Buying a Sparkle SPI ATX-400PN

[Hugo]

Hi! I want to replace an old crappy PSU in my secondary computer, and I don't want a high-end model.

(I've installed a Enermax in my primary computer and I'm very happy of the results (it's very stable, not noisy at all, and was a breeze to install) but at 70-80$ it's expensive.)

So I've found a computer shop where they sell OEM parts (without the nice looking box and booklet) and they had a few Sparkle FSP/SPI ATX-400PN 400W in stock.

Now at 40$ it's very affordable, and I've seen a few good reviews of this model on the net, but is it a good solution? Are the capacitors of good quality, is the output stable under normal conditions <70%, and is the fan silent enough?

Thanks for the answers.

{h}

[dood]

Re: Buying a Sparkle SPI ATX-400PN

I just got one of these- http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817103508 and I like it quite a bit. Poor airflow, though. It has a single large 120mm fan, that spins very slowly so it's quiet. It is thermally controlled, and I have heard it speed up and slow down while running 3dmark, but overall I'd like a little more airflow at idle.

The sparkle/fortron units are usually pretty solid, but any manufacturer can be plagued by the bad caps problem. Take Antec... supposedly rock-solid and reliable... I've had three die due to bad caps. They cost way too much to have that kind of track record!

You can see the interior shots of my PSU here- https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...9&postcount=32

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Re: Buying a Sparkle SPI ATX-400PN

The ATX part numbers are on the low end of FSP's lineup, but still not too bad. The caps have a good chance at being Fuhjyyu, Capxon, or OST. Maybe Teapo, but they seem to be steering away from them now. The good news is they don't seem to fail very often at all, despite cheap caps.

[Hugo]

Re: Buying a Sparkle SPI ATX-400PN

I had a bad experience with Fuhjyyu caps in a Deer unit. I live in a not-so-big town with only a few decent computer shops, so the choices are limited. I think I'll stick with the higher end Enermax (at 70-80$).

Anyone has a pic of the inside of a Enermax unit? And what kind of caps do they use usually?

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Re: Buying a Sparkle SPI ATX-400PN

The best caps on the planet are wasted on a Deer I'm afraid - awful units.

Check the pictoral thread - there's an Enermax in there IIRC. Sadly, if you want a unit with known good caps, the only two I can say for sure that don't skimp there are Zippy and Delta.

[Newbie2]

Re: Buying a Sparkle SPI ATX-400PN

I had a bad experience with Fuhjyyu caps in a Deer unit. I live in a not-so-big town with only a few decent computer shops, so the choices are limited. I think I'll stick with the higher end Enermax (at 70-80$).

Anyone has a pic of the inside of a Enermax unit? And what kind of caps do they use usually?

Enermax uses PCE-TUR caps, on our bad cap list, but there were 2 or 3 failures of them. They are "good" bad caps.

[incapacitance]

Re: Buying a Sparkle SPI ATX-400PN

The ATX part numbers are on the low end of FSP's lineup, but still not too bad. The caps have a good chance at being Fuhjyyu, Capxon, or OST. Maybe Teapo, but they seem to be steering away from them now. The good news is they don't seem to fail very often at all, despite cheap caps.

What about the Fortron FSP400-60PFN? Could this be a higher-end unit that uses good caps?

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Re: Buying a Sparkle SPI ATX-400PN

You have a chance at better caps in that one, it's not likely to have any Fuhjyyu at any rate, but at least recently they were still showing up with OST and Capxon. They used to be all Teapo like my FSP530-60GNA - in fact I believe my 530W is just a beefed up FSP400-60PFN. My Teapo-ized 530W has been going for more than a year and a half now of 24/7 use with no problems - caps all look good in there.

Posts 44-46 on page 4 of the pictoral thread shows one of these under Zalman's name. I wouldn't recommend these for someone overclocking on a modern 12v oriented motherboard, as these don't have a whole lot of 12v power.