PSU kettle lead question

fish99

fish99

fish99

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Joined
19 May 2005
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Hi,

Just bought a new PSU to replace a Q-Tec one that blew up yesterday on my dads PC and it's come without a power lead. Are all these power leads the same? The new PSU, another Q-Tec, is 500W. Should I be using 250V/10A cable with it?

I know Q-Tec are terrible btw, but it's an old PC and uses little power (9600 Pro, P4 2.4) and gets little money spent on it, hence the <£20 Q-Tec.

Cheers lads,
Simon.
 
It's still a terrible choice, not much money may get spent on the system but how much will it cost to replace the main components when this q-tec dies and takes something out with it this time? :p Buy good, buy once...buy cheap, buy twice.

Guess it's too late now though. :o
 
Yup. That's why it bugs me when people say "Q-Tecs are fine for budget systems" etc etc. No, they're not. I had one in a low-end system and it just caused power-offs and resets all the time. They're rubbish for any system!
 
I've had a Q-tec in a non-important server for a while with (nearly) no problems. A couple of weeks ago it wouldn't power on - fans spun up, then down and it went off.

Occasionally it would work for a few hours, and then just power off. Suffice to say, it's being replaced asap. Been meaning to do it for ages!
 
Cheers lads :)

I know what you're saying about Q-Tec, I would never put one anywhere near my system, but it's not me paying for it. Anyway, it's working ok so far. Used a kettle lead with 5A fuse rather than the 10A one, but it's working just fine AFAICT.
 
up until early last year i was running a Q-Tek for a few years with no (and i mean no) problems, now i know theyr terrible but u can get working ones (rarely)
 
FSP Sparkle ATX-400PNF 400W ATX2.0 PSU (CA-006-SK) Price: £26.95 (£31.67 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Theres no more room for the Q-tecs any more :)
 
KizZ said:
FSP Sparkle ATX-400PNF 400W ATX2.0 PSU (CA-006-SK) Price: £26.95 (£31.67 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Theres no more room for the Q-tecs any more :)
Click to expand...
There never was anyway, as it works out more expensive at the end because it dies and takes your PC with you.
I reckon cheap Sparkles (along with the £30-something Akasas) are actually going to make the problems worse. Before, when all decent PSUs were in the £50+ range, some people might've actually become suspicious of the low price of the QTecs and researched them before buying. With Sparkles and Akasas going for only slightly more, they'll just click on buy...
 
I wonder how many PSUs Q-Tec shift though compared to how many problems there are, I have no idea about the truth of the following but I'd guess they are one of the most widely sold brands purely because they are cheap and fairly well known(whether for good or bad) and available in lots of outlets. I'm just a bit curious statistically speaking about how many people use them without problems, I know they have terrible rails and all the rest but this is a forum catering to a very small segment of the PC buying market and not exactly reflective of the PC buying market as a whole or the uses most people will put their PCs to.

Most people who buy a PC have very little interest or knowledge about what parts their computer contains or even how it all works. They might be able to tell you how many "jigga-watts"* it has if they have just bought it but that is about it for most people I'd reckon.

*yep that is from ctrl-alt-del. If anyone wants to throw cold water over my assertions I'm quite happy to listen because I don't know any of this beyond what I think may be reasonable guesswork.
 
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