Arguably the most important component inside your PC is its power supply, the power supply unit (PSU) provides the power to every other component inside your computer ie: Motherboard, hard drive, processor, graphics card etc etc... and all these components require a powerful and extremely stable PSU in order to operate as intended.
14 months ago i built my current PC and opted to use the Q-tec 550 watt dual fan gold as its power supply unit, most modern day PC power supplies average around 350 watt and they are predominantly fine for most PC's but as you add extra components to your PC like extra hard drives, or a faster processor or faster graphics card then you may get close to reaching the limit of your particular power supply which can result in either the PSU not functioning properly (causing serious system instability) or in some instances the PSU may simply just pack up working altogether due to being over stressed.
The Q-tec 550 watt is a very powerful yet extremely cheap PSU which is also supplied with 2 fans as standard (1 fan draws warm air from your processor whilst the other fan expels that warm air out the back of your PC which helps to keep things cool inside your case) the 2 fans provide an output of 33 decibels.
The supplied cables are all of ample lengh and i had no problems whatsoever reaching them to my midi tower cased motherboard, the PSU is a gold colour and the 2 fans are coloured in rose gold and it looks quite beautiful for what it is.
As i said at the beginning of this review the PSU is perhaps the singlemost important component you will ever buy for your PC so just how good is the Q-tec 550 watt?
Well, in 14 months of constant use (and i do mean constant, my PC is on for at least 16 hrs per day every day) i have never once had 1 single problem at all, not one. My volt rails are all perfectly stable and currently they read...
3.3v = 3.28v 5v = 5.1v 12v = 11.85v
My 12v looks a little low to the keen eye but it is well within the 5% +/- for stability, and i do have alot plugged in and running off all 3 lines so im not concerned and have no reason to be as these rails have remained identical since purchase.
The PSU itself cost me just £25 and this seems to be a fairly typical price for this exact model from most places and if compared to a similarly powerful yet more well known brand (ie Antec) then you can see the benefits as the Antec equivalent will set you back almost four times as much money.
I therefore after much first hand experience with this PSU give it full marks and i recommend it fully.
Thankyou for reading
Paul
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I have one of these in my old case. I've built a whole new PC since though.
jesi 07.04.2004 02:51
sorry to be so stupid, but I havent grasped the concept. ~~(:-)-{::::::::::|<
kcjack 05.04.2004 15:12
You sound like you know stuff about computers my pc keeps freezing every 5 mins i have run norton and ad-aware and still keeps doing it any advice????????
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