It is possibly one of the most despised components by users and is more important than any other. You can see this in Amazon’s best-selling power supplies of dubious quality and misleading advertising . We will explain why you should not buy them and how to identify poor quality power supplies.
You must always keep in mind that the power supply not only supplies energy, it also protects. It protects us against occasional power surges, harmonics and the good ones, even micro-cuts. When we refer to voltage micro-cuts, we are talking about the typical flickering of the light bulbs, which in a bad source could mean that the equipment turns off.
Cheap power supplies can be expensive
Among the protection measures, the power supplies are designed to absorb damage. They have different protection systems that seek to prevent the graphics, processor and other components from being damaged. Actually, it is much cheaper to change a power supply of 200 euros than a graphic of 800-1000 euros.
But the best sellers on Amazon are among the cheapest and that means cutting back on the quality of components. Although they may have protections, the quality goes a long way in protecting the components. But it is that, in addition, they include elements that are false and give a false sensation of quality.
Mars Gaming MPII650
When we have seen that this power supply is the best seller on Amazon, we have not given credit . Actually, we are not going to go into the wiring, electronics and other elements, there is an element that gives it away to the beast. Surely, anyone who does not have much knowledge will see it and think that it is of good quality, but it is a misleading power supply.
This source is advertised as having an efficiency of 85% , which is questionable. This type of efficiency, according to the standard certifier, would be an 80 Plus Bronze . When we’ve been looking, Mars Gaming has had the gall to cheaply copy this certificate, stating 85 Plus . To say that this certificate does not exist , they are simply misleading less knowledgeable users with a “label” that is worthless.
The truth is that poor of whoever acquires this power supply. Obviously, not only is the certification totally false, the indicated efficiency also seems false. Undoubtedly, this practice is very worrying and does not speak well of the brand, trying to deceive users with limited knowledge.
Tacens Anima APIIII500
Here we find a case of cheating the user, but at least, it is not as unfortunate as Mars Gaming. According to Tancens , this power supply is also 85% efficient . We don’t know where this supposed efficiency comes from, but come on, it’s impossible for a 20 euro power supply to have the same efficiency as one triple the price.
It literally indicates ” EFFICIENCY 85% BRONZE LEVEL: SMD manufacturing technology with Bronze efficiency of 85%, high quality components and reliability”. What they do is use the term Bronze, the same as the 80 Plus Bronze certification. It seems impossible to us that a power supply like the Corsair CV450 450W , which is from a reliable and recognized manufacturer, and costs 60 euros.
But it has a good thing and that is that it does not have a PCIe cable to power graphics cards . At least, it can’t be used on most gaming PCs, because most graphics cards require additional power.
Nox Uranus VX 650W
It is the third best selling power supply and of the three, it is the only reliable one. It has an 80 Plus Bronze certificate that looks real, we say it looks like it, because it is one of the brands pointed out for using this certificate in its sources in a fraudulent way. The problem is that we cannot verify it, since there is no list with all certified 80 Plus Bronze power supplies.
The truth is that certified 80 Plus is a bad joke. First, there is no way to verify the certificate , since no public information is provided. In addition, the manufacturer can change the components while maintaining the power and is served by the certification . Two factors that reduce the reliability of the certificate.
You may wonder how we can know that other manufacturers such as Corsair, ASUS, Seasonic, Antec and others that use this certificate do not do the same. Well, these manufacturers give their products for review in an unbiased way and when you see the photos, you can see the quality of the components.
We are going to give Nox a vote of confidence and since the price difference with other brands is about 10-15 euros, we are going to think that it is ok. Simply that they have used slightly cheaper components and the power supply is not modular. Both elements allow to justify the difference.
