The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

[jazzie366]

15$ with priority 3 day shipping. The shipping costs 8$ for this particular package.
When you see the pics I've attached, you'll know why it's the absolute cheapest.
I had to buy it when I saw 14.99 shipped 3 day.
The funny thing is, it puts out 12.02V on the 12v rail, 3.35 on the 3.3v, and 5.2 on the 5v. I'm genuinely impressed how it handles under load as well, I threw a 2 ohm resistor on the end and it held up pretty well, I don't know how though.
It seems to be a 250W psu with a 350W *MAX* rating.

Also, what brand is H.Q.? They don't even look genuine.

[Agent24]

Re: The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

Of course it will meet voltage specs brand new. The question is, for how long?

[dmill89]

Re: The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

Of course it will meet voltage specs brand new. The question is, for how long?

X2, that being said it actually looks better than what I'd expect for a $15 shipped (so really about $7 for the PSU, and the seller likely paid less than $5 for it when buying in bulk) PSU. I've definitely seen worse (including stuff the local computer shops are selling for $30-40), but it still isn't something I'd trust to use in a PC (though it might be useful as a bench top power supply, or for parts).

[Pentium4]

Re: The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

That thing might not even be in spec above 50W load. What's the brand of the fan? Does it use an IC for 5VSB? I once saw a similar piece of junk that actually used a no name 8 pin IC for 5VSB. Sometimes you can get good old PSUs for that price that are WAY better.

[Agent24]

Re: The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

I wonder if it would adhere to the "less parts means less to go wrong" motto.
Certainly you won't see the APFC blow up in this one!

I find I prefer simpler designs these days.

[Pentium4]

Re: The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

Hahaha. To a certain point. I too really like "simple" I think the Macron MPT units are the absolute best when it comes to simple and stable/reliable. I would also like to throw Sun Pro in that list but I know no one would agree

[Agent24]

Re: The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

I think I've got a PSU somewhere that's almost as anaemic as this one.
It's clearly been well used, and the PCB has significantly discoloured.

Amusingly, it still works and none of the capacitors have vented. Maybe I'll test their ESR for a laugh some day.

[kc8adu]

Re: The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

i found one of those in an anca 3dx of all things.and it nearly trashed the whole system.
the shorted tvs on the hdd saved the rest of the system.the +12 powers the i/o and motion control in these.the +12 was at 18.9v!
yeah lets try to save a few $ and put a $15 power supply in our $250+k cnc.
idiots.
btw the machine owner did the replacement.and in a week it shut down and squealed like a stuck pig.
and as soon as the owner picked up the repaired unit and left it on the bench i crushed it.good exercise!i wear gloves to protect my hands from the ginsu cases on these turds when i crush them.

[mariushm]

Re: The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

That's too expensive.

I can buy this crap from the store : http://www.pcgarage.ro/surse/activ/450-w/

It's 60 RON (with the 20% VAT of my country included), or about 14.25$ , with free shipping and 2 year warranty (EU rules, must be at least 2 years).
I probably can get it with an additional 2-3% off due to being very frequent buyer from that store and active member in their forums.

Imagine how much it costs in 100-1000pcs orders, without the distributors profit, and the store's profit .. it's probably less than 8$ when it comes in the country.

It claims 21A on the 12v rail, or 250 watts, in real world it probably dies at over 150w, and it's probably has two regular diodes on a heatsink for the 12v output.
Super short cables and just 2 molex and 2 sata cables.

[kc8adu]

Re: The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

the postage exceeds its value much less actually paying anything for it.
too expensive for a rifle target or single use hand exerciser!

[jazzie366]

Re: The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

Of course it will meet voltage specs brand new. The question is, for how long?

It's surprisingly a year old now!

That thing might not even be in spec above 50W load. What's the brand of the fan? Does it use an IC for 5VSB? I once saw a similar piece of junk that actually used a no name 8 pin IC for 5VSB. Sometimes you can get good old PSUs for that price that are WAY better.

I threw a 2 ohm resistor on the end loading it with ~70 W of load, held it's voltage for 12V. The transformer looks like it'll work just fine under a 150W load at the max.

I wonder if it would adhere to the "less parts means less to go wrong" motto.
Certainly you won't see the APFC blow up in this one!

I find I prefer simpler designs these days.

Yeah, simple is usually better, and this one definitely adheres to that rule. There's almost no parts in this thing compared to something like a Corsair or Zallman PSU.

That's too expensive.

I can buy this crap from the store : http://www.pcgarage.ro/surse/activ/450-w/

It's 60 RON (with the 20% VAT of my country included), or about 14.25$ , with free shipping and 2 year warranty (EU rules, must be at least 2 years).
I probably can get it with an additional 2-3% off due to being very frequent buyer from that store and active member in their forums.

Imagine how much it costs in 100-1000pcs orders, without the distributors profit, and the store's profit .. it's probably less than 8$ when it comes in the country.

It claims 21A on the 12v rail, or 250 watts, in real world it probably dies at over 150w, and it's probably has two regular diodes on a heatsink for the 12v output.
Super short cables and just 2 molex and 2 sata cables.

I'm gonna try and get one of those, as a toy.

Also, here's the pricing for a manufacturer that I contacted once that had pricing for PSU's of this kind of shit quality that I thought I might be able to resell, until I saw the board pic:

50-200: 5.74 USD ea (this was total cost of it AFTER shipping and customs fees)
201-500 5 USD
501-1000 4.36 USD
1001+ 3.76 USD

They don't cost shit, the guy who was selling these was probably making around 2-3$ each on these.

[CapLeaker]

Re: The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

the postage exceeds its value much less actually paying anything for it.
too expensive for a rifle target or single use hand exerciser!

[dmill89]

Re: The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

Sometimes you can get good old PSUs for that price that are WAY better.

Yep, you can regularly find used 300-400W Delta/FSP/Lite-On, etc. units (usually OE from scrapped computers) for around thet price point, that even with a few hours on them are far better than most of the $15-25 "New" (though often just a new build of an ancient design) PSUs. Sometimes you can even get NOS (new old stock) units (often from companies clearing out the spares they bought once they retire a certain PC model and no longer need them) for that price, and I've even "gotten lucky" a few times and picked up recent 500W+ Seasonic, PCP&C, Delta (higher-end units with Japanese caps), etc. PSUs used for less than $30 shipped.

Some examples:
A used 300W Delta (OE HP) for $12 shipped: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-OEM-...oAAOSwGtRXyJra
Refurbished 250W FSP $12.55 shipped: http://www.ebay.com/itm/250W-POWER-S...UAAOSwjVVVqQiv
A used 305W Hipro for $13 shipped: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gateway-Hipr...wAAOSwnbZYI1DX
Used Lite-ON (OE Dell) 300w $13.16 shipped: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Dell...QAAOSwAuZX1bN2http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Dell...QAAOSwAuZX1bN2
310W Delta (OE IBM/Lenovo) $13.65 shipped: http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Delta-31...UAAOSwux5YMOxH
........ (and plenty more where those came from)

[Khron]

Re: The CHEAPEST PSU eBay had to offer.

One thing to look out for, with OEM'd units, is that they don't all necessarily stick to the ATX format (physically) - i have a few scavenged PSU's from older HP's and Dells, in some cases they have 92mm fans, and/or are taller than standard ATX's.

But then again, that's only a concern if you intend to use them to power computers