400w Power Supply $17.95 shipped..good unit?

gubus

Junior Member
Mar 4, 2001
17
0
0
This looks to be a good deal.
Specs read good (considering I don't know much about PS). I've seen the name around. Anyone have any experience with it?

LINK
 

Kevin

Diamond Member
Jan 1, 2002
3,995
1
0
For the money, its an excellent power supply. I'm using it now since I'm waiting for my Antec to come back from RMA. If anything I'd buy it and keep it around for emergencies...
 

DTBH

Senior member
Apr 14, 2001
652
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As with all PS you shld not only look at the wattage... I bought a generic 400 watt PS before because it was cheap... didn't do me much good.

I dunno how good Powmax is though.
 

mattcham

Senior member
Mar 15, 2000
258
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I have this power supply. I have been using it for
the past 8 months on an ECS-K7S5A mboard
and 1.2 GHz AMD Thunderbird and 512 MB PC133
that is running e-mule 24/7.

In comparison to the Antec True 430w which I have
in another PC that I use for work-related stuff, I see no
difference in reliability over the past 8 months.

Considering that fact that computers only have
18 months (or less) before they become obsolete,
this is a good power supply for the price.

I would rather have 6 of these power supplies
on 6 computers than a single Antec. But if you
have only 1 PC with "mission-critical" work,
better get an Antec.

These power supplies are not so bad, considering
they deliver 28A on the +3.3v rail. A truly "bad"
power supply delivers less than 16A on the +3.3v
rail - and you will find many of those lemons, even
on a quality store like newegg.
 

JImmyK

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,145
36
91
Im not thread crapping Im being honest they are terrible FOR hi end PCS. IE dual AMD setups or Dual Intel setups
they will function decently on a single proc. system

their rails have been said to be 30% over estimated leadman has the worst record for BSing their numbers

do a simple search on leadman you will find soem good info

once again depends on your needs its a decent PSU for a LOW end system ie 1.3gigs and below with 1-2HD 1-2 cd/cdrw and 2-3 fans.
 

PedoClown

Junior Member
Apr 13, 2003
14
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0
Also keep in mind that low quality power supplies are usually pretty ineffiecient so a good power supply will pay for itself over time (assuming you're the one paying the power bill :p )
 

amnesiac

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
15,781
1
71
I had one of these that came in a cheapie aluminum case I got from Compgeeks.

It's crap.

I kept getting random reboots and other strange errors. Took it out and put back the Antec 300W from my old case and it works like a charm now. Maybe mine was just buggy, it might work great in low end PCs, but personally I'll stick with a quality PS.
 

Sbrowne

Member
Dec 26, 2002
61
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0
There's an amazing range of quality in power supplies. The only way to really test one is to put it under load and watch the voltage, and put the output on an oscilloscope to check the ripple. I find them consistently low on the +12V output. Also I open the cases (voiding warranty; like, how many have you sent back under warranty?). An Okia "420W" PS had all the output capacitors missing. A Herolchi "350W" had blown electrolytic caps.

I hate to be simplistic, but the heavier a PS is, the better it probably is. Bigger heatsinks, bigger caps, more stabilizing coils.

Steve
 

AJPatel

Senior member
May 28, 2002
400
0
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Originally posted by: prplxd

Dang man,...
www.dealsonic.com has over 9.7 on the resellerrating website!!

For a 400watter generic PS, that's a pretty good deal.
I think I'll give it a shot!!:D

Did you read that post about it being $12.99 at SVC? *sigh*
 

worcmai

Senior member
Dec 25, 2002
244
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0
I will never buy powmax ever again... I've had 2 die on me 1 400Watt(that exact one) and one 350 powmax would not RMA them. They might work good on older systems ... but? why would you need 400watt then? heh...
 

rodan

Senior member
Oct 11, 1999
254
0
0
$17.95 for one....but....buy two for $ 30.00, shipped free. That's $15.00 apiece, and, that is a really good deal! I just ordered two, have a couple old atx boards and cases that needed these. I recently built an AMD 1600XP that ran fine on this PSU. Good post!
 

Karaktu

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Apr 24, 2002
17,752
10
81
I use this power supply on all 5 of my computers are home (I paid more like $18-$20 a piece). It's relatively quiet and the wattages are where they should be. Just to give you an example of the highest load I have on one:

Epox 8K3A+
AMD Tbred B 1700+ -> 2600+ @ 1.675v
2 x 256 meg Kingmax PC3200
Lite On 16x40 DVD-ROM
Lite On 48x24x48 CD-R/W
2 x Maxtor 40 gig 7200 rpm HDD in removable racks
AX-7 HSF with YS Tech adjustable speed fan
3 x 92mm cooling fans
2 x 80mm cooling fans
MSI GF4 Ti 4400 128 meg
Sound Blaster Audigy
10/100 NIC

Joe
 

worcmai

Senior member
Dec 25, 2002
244
0
0
Originally posted by: Karaktu
I use this power supply on all 5 of my computers are home (I paid more like $18-$20 a piece). It's relatively quiet and the wattages are where they should be. Just to give you an example of the highest load I have on one:

Epox 8K3A+
AMD Tbred B 1700+ -> 2600+ @ 1.675v
2 x 256 meg Kingmax PC3200
Lite On 16x40 DVD-ROM
Lite On 48x24x48 CD-R/W
2 x Maxtor 40 gig 7200 rpm HDD in removable racks
AX-7 HSF with YS Tech adjustable speed fan
3 x 92mm cooling fans
2 x 80mm cooling fans
MSI GF4 Ti 4400 128 meg
Sound Blaster Audigy
10/100 NIC

Joe

dont o/c whatever you do. mine ran fine on my 1900+ till i o/ced a little, then click dead.

 

LoverBoyJ

Senior member
Mar 22, 2001
992
0
0
This has the same internals (PCB) with PowerMax. I had one of the 350W PowMax and it died after a year and a half, when I opened the case to get the fan I saw that the PCB is silkscreened with PowerMax name in it.


my $0.02
Cheers! :beer:
 

briansdad

Member
May 16, 2001
50
0
0
Notwithstanding the earlier post, I learned the hard way not to use a cheap power supply with an ECSk7s5a. I had all kinds of freezing problems that went away when I replaced the power supplies on both of my computers with quality units. I was in denial for about a year, and the aggravation of having to reboot constantly is just not worth it.
 

Kevin

Diamond Member
Jan 1, 2002
3,995
1
0
I don't know if I'd run a lot of stuff off this thing but for less than $20, I'd buy it and keep it around as a spare. I had to take it out of my spare PC and put it in my main machine when my Antec died. Its been running now for over a week without a problem. Tomorrow I'm taking it out since the Antec is scheduled to come. If I didn't have it, I woud've been down for over a week until the Antec came. If you only have 1 computer, I'd say its excellent to have...
 

SpaceHulk

Senior member
Mar 26, 2002
818
0
0
I bought 3 Leadman Powmax PSU's a while back. 1 works flawlessly, 1 has power on issues and spontaenous reboots, and the 3rd has chewed up 3 floppy drives and a 20GB HD before I threw it through a window.

Consider this fair warning.
 

Melectricus

Senior member
Feb 2, 2003
420
0
0
I bought one for my second computer, they're cheap and quiet. If you are lucky everything will work fine, mine did for 2 months. Moderately overcloced an athlon 1200 to about 1350 and poof... random reboots forever more. I salvaged power supply's 80mm fan and threw away the rest of it. Now an old 300w antec is doing the same job for 6 months straight.