Troubleshooting: Drive messed up? Check your PSU quality first! Good/Bad PSU list...

We all know that sometimes drives just dont perform up to spec e.g. not writing correctly or behaving erraticly, well some problems can be down to software or hardware configuration, but quite a few problems can be put down to Power Supplies, if they cant support the correct number of amps at their rated voltage or cant give out their rated voltage this can cause various problems. (May want to make this a sticky)

Heres the List of good PSU's and a few bad ones i found on the net via various forums that had them listed i did not create this list its just a guide though some people may have the bad PSU's and they may work great but this a pretty good list do as you please. Credit goes to various people who compiled this list.

If you have any to add to the list or comments about the power supplies go ahead.


--------
Good:
--------
AMS (Mercury)
Antec
Astec
AOpen
Channel Well
Cooler Master
E-Power
Enermax
Enlight
Fortron Source
HEC
Hi-Power
HiperPower
Jeantech
Mad Dog
NSpire
OCZ
PCMCIS
PC Power & Cooling
PowerMan
Seasonic
SilenX
Sparklepower
Tagan
Thermaltake
TTGI/SuperFlower
Ultra
Verax
Zalman
Xclio

-------
Bad/Crap:
-------
Achieve
Allied
Aspire
Codegen
CoolMax
Cyberzone
DEER
Dragon
Eagle Tech
EYE-T
Greenline
HIPRO
JSP-tech
KingStar
Kingwin
L&C
Linkworld
Okia
Orion
PowerMagic
PowerUp
Powmax
Q-Tec
Raidmax
Rosewill
Silverstone
Skyhawk
Startech
Turbolink
Vantec
Win

-------

Heres another list of good/bad PSU's. Number 5 is the crap territory keep away.

#1a
Topower
(some TTGI - Super-Flower, OCZ, EPower/Tagan, RaidMax, Vantec, ACI)

#1b
FSP - Fortron Source Power
(Fortron, Sparkle, Cooler Master*, Zalman, Aopen)

#1c
CWT - Channel Well Technology
(Antec, Lead Power, Enermax, Xclio, Turbolink)

While these top three encompass more than the re-badges I've named, you can usually bet on a solid performer if you pick one of them. It's highly debatable which are better than others, of course. But all in all, everyone has had pretty good experiences. Not suprisingly, they are priced accordingly. None of them in the 400W range are going to be under $50. If your power supply is one of the above, chances are you can trust both the unit itself and it's claims on wattage per line.


#2a
Sea Sonic

#2b
Wintech
(Ultra X-finity)

#2c
Acbel Polytech
(Stateside, just the Cooler Master True Power)

Same with these, a bit more esoteric. If you can afford a Sea Sonic these have the best efficiency of any consumer switching PSU for computers. You'll pay for it up front, but your electric bill will be less in the long run.


#3a
Sirtec
(Chieftec, Enlight, ThermalTake, High Power)

#3b
HEC - HeroIchi Electronic Co.
(HEC, CompuCase)

#3c
AMS - American Media Systems
(Mercury)

Here you start finding dissention in the owners. Some claim it's the best in the world, some wouldn't let their dog run Windows 3.11 on one. Some of them have great reputations (TT & HEC) but the problem is a "squeaky wheel" one - it's hard to know just how good/bad things are when only people with problems post.


#4a
Youngyear
(Aspire, Logisys, MGE, Ultra X-Connect, Rosewill)

#4b
ATNG
(Coolink, CoolMax, Rosewill, StarTech)

Now we're into budget territory. Maybe it's just a quality control issue; some people love them but most hate them, and from bad personal experiences. I personally wouldn't touch them. They should work, but no one will be suprised if it smokes itself and takes your motherboard with it. They rarely come close to what their ratings state, very poorly constructed. (but usually colors or chrome and UV sleeved and colored Molex's and LED fans!) These for the most part are toys, although you might get lucky. Not all of them are, but it does take more effort in sifting through them than it's worth.


#5
UTTER CRAP!
(L&C, Deer, Allied, Eagle, CodeGen/Foxconn, EverPower, Maxpower, Q-Tec)

If you believe one of these things will power your computer, I have a 7-band underdash amplifier/equalizer that's 250W+250W that I'll sell you for $5. You'll love it. Really, if you have one of these supplies, don't mention it to us. Just silently toss it out and buy one in the #1 category.

----------------------------------
BAD/CRAP LIST (Updated) 24/06/2006

Some of these PSU's are dangerous to your system, some are just sub-standard,
however NONE can be recommended, for high performance or over-clocked systems.

Achieve
Aerocool
Allied
Apex
Arrow,
Aspire > Dangerous! They don't even pretend to meet the ATX/AMD/Intel specs!
Austin
Codegen
Coolmax
Demon
Deer
Duro
Dynapower
Eagle
EagleTech
Foxconn
Foxlink
Hercules
InWin (except FSP models)
JustPC
Key Mouse
Kingwin
L&C
Logic
Linkworld
Macron Power
MGE
Mustang
Okia
Power-Man (except FSP models)
Powmax
Power-Up
Powerstar
QMax
Qtec
q-tec
Raidmax (except Topower/Tagan models, not sold with cases)
Real PC Power
Rhycon
Robanton
Rosewill
Skyhawk
Thermaltake (except the Thermaltake W0057 PurePower 500W)
TMP-ANS
Tsunami
Turbo
Turbolink
Ultra (except X2 & X-Finity)
US-Can
Viomax

Thanks to JaYp146 for finding the list from ( http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=974240 )

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Last edited by Seán; 24-06-2006 at 20:14. Reason: BAD/CRAP LIST Updated 24/06/2006 by Quakester2000

About AOPEN I had some very bad results with some.
The AOpen PSU with Model Numbers starting with FPS- are the good ones (Fortron). With the others i had many problems (they also where not FPS).

Q-Tec is a brand to stay away from even though their psus may look great with their gold casing and dual fans, there have been many reports of these PSU's exploding or failing, just search google with Q-Tec PSU blew up or exploded failed etc etc you will find many reports. Also if you have say a 500/550 watt Q-tec psu supposidly they dont output anything like the max wattage its more like 300-400 max on them from what i understand via the various forums.

There are some crappy PSU's out their be careful many of the cheap ones can not even output their max wattage as stated sometimes even much lower.

Some PSU manufacturers bend the ruls and say the PSU can output the max voltage but supposidly only for a few seconds before they fail,explode or shoot flames, the good PSU's will be able to sustain their max wattage without any problems.

That's an important fact. Beside this it's a fact that the cheap/crap PSU's waste some and too much power for nothing.

So, buy a good one, invest in your hardware's healthy and avoid trouble and extra costs.

I would like to recommend adding Enhance PSUs to the "good" list. I value them very high. They are also recommended on AMD's website.

Furthermore, I can hardly agree more with you about Q-Tec. Their PSUs look, feel and perform like garbage. On most mainboard/hardware-forums people strongly recommend against buying Q-tec.


BTW, good initiative Quakester2000!

Nice list....but,

The Raidmax and Vantec are "crap" in the first list, and "1A" good on the second list.....hmmmmmmm.

Doesn't exactly matter to me, I use Seasonic. Rock solid, whisper quiet, and a little pricey.

Supposidly the heavier the PSU the better. So if you buy a cheap one and a good PSU you will find that the good one will be way heavier compared to the cheap one. The heavier the better because it will have bigger heatsinks capacitors and circutry, though this isnt scientific method it supposidly help you spot the crap from the good if your out and about.

I've been using some "cheap & crappy" PSU's for a while. Q-TEC 400W & 550W.
Actually there was no problems with both of them.
But after I got Plextor PX-716SA all of the things where changed. It take to me 12 coasters, lot of thinking and so on...
In that time was using it with MOLEX->SATA powercable
Finally there was 1 thing what was disturbing me. The lack of SATA power connector from PSU.
A friend who have Codegen 400W PSU with SATA power connection was kind enough to give me his PSU to test.
Nothing was changed in 716SA writing.
Was taking out 716SA and after doing some research was ordering from The Netherlands TAGAN TG480-U22 (2FORCE) PSU. The A's are quite impressive.
We don't have here in Estonia any good components. Maybe only some motherborads, RAM, HDD's.
For now it's 2 months after I have used TAGAN and my 716SA is working nice and there was no coasters anymore. And there is no disturbing noise from my computer.
Anyway probably the writing quality is depending much more from PSU in SATA ODD devices. It's my opinion, based on my own experiences.

Q-TEC, 450W, inaccurate voltages, -V tripped alarms
No-name, 400W dual fan, tripped out

Maxpower 300W (original case PSU) - survived a cook-out when the fan failed (gave me plenty of warning, it was groaning for ages).
Replaced fan, and it was OK - and was put back after each of those other two died.

If I wanted a cheap PSU that works, I'd buy Maxpower.

Q-Tec is definetly a brand to stay away from, to many people have had problems with them either failing or not working within specification.

I have 4 computers and they are running on PC Power and cooling and Antec PSU's I have never had a PSU related problem with either brand of PSU.

Well they are in the good quality list of course so you can see why.

yeah, and at 249.00 for the PC power and cooling 510 deluxe I better NEVER have a PSU related problem.

What about LC POWER PSU's???
They are cheap and working well here.

The problem is a lot of companies dont actually make their own PSU's just like optical drives fromMemorex and HP or Sony arent made by them another company makes them, this is the same with PSU;s so a lot of the crap ones come from many of the same factories.

This is a much-needed list! Have been going through power supply hell. Seems to be a crapshoot. One of my Thermaltake(in the Good list) 420’s from Newegg died after 13 months under very basic demands.

In the first list Raidmax is listed as BAD yet in the second list it’s in the 1a. (good) group. Am I missing something?

Hey its from two differenet sources as i pointed out but its in number 3/5 of the good list in the second, it may have been you had a bad PSU lets face it people get faulty Dvd writers doesnt mean all that make are bad its just unfortunate you had that. Thermaltake from what i remember is a good brand but it aint top of the best.

Anyone know anything about PSUs made by LiteON,yep you heard right, LiteON! I just saw one in a very old pc and was wondering:

1. Do they still make them?
2. What are they like?

HP is using LiteOn PSU's for laptops. Actually many brand's have using them.
Some of the HP desktops are using them too. Those who have external PSU.
I've never had seen "ordinary" LiteOn PSU's

I'm very pleased with my Hiper 3S525 525Watt PSU.

Q-tec and antec I've had problems with. Enermax have been fine as well.

Any chance this will become a sticky? (either here or in the general hardware forum)

Well you just need to look at > http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...Q_Tec_139.html

(Note - the power cables are shorter than usual on this PSU - Motherboard = 12", HDD/CD = 13" first connector +7" second, P4 = 11", AUX = 11". Please ensure this is sufficient before ordering.)

All the Q-tec gold psu's seem to have shorter cables than usual now that isnt a good sign of quality they have obviosuly skimped, To save money, the cords are shorter than usual. Q-Tec is a brand you here so many problems about, i wonder if they actually have quality control in their factories.

Found this info on a forum about Q-Tec Psu's dont know if its true.

Quoted from >>> http://www.devhardware.com/forums/t43028/s.html

My Q-TEC (and do NOT confuse Q-TEC with "Qtechnology") had 6V on the -5V rail - tripped system alarms - and don't blame the monitoring chip, as it was ok with two other power supplies.

This was a 400 or 450W, can't remember - according to one test, the 550W model was a different design, and the only one they would come close to suggesting, lower models seemed to be the same base model with uprated heatsinks and stuff.

both of my OCZ 520W Powerstreams have been nothing but great...just wanted to share that

Yeah its in the top quality list, remember the heavier the PSU the better. Most of the cheap ones are so light even a super nintendo is heavier.