Best PSU for under £20.

[EnergyEclipse]

Hello!

I am aware of the concerns that will arise with the budgets for such a component, and am completely understanding of the dangers you risk receiving when you use cheap ATX Power Supplies.

 

However, I won't be needing a particularly powerful PSU, just one capable of running an external graphics card for a laptop which will be used with an 8800GT.

 

 

I have complied a list of the best units I believe there are for my budget, though if anyone has any recommendations for PSUs under my budget that would be spectacular. I just need a working unit which won't explode and appearance is the least of my concerns at this budget. I want new units as well, since I am not allowed to validate the condition of units by opening them. I don't need a six pin as I have a molex adapter to cover that.

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pulse-500W-PSU-ATX-12V-Active-PFC-2-x-SATA-120mm-Silent-Red-Fan-Black-Casing-PPS-/232352845757?hash=item36194f0fbd

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Black-500W-12CM-Silent-Fan-PC-Power-Supply-ATX-Computer-PSU-500-Watt-SATA-24-PIN/201257564181?epid=1239904783&hash=item2edbe2b815:g:c5QAAOSwLVZV5rw4

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Maytrix-400w-PSU-ATX-PC-Power-Supply-RoHS-Gaming-Office-Molex-SATA-Connectors/361433814677?hash=item5427225695:g:Fj4AAOSwuYVWoMhY

 

Thank you very much in advance for any help you can provide in advance!

-EnergyEclipse

[Murasaki]

Good luck.

[3 Lions]

Neither of those, you'd be much better off by getting a gray label Corsair CX550M.

[deXxterlab97]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AA-Fire-Extinguisher-950g-Bsi/dp/B002Q9O3GK

[EnergyEclipse]

Just now, LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo said:

Neither of those, you'd be much better off by getting a gray label Corsair CX550M.

That just is not worth it as there around £50 or more and considering I only need this PSU for a external GPU and not an entire system I cannot justify that price D:

Thank you for the suggestion though!

[3 Lions]

Just now, EnergyEclipse said:

That just is not worth it as there around £50 or more and considering I only need this PSU for a external GPU and not an entire system I cannot justify that price D:

Thank you for the suggestion though!

Drop down to the 450M then. 

[Guest The Viking]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CP-9020049-UK-PLUS-Power-Supply/dp/B00X8QBT6M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1518890424&sr=8-2&keywords=corsair+psu

 

30£

[dave3818]

I have that pulse PSU to test out motherboards, works fine, and has done. I imagine it'll be fine for your use case. If it does blow, then who cares really, its only 20 quid

[seon123]

Just now, dave3818 said:

I have that pulse PSU to test out motherboards, works fine, and has done. I imagine it'll be fine for your use case. If it does blow, then who cares really, its only 20 quid

And by "works fine", I assume you used an oscilloscope to test for ripple? Or do you say that just because it didn't blow up? Bad ripple can kill the components while the PC is seemingly running fine. 

And if it does blow up, there's a very good chance that it'll kill whatever it's powering. 

[STRMfrmXMN]

If you're gonna buy one of those, at least keep yourself covered.

https://www.amfam.com/insurance/home/coverages

[dave3818]

4 minutes ago, seon123 said:

And by "works fine", I assume you used an oscilloscope to test for ripple? Or do you say that just because it didn't blow up? Bad ripple can kill the components while the PC is seemingly running fine. 

And if it does blow up, there's a very good chance that it'll kill whatever it's powering. 

A local computer store actually sold me this power supply and said they had tested it for ripple before I had asked. He's a pretty knowledgeable guy who works there so I just trusted him. I was only looking something cheap, as I said, to test out motherboards so I'm not constantly taking out the PSU from my main rig.

[DJ46]

Even though it might sound stupid, so far I had good luck with used PSUs. One of them is ~10 years old and it powers an office PC just fine.
But I'd never go below 80+, preferably 80+ Bronze and I'd definitely get a PSU from a well-known brand. A friend of mine is running an old Seasonic Energy Knight SS-500ET that I gave him when I upgraded my PC and it is powering his gaming PC without issues.

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, dave3818 said:

A local computer store actually sold me this power supply and said they had tested it for ripple before I had asked. He's a pretty knowledgeable guy who works there so I just trusted him. I was only looking something cheap, as I said, to test out motherboards so I'm not constantly taking out the PSU from my main rig.

Oh yeah?

 

What was his ripple measurement?

 

That "Pulse" is a 230V only PASSIVE (not even active.  The listing says "active", but that's a lie.  You can see the PFC choke bolted to the exhaust of the housing.) PFC, double forward PSU without DC to DC.  Efficiency is probably < 70% at any given load.  All Chinese caps (not even brand name ones), sleeve bearing fan (not even a brand name one).....  Just waiting for it to die, I guess. 

[EnergyEclipse]

46 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

Oh yeah?

 

What was his ripple measurement?

 

That "Pulse" is a 230V only PASSIVE (not even active.  The listing says "active", but that's a lie.  You can see the PFC choke bolted to the exhaust of the housing.) PFC, double forward PSU without DC to DC.  Efficiency is probably < 70% at any given load.  All Chinese caps (not even brand name ones), sleeve bearing fan (not even a brand name one).....  Just waiting for it to die, I guess. 

I have the '750W' version of the Pulse unit for testing old hardware and miscellaneous components, but for some reason there is an absolutely massive choke of some description in the back which takes up more than half the unit's internal space. I do not know a large amount about PSUs, but from looking it has a proper bridge rectifier and not four diodes and some capacitors by LMS somethings.  I can't really tell you much else but the two heat sinks are tiny and thin which is not reassuring for the wattage claim.

 

You should see if you can review this unit or ask Oklahoma Wolf if he's ever heard of a unit by them  It would make hopefully probably make for a funny read, or maybe even surprising results! 

 

[Stefan Payne]

1 hour ago, EnergyEclipse said:

I have complied a list of the best units I believe there are for my budget, though if anyone has any recommendations for PSUs under my budget that would be spectacular. I just need a working unit which won't explode and appearance is the least of my concerns at this budget. I want new units as well, since I am not allowed to validate the condition of units by opening them. I don't need a six pin as I have a molex adapter to cover that.

There is none for that price. Nada.

That is totally impossible!

 

The first ones that are somewhat OK are some 300-400W FSP units for around 30€

But you can also get some other ones for the same price. 

And that's the cheapest trustworthy thing.

 

But it seems like you want to kill yourself or your hardware with cheaping out too much on the PSU...

[Guest]

29 minutes ago, EnergyEclipse said:

I have the '750W' version of the Pulse unit for testing old hardware and miscellaneous components, but for some reason there is an absolutely massive choke of some description in the back which takes up more than half the unit's internal space. I do not know a large amount about PSUs, but from looking it has a proper bridge rectifier and not four diodes and some capacitors by LMS somethings.  I can't really tell you much else but the two heat sinks are tiny and thin which is not reassuring for the wattage claim.

 

You should see if you can review this unit or ask Oklahoma Wolf if he's ever heard of a unit by them  It would make hopefully probably make for a funny read, or maybe even surprising results! 

 

The choke is the passive PFC.

 

Yes, it has a bridge rectifier, but it's undersized for its wattage which is why it's rated for 230V only.

 

[OrionFOTL]

2 hours ago, EnergyEclipse said:

That just is not worth it as there around £50 or more and considering I only need this PSU for a external GPU and not an entire system

This doesn't mean you can cheap out on a PSU. It's the other way around. Since you only need a power supply for an external graphics card (so 12V only), then you're pretty much required to get a DC-DC PSU (like CX450M), since any group regulated one would shit itself trying to provide 12V without any load on the minor rails.

 

Except the ones in your main post - those would shit themselves under any load.

[grimreeper132]

3 hours ago, deXxterlab97 said:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AA-Fire-Extinguisher-950g-Bsi/dp/B002Q9O3GK

I don't think that 1 will be enough, I suggest this amount might to be enough, barely.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30-x-9L-Water-and-30-x-2KG-CO2-Fire-Extinguishers-UltraFire/263293933065?hash=item3d4d8a9609:g:0m4AAOSwKQ9Z-5ez 

[deXxterlab97]

4 minutes ago, grimreeper132 said:

I don't think that 1 will be enough, I suggest this amount might to be enough, barely.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30-x-9L-Water-and-30-x-2KG-CO2-Fire-Extinguishers-UltraFire/263293933065?hash=item3d4d8a9609:g:0m4AAOSwKQ9Z-5ez 

you have taken this joke too far and thus making it less funny

[-rascal-]

For under 20?

Not much...you can get a XFX XT 400, or XT 500 for 31.98 ...

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/2W4NnQ/xfx-power-supply-p1400bxtfr

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/bTnG3C/xfx-power-supply-p1500bxtfr

 

EDIT:

Well..you can check local classifieds...

Gumtree has a green-label Corsair CX-430 for 15.00 -- https://www.gumtree.com/p/desktop-workstation-pcs/corsair-cx430-psu-with-power-cable/1287352811

Antec TruePower Trio 430W for 20.00 -- https://www.gumtree.com/p/desktop-workstation-pcs/antec-atx-psu-pc-power-supply/1287297958

[Stefan Payne]

3 hours ago, -rascal- said:

Antec TruePower Trio 430W for 20.00 -- https://www.gumtree.com/p/desktop-workstation-pcs/antec-atx-psu-pc-power-supply/1287297958

That one is old. Really old.

Like from 2006 old.

 

Using that today is suicide for the components. Yes, I have the 650W version here somewhere and its not a good PSU at all by todays standard...

[EnergyEclipse]

I've found the cheapest of the cheap, as with what this thread is turning into, there isn't much point in trying to remain serious as in all honesty I already knew there was nothing at this price point, but just by asking questions like that you can learn a lot 

 

Sure, you may be able to scavenge a unit second hand for a reasonable amount of money, especially used Corsair VS units, but I wish for the components inside to be new, if I cannot personally inspect the unit in person, be that if my view in person is without fully opening the unit. And at better ease of mind in case the second hand units have been roughly handled or so forth. But this, this unit is the oddest unit I've found yet and I don't think I've ever come across something so cheap with the kinds of reviews it has - ever.

https://www.ebuyer.com/621475-builder-500w-fully-wired-efficient-power-supply-psu500builderblack

 

If anything is ringing alarm bells in this unit, the first one is it being unbranded. Even the 'fire hazard' Chinese unit I found on Ebay a short while ago was branded! (Be that in chinese). I know that does not indicate a units quality - but how, how is it possible you can make a functioning unit for this kind of price?! You have to factor in things like them having painted it black, the fan being 120mm (Not going to be of any worthy tier of quality I am going to imagine - but I am incredibly surprised it isn't 80mm!), metal and the how do you find manufactures of the components - and they must still be making profit. Not many care, and maybe this goes past the point of what I asked, but it would make for a really interesting documentary if someone could dig behind the scenes and see how people make units like these and what the mentalities are behind whomever makes this unit. If not that then if someone could actually professionally test these cheapo units like on jonnyguru or hardwareinsights. 

 

Thank you for reading and I am grateful for all the replies on this thread and the information provided!

-EnergyEclipse

[Guest]

54 minutes ago, EnergyEclipse said:

 

https://www.ebuyer.com/621475-builder-500w-fully-wired-efficient-power-supply-psu500builderblack

 

"Equipped with a Single 12v Rail Delivering upto 20 Amps"

 

Umm... 20 x 12 = 240W.  How is that a 500W PSU when there's only 240W on the +12V rail?!?!

 

LOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!

 

Why is there no governing body outlawing this crap?  Like shouldn't the FTC and similar bodies in other countries intervene?

[EnergyEclipse]

13 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

"Equipped with a Single 12v Rail Delivering upto 20 Amps"

 

Umm... 20 x 12 = 240W.  How is that a 500W PSU when there's only 240W on the +12V rail?!?!

 

LOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!

 

Why is there no governing body outlawing this crap?  Like shouldn't the FTC and similar bodies in other countries intervene?

You can read about eBay's seller policies here to see if you can find anything which outlines them selling units like these as against there polices: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/policies.html they only thing I could find was "Provide a clear, honest, and accurate description about the item.", and there are not any referrals for electronics like RoHS and so forth which I can find there - and if no-one is testing these units to see if there honestly listed like eBay, then as long as no-one proves its not honest then I am going to guess it isn't against there listing rules for someone to claim a 250W is now 800W - as no-one is testing them. I am probably completely incorrect in what I am saying, but I can't see any other reasons.

 

 Its wrong, and puts lives in danger, but the only way I can see right now which people can help to intervene with the sales of items like these if they professionally review them like you do, and leave feedback until eventually retailers notice.

 

Also if you want another unit to laugh at or question: This, this thing has sold 4,362: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Black-500W-12CM-Silent-Fan-PC-Power-Supply-ATX-Computer-PSU-500-Watt-SATA-24-PIN/201257564181?epid=1239904783&hash=item2edbe2b815:g:c5QAAOSwLVZV5rw4

 

4,362

.-.

[Guest]

It looks like the same unit with a different label.