Ace / Ace of Sweden products?

[Sіr. Ηaxalot]

I just have to ask, have anyone of you haerd of the Ace or Ace of Sweden products? I'm not sure if they are sold or wellknown outside of Sweden, where they have gotten pretty much attention lately..

[Human No More]

Haven't heard of them directly, but you did mention what happened on IRC

[Swoka Ikran]

I just have to ask, have anyone of you haerd of the Ace or Ace of Sweden products? I'm not sure if they are sold or wellknown outside of Sweden, where they have gotten pretty much attention lately..

I've heard of them once before, but don't know much about them. Apparently they're not all that well known...

Why exactly have been getting attention?

[Carborundum]

Why exactly have been getting attention?

The National Electrical Safety Board banned one of their PSUs. Ace's power supplies have been notorious among computer enthusiasts in Sweden for some years, so no-one was really surprised.

[Swoka Ikran]

Why exactly have been getting attention?

The National Electrical Safety Board banned one of their PSUs. Ace's power supplies have been notorious among computer enthusiasts in Sweden for some years, so no-one was really surprised.

Oh. I'm guessing it was a safety or fire hazard to get banned like that...

[Human No More]

You could say that

There are all sorts of cheapo PSU brands that often fail catastrophically, one you sometimes see in the UK is qtec. They are all cheap PSUs, usually manufactured in china for the bare minimum price, and often claim high output power (often >= 600W) but can not supply that, and there are numerous examples of them failing when connected to a test system configured to drain their maximum rated power.

Example:
Besta PT-500 420W Power Supply Explosion - Computer Power Supply Repair Forum

[Sіr. Ηaxalot]

Why exactly have been getting attention?

The National Electrical Safety Board banned one of their PSUs. Ace's power supplies have been notorious among computer enthusiasts in Sweden for some years, so no-one was really surprised.

Oh. I'm guessing it was a safety or fire hazard to get banned like that...

IIRC some cables inside the PSU was only secured with the solder, and if those cables would become detached the PSU and components in the computer might become 'live'.

Although, most respectable stores stopped selling them much earlier, when sweclockers reviewed them and revealed that they deid at only 50% of their specified load. That test was preformed by popular demand from endless discussions on their forums if it was a good brand or not. The main problem was that the discussions was mostly "It's too good to be true!" against "It has worked just fine for me", and no reviews was available until Sweclockers did one.

[Swoka Ikran]

@Human No More: That's one they go, small pop and they die. Had one do that not long ago...

I've seen some spectacular failures in tech school...the biggest of which was an Enlight 500w in a small server that fried every component in the system and caught fire It filled the large room with a LOT of thick smoke...and set the fire alarm off.

[Sіr. Ηaxalot]

My sisters old PSU blew up after a lightningstorm once. The computer was disconnected during the storm so I can't have been the cause. I was called up to look at what happened, apparently there had been some kind of popping sound from the computer when it was plugged in. I regarded it dead when I felt the smell from the PSU.

Fortunately nothing else was damaged and the computer is running fine with a new Corsair PSU!

[Swoka Ikran]

Fortunately nothing else was damaged and the computer is running fine with a new Corsair PSU!

My tech school switched to ThermalTake PSUs after the Enlight fiasco. Not sure what they're using now, I graduated from the tech school last May (and from high school last June). In college now...

I personally use either Ultra or ThermalTake for PSUs. It depends on wattage and which is cheaper at the time...Never had an issue with the TTs, and I've had only 1 bad Ultra (it was DOA).

[Human No More]

I use Seasonic or Corsair (the underlying hardware is the same between the two), they are quiet, reliable, less overpriced than some brands, and also generally score among the highest efficiency ratings of any PSU.

[Swoka Ikran]

Out of curiosity, how much are you guys paying for the Corsairs?

Here in the USA, I can buy a ThermalTake 500w for $39, yet a Corsair 500w is almost $70. An Ultra 500w is $44.

Also, as an aside, it looks like Enlight isn't around anymore...the 2 companies I buy from no longer carry them. I bet I know why...

[Human No More]

A Corsair TX650W is £63 for me, or £51 for the 600W lower end CX one. If you want a modular one, the HX one is £92 - I always say not to go for a bad PSU, because if it dies, it can take anything from the mobo to the hard drives and CPU with it.

[Sіr. Ηaxalot]

You can usualy get a Corsair TX550W for ~500:-, which converts to ~$80.

[Swoka Ikran]

Corsairs here range from $70 to >$100, so the ~$80 is about right...

As for failures, yeah, you definitely want to use something reliable. I've seen several systems destroyed by cheap Chinese PSUs that failed.

Next time I build (whenever that may be), I'll give the Corsair units some consideration if I have the money. Last time I built a system from scratch was Jan. 2010, a few days before I discovered this wonderful thing called Avatar

[Sіr. Ηaxalot]

Oh, and a funny note on the review: The review featured a video conclusion where they talked a bit about what have happened and some footage when a PSU died, and in the end of the video they had a scene where a guy threw a bunch of PSUs in a garbage room. About 30 minutes after the review was published a fire was reported in a similar garbage room in Stockholm. It wasn't the same building but it was Close Enough ^^

[bommel]

I lol at people who buy a 1000€ computer but install a cheapo PSU