Yet another reason to avoid low cost power supplies.

For many new PC builders, the power supply is sometimes overlooked as drool gathers on high end video cards and 16gb of DDR3 memory and super fast SSDs. A lot of noobs (myself included many years ago) simply look at the price tag and figure "unit A is 600w, and unit B is 600w, but unit A is $109 and unit B is only $39 - what's the difference? why would I spend $109 when I can get the same thing for $39?". And it stops there... many people will read every review available for a CPU or motherboard, but not for the PSU. Now that I've learned a thing or two in the past 8-10 years, I have come to the mindset that the power supply is probably the most important component in the PC. After all, it does supply the power to the entire computer. That $300 video card is useless without power, and why pump dirty weak power thru that $400 processor? Anyway, what I'm getting at is: when designing a new rig, be sure to devote as much time to researching your power supply as you would researching video cards, RAM, hard drives, and CPUs.....

..... and here's a HUGE reason to avoid a brand you've never heard of simply because the price seems good: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/blog/Hantol-PSU-Fake-PFC-Made-of-Cement/220

 

Quite scary really most people will never know.

I wonder how it fairs legally? I know in UK law any attempt to deceive the buyer,to trick them into believing the product is something it is not is illegal.

The concret PFC is totally superfluous to the design and its only function is deception so I can't see how it could be legal.

 

Good question Rikki. I suspect that unless they state that it has a PFC then they could probably get away with it. They could make up some BS that the weight is put in to reduce vibrations from the fan and make the unit quieter... Most PSUs come with do not disasemmble warnings so you would never know about the fake PFC unless you opened it so again they could argue they are not decieving. Would be interesting to hear trading standards view on it.

 

I don't think so - at least not in Europe Union countries where PFC is required by law - though I think the EU requires "active" PFC, not "passive". That said, this specific Hantol PSU was sold in Brazil and I don't know their consumer protection laws. I suspect they fall in line with the laws of most other UN member countries. At least that is how countries that depend on tourism and foreign investments for much of their revenue have set up their laws.

Where I see some legal issues here with this particular PSU in question (assuming it is not a counterfeit PSU in the first place and automatically illegal) is in this image of that PSU. Note all those little logos near the bottom of the label. I don't know what all of them mean but the CE logo means it conforms to EU standards and you cannot display that logo unless you meet those "regulatory" standards. And the CE standards in particular deal with electronic devices, how they generate and shield EMI/RFI, and how they affect loading on the "grid". PFC is all about loading and the grid, and EMI is an inherent problem with switching power supplies, as virtually all PC PSUs are.

The FCC logo implies the same standards but I don't see an FCC logo on the label so that PSU could not be sold here. I suspect you will not see that PSU for sale in Europe either, except perhaps illegally on black markets.

 

I couldn't agree more on the importance of the PSU. When computers come in to my shop, I always do a physical inspection before the customer leaves. I look for and not any scratches and dents or broken plastic. Inside, I look at the PSU and on the main board and GPU I look for any swollen capacitors.

If I find a BesTec PSU, I tell them it will be replaced and give them a price on it. If they don't want it replaced, I decline the repair because I can't guarantee the PSU will continue to work and it may even take the mainboard with it when it goes, all of which I may be blamed for.

The only PSU's I stock are Antec. I'm sure there are some other good PSU's out there but I have not had any problems with Antec in more then ten years of using them.