PSUs and OEMs are inherently better than others, and I agree that based on reviews, some seem to work better.

Why is this? I know people - engineers and technicians - that argue that if it works, it's good enough, and that the equipment can take it.

When I was putting together my PC, I bought a cheap power supply that has since been causing problems with every PC it's been in. Lockups, crashes, the works. I'm loath to send it in and get it replaced, since I don't think the replacement will be any better, and I'd rather save that money for a decent Corsiar or Seasonic. All the while, my friend, a former computer engineer, is recommending that I buy 1000W OCZ refurb, b-stock PSUs for $40.

Something's gotta give somewhere, and I don't know where. I want this build to last, and I want it to survive until it's more cost-effective to build anew then upgrade or replace.

I don't believe high-quality components are a joke, and I don't want to, and I don't want low-quality stuff in my PC, unless I know it won't hurt it in the long run.

Thoughts?

 

[Randomacts]

Better engineering is better engineering... Your PSU is prob some cheap china brand.... That prob can't even output the power it says it can.

 

[saint19]

I know the general opinion on this site is that some PSUs and OEMs are inherently better than others, and I agree that based on reviews, some seem to work better.

Why is this? I know people - engineers and technicians - that argue that if it works, it's good enough, and that the equipment can take it.

When I was putting together my PC, I bought a cheap power supply that has since been causing problems with every PC it's been in. Lockups, crashes, the works. I'm loath to send it in and get it replaced, since I don't think the replacement will be any better, and I'd rather save that money for a decent Corsiar or Seasonic. All the while, my friend, a former computer engineer, is recommending that I buy 1000W OCZ refurb, b-stock PSUs for $40.

Something's gotta give somewhere, and I don't know where. I want this build to last, and I want it to survive until it's more cost-effective to build anew then upgrade or replace.

I don't believe high-quality components are a joke, and I don't want to, and I don't want low-quality stuff in my PC, unless I know it won't hurt it in the long run.

Thoughts?

Those isn't the best advice from an engineer or technician. You maybe want check this reviews.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/low-cost-psu-pc-power-supply,2862.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-oem-manufacturer,2913.html

In an easy way, if you get cheap PSUs your power is cheap and a crap, in that way your components won't get the correct power and current than they need for work properly and the lifetime isn't the same.

Yeah, a cheap PSU can work, but while a cheap 700W PSU only give you 300W-400W real, a real 700W PSU can give you ~650W for your rig. Plus, the current and voltage are more regulated in the high end PSUs than cheap PSU.

 

[hunter315]

PSU arent built to the same specs, they are built around a general set of guide lines, they need to be built so that the voltage stays within +/- 5% of nominal with a ripple of 120mV max on the 12V rail and 50mV max on the 3.3 and 5V rail, under the load conditions it was built for, you will notice that you never know what load conditions it was built for, was it designed and tested with only one rail fully loaded at a time at 20C? Was it designed and tested for all rails to be loaded to their absolute max at 50C?

For most unit you just dont know and thats why the brand matters. If they are building a good unit it should be able to do full load at 50C, and they should be using good 105C rated capacitors so they age slowly and gracefully, along with a transformer and rectifiers that are significantly more than the bare minimum needed for that unit.


With cheap units they will often build them to do what they claim at 20 or 25C, but crappy units can have a derating curve of 10W/C above 25C, so if its at 35C expect 100W less power, good units will have that derating curve starting around 50C which is quite hot for a PSU, and hard to do unless you are sticking it in a hotbox on purpose, this also helps keep the good units going for many more years than the cheaper ones since they are overbuilt and even if it loses 5% of its max power it still has the ability to give more than its rating claims.

 

[puttsy]

Refurb units tend to have decent warranties. OCZ is a "reputable" brand and about any higher end PSU brand will be better than what you've got now. A refurb unit may mean that it was simply overstocked at some point or, it was a fully functional product a novice bought originally and realized they were in over their head, or simply didn't know how to use it. (Look through the forums. It happens) If you are tight on funds, I would look into a decent brand, Antec, Thermaltake, Corsair. They all have budget friendly models. Thermaltake TR2's stand well and Corsair Builder series PSU's seem to have quality reviews. If I find the spare change to pick one up (ehm, signature, ehm, please) I will buy a new one and see how it compares. But I tend to buy higher end PSU's so I only have to buy them once. Hence the top brand recommendations.

Also, a lot of the cheap PSU's are NOT within the tolerances allowed. The use false UL listing, FCC ID's and and usually other info stuck on the label.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/psu-manufacturer-oem,2729.html

As mentioned by saint19.0 It's a really interesting article. Also, take anything a Computer Engineer says with a grain of salt. An ELECTRICAL engineer would be one to talk to about PSU's but, Comp.-E doesn't need to know much about PC's and consumer components, more of a coding job and designing circuits if they are so inclined. (Been through Engineering schools and talked with Grads about it. Comp.-E is nothing like the average person thinks it to be. There are no college degrees that you explicitly "learn" about consumer computer parts. You may learn about the working of motherboards and microprocessors but, they will not sit and teach how to find quality components)

 

[Lutfij]

read this it'll help you understand ALOT about PSU's and quality - http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/181

a former computer engineer, is recommending that I buy 1000W OCZ refurb, b-stock PSUs for $40

FYI computer engineering has nothing to do with computers - and their parts...

1st problem - We don't know the system that'll require the PSU. In essence , we don't know your minimum PC specific power needs.
2nd problem - Do you really need 1000W (1KW) of PSU in your rig? alot of the parts out there are really power efficient. Its not like your running 2006 hardware - or are you? no insult intended
3rd problem - OCZ aren't a good brand when it comes to PSU manufacturing. They were good with rams (once) now they abandoned that sector and are focusing on SSD tech.
4th problem - Refurbished PSU's? anything refurbished means that it had a fault somewhere in its inner workings or a damage.

To sum it up - 1000W OCZ Refurbished PSU = pile of rubbish ready to create the 4th of july in your case (maybe your mind when you loose all that hardware)

my 2 cents

 

[puttsy]

4th problem - Refurbished PSU's? anything refurbished means that it had a fault somewhere in its inner workings or a damage.

This is often NOT the case anymore. Components, no matter how much the end user pays, are *usually* cheaper to simply toss out than repair for the companies whom produce them. Most refurbished items anymore are simply an "out of season" model or no longer manufactured (i.e. overstocked) or, were sent BACK to the manufacturer because a company went out fo business or discontinued carrying the manufacturers products. It is seldom that they actually "didn't work at one time". Some things, obviously, this isn't the case. If things are refurbished "in-house" by third parties, it could have had issues and been fixed (a lot of Off-Lease computers are this way.) But, companies take a statistic over a products failure and, if it is likely to fail within the warranty period (i.e. repair units that have sustained damage) they often throw them out instead of fixing and reselling them. This is because it costs OCZ probably $40-55 to make that PSU. If a warranty claim is filed, the end user spends $10 shipping the product to OCZ, The tech at OCZ spends 30min diagnosing and fixing the problem (We'll call that $15) and OCZ then spends $10 to ship it back to the customer. That is not an economic gain because we didn't look at the time it took to move that product to the tech and from the tech, as well as labeling the unit as a returned unit etc...Personally I don't make a habit of buying refurbished items because occasionally it was a small, cheap thing that failed and was diagnosed early but, more often than not, an item simply did not sell at the resellers location and was sent back to OCZ...Often, even "Open Box" items will be sold as refurbished because then it appears to be in new packaging (even though it was repackaged in refurb boxes.

I can't say this is necessarily the case for OCZ but, they are a large corporation and this tends to be the way these companies operate. Not all, but most.

 

[Lutfij]

the warranty period "in this case" is far shorter than the regular period. I have friedns who were caught off guard doing this refurbished deal...though i warned them of this. BTW the beauty(grime) is in the details...better reading the fine print and not just believe the salesman.

Better spending the extra few dimes and get many nights of proper sleep instead of having to diagnose hardware issues. Trust me - this is coming from a few threads back where the OP couldn't get past the fact that he almost blew his rig. His PSU just created a pop sound without any blue flash. A miracle by my books...😀