Getting the Best Buy on a Power Supply @ [H]

[chanchan]

LOL I hope you guys returned the units within the 30 day grace period!

AMG ... $165+tax for a no-name 700w ...

 

[Modred189]

I disagree. These things are a potential fire hazzard. Granted the bulk of them might be ok but there are going to be people out there that will put them in a machine that needs 400watts worth of power or more and they won't be getting what they paid too much for in the first place. Selling a cheap PSU like that doesn't do what it is supposed to do is just not right.

Agreed. There is a difference between selling basic, low end, but DECENT product, and selling units that fall far below advertised capabilities and damage equipment.

 

[[Spectre]]

Probably a dumb question, but on the Rocketfish 700, why did you overload the 3.3V & 5V rails on test 4? The spec states 3.3V+5V is 170W max, but I calculated your combined load to be 187.8W ((16*3.3)+(27*5))

Not a dumb question at all. I loaded it that way because it was the only way I could get the unit to 700w and get it to turn on. With any 12v load over 41A the unit would not start. So to get to 700w I had to push the 5v/3.3v to 178w. Then it would complete the 120v testing but not the 100v. At that point in testing ti was pretty much me just trying to nurse the thing along to get some good data out of it rather than giving up on it.

 

[[Spectre]]

LOL I hope you guys returned the units within the 30 day grace period!

AMG ... $165+tax for a no-name 700w ...

I may have voided the warranty on the second set of samples so we ate the cost.

 

[Elios]

ROFL! Don't give Paul any ideas! I heard some other websites use that exact method to test their power supplies.

I bought two of those $20 Dynex cases with the 500W PS, guess I should junk those for something else. Anyone know a good, inexpensive, decent alternative PS for something like a C2D E2xxx/E4xxx series basic system?

VX450 from corsair would do and im sure there some other ones in that range that are ok if you look

 

[AvatarX]

Not a dumb question at all. I loaded it that way because it was the only way I could get the unit to 700w and get it to turn on. With any 12v load over 41A the unit would not start. So to get to 700w I had to push the 5v/3.3v to 178w. Then it would complete the 120v testing but not the 100v. At that point in testing ti was pretty much me just trying to nurse the thing along to get some good data out of it rather than giving up on it.

Ah, ok. So, the overloading is likely the cause of the failure in test 4 with low input power?

Curious if it would have held up under the 683W load. (170W 3.3V/5V + 492W 12V)

 

[Elios]

oh were to start

I work for BestBuy as well.

- on the positive side -
We typically use these power supplies to replace bad ones for customers under manufacturer / service plan warranty. i.e. Gateway ships their quad cores with 300w. I would bet that they are around the same quality as many of the factory default PSU. I honestly haven't seen a history of failure with these power supplies.

that gateway 300 is most likely lightyears better and has good caps in it
and can give its full rated power

- negative side -
They are overpriced and they do have a hefty markup. They are made for Bestbuy by a 3rd party Chinese manufacturer low quality. I bet that there are dozens of power supplies identical to this sold under other names besides Dynex / Rocketfish.

im sure but no one would use them ether

- bottom line -
For a gamer or a PC enthusiast we do not recommend that customers purchase these power supplies, these will power a mid to low end machine fine.

i wouldnt use these for any kind of PC may be as 12v PSU for a RC car batt. and may be not even then

Typically these Power Supplies are the cheapest in the store.
Pay a little bit more and get a Antec / Corsair PSU
I personally still do a lot of shopping at Newegg, though Best Buy is getting better at carrying name brand components Thermaltake, Corsair, Antec etc.

* Thanks for the review I will let managers etc know as well.

and there still MORE then a good one like the corsair VX450 that can run rings around the "700w" one
what BB is doing is highway robbery and borderline false advertising
were these things even UL listed?

 

[[Spectre]]

Ah, ok. So, the overloading is likely the cause of the failure in test 4 with low input power?

Curious if it would have held up under the 683W load. (170W 3.3V/5V + 492W 12V)

Depends on how you want to look at it. It was a failure at 100% across the board if I went by the label. By loading that way it actually became a bit less bad as I could nurse it through another test. As for 683 watts it may have with a different load pattern but when I was scaling the unit up in that range to get something stable it was out of spec on the 5v rail whenever I got above 20A 5v with a 41A 12v load.

You also should remember that was the better of the two units. The first one blew up in Test #3.

 

[CopyCat]

holy hell, everyone please forward this review!! haha.

PSU is an extremely important overlooked component by many people. Thats why I think the PSU reviews here are great!!

Thanks

 

[Elios]

I may have voided the warranty on the second set of samples so we ate the cost.

kinda with my last post but Paul did you see if these things were even UL listed and if the UL reg numbers were legit?
Overrating a PSU Like that could cause some bad stuff to happen

 

[yojimbo]

Good read, if not a little unsurprising.

I do have a question, though. I recently stopped into a Best Buy (not to buy a PC component, rather for Rock Band) and I briefly looked at their hardware selection. Two other power supplies caught my eye, mostly because they were BFG Tech products:

BFG GS 650
BFG GS 550

Firstly, I cannot find these products for sale from the likes of Newegg or ZipZoomFly. I've only located them on the BFG Tech site and at Best Buy. Secondly, they seem to only come with a 1 year warranty. Thirdly, the GS 550 looks eerily like the Dynex unit in this review.

Any thoughts? I'm not in the market (my Corsair HX 620 works perfectly fine), I'm just curious.

 

[AvatarX]

Depends on how you want to look at it. It was a failure at 100% across the board if I went by the label. By loading that way it actually became a bit less bad as I could nurse it through another test. As for 683 watts it may have with a different load pattern but when I was scaling the unit up in that range to get something stable it was out of spec on the 5v rail whenever I got above 20A 5v with a 41A 12v load.

You also should remember that was the better of the two units. The first one blew up in Test #3.

Oh don't get me wrong, I am not putting you down, just asking geek questions to satisfy my curiosity.

 

[jhtevans]

Last time I bought a power supply from BB (BFG 800w), the sealed box contained a Dell OEM PSU from about 7 years ago.... I was so damn confused.

 

[[Spectre]]

kinda with my last post but Paul did you see if these things were even UL listed and if the UL reg numbers were legit?
Overrating a PSU Like that could cause some bad stuff to happen

Yes they are UL listed to Huntkey.

 

[Elios]

Yes they are UL listed to Huntkey.

was the UL listing for a 300 or 400w unit for the Dynex one?

i dont get how BB can legally sell something so grossly overrated

 

[[Spectre]]

was the UL listing for a 300 or 400w unit for the Dynex one?

i dont get how BB can legally sell something so grossly overrated

Well the UL listing is as follows for the Dynex:

Model No. Volts Hz SC V A VA OC SP EP FC GC
DX-400WPS[*r]
115/
230ac 50/60 0 5dc 20 - 3 60950-1 20B 0 1
12dc 8 - 3
3.3dc 20 - 3
12dc 14 - 3
-12dc 0.3 - 3
5dc 2.5 - 3

 

[Elios]

Well the UL listing is as follows for the Dynex:

Model No. Volts Hz SC V A VA OC SP EP FC GC
DX-400WPS[*r]
115/
230ac 50/60 0 5dc 20 - 3 60950-1 20B 0 1
12dc 8 - 3
3.3dc 20 - 3
12dc 14 - 3
-12dc 0.3 - 3
5dc 2.5 - 3

makes me wonder how well UL really test this stuff

 

[[Spectre]]

makes me wonder how well UL really test this stuff

Well they don't load test them and so long as they don't catch on fire immediately, explode and kill everyone in the room, or get your wife pregnant they get a pass.

 

[SudburyOntario]

I am glad I spent money for my Thermaltake Toughpower 600W / 48A PSU !

I have a question however.. it's about the electrical noise coming from the power supply, which can be heard through the speakers aswell during 400w usage. The noise is a high then low then high..ect tone

I have been to the computer shops in my city and see a wall of 100+ dead power supplies every month ! Great review and definitly low quality with most power supplies - I do judge by the weight aswell.

 

[[Spectre]]

Great review and definitly low quality with most power supplies - I do judge by the weight aswell.

Well the Rocketfish is one of the heaviest 600w-700w units I have ever had come in so the weight is certainly not the only factor (although it could just be all the scrap metal that fell into the unit as well................)

 

[SudburyOntario]

I just checked out my local Future Shop / Canada version of BB I assume. I didn't even know they have the exact same power supplies you just tested. Right now I am tired of the Dynex brand getting way out of hand !




You can buy a real good Thermaltake 430W PSU for less than $79 and it's a very good unit, I have read the [H]ard Review on it too.

 

[DJ-FX]

BB is all about profit margins.....

Rocketfish, Dynex, Insignia, and GeekSquad are BB brands that cary anywhere from 80% to 98% margin of profit. For example the $19.99 SATA cable only costs best buy like $1.50 and the $60 HDMI one for like $4. I used to work for them while back and the supers and managers often were telling us to push those brands first since of the big mark ups. The warranties on anything under those names is very limited too, often just 3 months at most. I do recommend staying away from the Insignia HD to analog converter boxes they started to sell for older TVs. They sell them for $59.99, and even if you use the $40 one-time-per-each-household Federal cupon, you'll still could be out $20 since I doubt they are well made for long term use.

 

[Breach]

Id have to say that no real system builder gets their goods at Best Buy....

 

[flenser]

Kyle and Co., have you contacted Best Buy about these results? If so, any response? Selling a product that goes kablooi when used at 75% of rated power sounds like a guaranteed lawsuit, and they might be interested in knowing that the guy doing their power supply sourcing is either a retard or a crook.

 

[[Spectre]]

Kyle and Co., have you contacted Best Buy about these results? If so, any response? Selling a product that goes kablooi when used at 75% of rated power sounds like a guaranteed lawsuit, and they might be interested in knowing that the guy doing their power supply sourcing is either a retard or a crook.

I would think BB knows all about their guy doing the sourcing

http://www.huntkey.com/eng/newsmore.asp?id=93

 

[TheRapture]

At my local BB, I was in desperate need of a power supply one evening...one that had the pci-x connector for video cards. They had like, 3 Antec units on the shelf, all of them almost double what they should have been for the power (450w units) and the idiot sales guy was trying to sell me a 600-something watt cheapo (probably Dynex) for even more money...I was so flabbergasted, and amazed, at the ignorance shown to me.

Another time I tried to buy a 24" Gateway lcd, I called, they said they had one in stock...I drive over, they can't find it in back, so I offer to buy the demo unit....they would not sell it to me! Said it was store policy....so I told them it was MY policy to not spend any more money at a BB store, I ordered one online from CC for cheaper and had it the next day. The sales guy was trying to sell me another 27" lcd that was "high def" (his words) when it was a crappy Olevia 1388x766 native res model....I repeated myself that I was not going to buy anything from them.

6 months ago, they did not even have a SATA hard drive in stock!!!! And the ide units they had were way overpriced.....


Sorry to bash....but BB will never get a cent from me ever again....

 

[TheRapture]

Id have to say that no real system builder gets their goods at Best Buy....

They don't even have enough parts in stock to build a decent midrange rig....and I mean decent. Not junk in house parts...

 

[SmokeRngs]

I haven't done a review for that unit yet but I do have a dead one here that I got from a case combo. Since it is not a stand alone unit I probably won't publish a review of it, but it is not a good unit.

I have three of those units as I got in on the $20 case deal. The case is actually very nice and well worth the $20 each I paid for them. I just wish I had had more money at the time to buy several more.

I had 2 quads and an X2 in skeleton cases and decided since these were cheap I would swap cases. I had no plans on using the Dynex 500 watt PSUs on these systems. The systems are being run by 2 Antec Earthwatts 380s and an Antec NeoHE 500. One of the Dynex units is powering a P3, another powering an Athlon XP 1700+ and the third might end up powering an Athlon T-Bird 1.33.

I figure they have a chance of lasting a while in those systems and even if they don't I'm not going to be out much since the other hardware is practically worthless moneywise at this point.

 

[JonGerow]

Firstly, I cannot find these products for sale from the likes of Newegg or ZipZoomFly. I've only located them on the BFG Tech site and at Best Buy.

These particular products are made ONLY for Best Buy (and other retail stores abroad like London Drug in Canada, etc.)

Secondly, they seem to only come with a 1 year warranty.

Typo. The GS-650 says three year and the GS-550 says one year. They should both say three year and that should be getting fixed right this minute. The error came from a change in BFG warranty policy where we started requiring product registration for warranty extension (3 year, 5 year, Lifetime, etc.). Without registration, the product is one year.

Thirdly, the GS 550 looks eerily like the Dynex unit in this review.

Not the same unit, of course, but the same fan grill.

 

[BladeVenom]

Great review. Nice to see how bad the crap they try to sell consumers really is.

You should bill them for the damaged test equipment.

 

[SmokeRngs]

Almost forgot to say something.

Thanks for doing PSU reviews on things like this. It's always nice to know what we might be getting into especially if it's one of those times where we have to have something ASAP because we can't wait for one reason or another.

It is somewhat funny that for the price of that Rocketfish 700 I was able to purchase an Antec Neo 650 and two Antech Earthwatts 380 PSUs. Sure, I got good deals on all three PSUs, but still...

 

[[Spectre]]

Great review. Nice to see how bad the crap they try to sell consumers really is.

You should bill them for the damaged test equipment.

Well we took the opportunity that destroying this piece of equipment afforded us to upgrade the Variac. Somehow I doubt BB would like the bill for the new one

 

[Kendrak]

Well we took the opportunity that destroying this piece of equipment afforded us to upgrade the Variac. Somehow I doubt BB would like the bill for the new one

Any way you can put a fuse on the test leads to keep it from happening again?

 

[digitalwanderer]

An incredibly well written/researched article, thanks for the great read Paul Johnson.

Kyle, a tip of my hat to you too for publishing it. I love your exposés and they're always top notch, great job.

Happily front paged.

 

[Brownstone]

Dnno if this is the place to ask, but im building a new rig soon ... and im in doubt if an OCZ StealthXStream 600w PSU will be enough
I ll be gettin the following (dont need more HDD's or opticals than these)

Asus Maximus Formula
Intel E8400 + Zalman 9700LED
OCZ GOLD EDITION XTC 4GB
HDD 500gb SATAII 32MB 7200.11 Barracuda
Dvd-rw 20X SATA
Thermaltake M9 (I heard it has short cables ... will i be fine with this case ?)

My video card will be either an HD4870 or GT200 (or if they have X2/GX2 model on launch i ll get those)

 

[Dan_D]

Dnno if this is the place to ask, but im building a new rig soon ... and im in doubt if an OCZ StealthXStream 600w PSU will be enough
I ll be gettin the following (dont need more HDD's or opticals than these)

Asus Maximus Formula
Intel E8400 + Zalman 9700LED
OCZ GOLD EDITION XTC 4GB
HDD 500gb SATAII 32MB 7200.11 Barracuda
Dvd-rw 20X SATA
Thermaltake M9 (I heard it has short cables ... will i be fine with this case ?)

My video card will be either an HD4870 or GT200 (or if they have X2/GX2 model on launch i ll get those)

You will probably be good to go. Though I'm not sure what the actual power requirements for the HD4870 or GT200 will be. We'll have to wait until the reviews come out before we know for sure.

 

[Battleneter2]

As a person that has ordered containers of cases off un-named Asian manufactures, I can honestly say I have been asked "What wattage would you like displayed on these 400watt PSU's".

This deliberate rating remarking of PSU has been going on for years (literally). I am not even slightly surprised by this article.

 

[Vorazan]

Judging by positive customer reviews on that site, some fools actually bought them

 

[Zap]

I work at BBY, as both GS and computer sales. While I love it as a job, the results of this review are pretty bothersome. I will be printing and linking this to my managers...

Guess you don't love your job enough. GL and hope you keep that job.

I have bought a couple of Rocketfish cables for my stereo and the build quality is good and better value than Monster Cable products.

Just about anything is better than boutique cables. As long as the cabling is of sufficient guage and impedance, and the connectors work properly (not falling apart and fits well) then any given cable is probably decent.

Great reviews, as usual. I'm glad we have sites that provide reliable PSU reviews aside from the "I plugged it in and don't see an issue. A+++WillBuyAgain!" stuff I see from other sites.

Yeah, that's why I read the PSU reviews here too. Good stuff.

I'd wager a factory Dell or Gateway PSU is better than these pieces of crap.

Not familiar with the Gateway stuff, but the Dell stuff is Bestec or Delta, and yeah, they can squish some squirrels.

Last time I bought a power supply from BB (BFG 800w), the sealed box contained a Dell OEM PSU from about 7 years ago.... I was so damn confused.

Huh? Probably a customer return that got shrinkwrapped and shelved by the store.

You can buy a real good Thermaltake 430W PSU for less than $79 and it's a very good unit

If it's the usual one... yes, good quality, however not necessarily a good choice for a more modern system with a decent video card because it only has 18A of quality power on the +12v.

 

[BlueMeanie]

"Completely destroying our Variac."

As a computer repair engineer, this is what annoys me the most about cheap power supplies. When they die, they tend to take the PC/expensive equipment out with it. A decent PSU seems to protect the attached components when it dies.

Does anyone know if quality PSUs have extra surge protection built in or something?

I see the expense of a quality branded PSU as an extra insurance policy to protect the PC.