Thursday, July 28, 2016

Cheap Power Supplies And Why You Shouldn't Buy Them

The HP Pavilion desktop that I use for most chores has been a strong and silent workhorse, requiring only the occasional dusting to keep it happy.

So it was a bit of a shock when it started making noises that sounded like a spoon in the garbage disposal.
 I ordered a power supply off ebay for about $25 plus shipping back in February of this year, and performed an autopsy on the original Intek unit, which turned out to only have a slightly dodgy fan. So I ordered a new fan, installed it, and  put the repaired power supply on the shelf for a backup, should that ever be required.

I noticed that the ReplacePower power supply fan ran continuously and was not thermostatically controlled as the original one was.  Also, the heat sinks were so small as to be not suitable for sever service. The package said it was good for 480w, but that did not square with the information on the product label.

Yesterday after a smallish power surge the "ReplacePower" power supply quit after being in service only 5 months. The box would not power up.

So back in went the original Intek with a new fan and things are back to normal. I figure, six years of service 16 hours a day most days, is a good advertisement for the durability that was built into  this box. Anything that lasts 35,000 hours is good goods.

As it turned out the "ReplacePower" power supply wasn't even worth the twenty five bucks I paid for it.