Are TaurusX PSUs good?

[Spleenharvester]

Hi,
I'm thinking about getting this PSU, 530w. Does anyone know any pro's or con's about this? Thanks.

 

[Daveskater]

It's way too cheap to be boasting 530W. Stay away. Far, far away.

See this website and get a PSU from tier 2 or 3, preferably 2; 1 if you can afford it.

 

[Spleenharvester]

Oh, thanks. Just out of interest, the PSU I'm using at the moment is this-is this good or will it just break quickly? Thanks.

 

[Daveskater]

Personally I wouldn't go with that one, please see the website I linked for you in my previous post.

Go here as well and put your specs in and then add about 30% to the total - you will need at least this much power from your PSU.

Edit: I read your last post wrong That should be ok for a bit but I don't know how long. In my experience Trust products don't live very long.

 

[Spleenharvester]

My PSU isn't on that site, however the link you gave me indicates I will be okay with my current wattage (370w when I only need 350w). I may get a new PSU at some point, but not right now. How long do PSU's last? My old computer is still running with a 350w tier 4 Hiper PSU, and has done for about 3 1/2 years.

 

[raybay]

True, the TaurusX is not the power supply to buy.
Price is not a factor you can trust, however. A low priced high quality power supply can be made for around $45 to $55 in those two Chinese provinces. It is all about marketing, and manufacturering contracts with builders.
The list on the website is mixed, as well. They have some listed in Tier 3 that are terrible, and some in Tier 5 that test out extremely well.
There are at least 50 power supplies that are not on that list. This is now one of the high-profit areas of computer-dom. There is more baloney circulated about power supplies than any other category of computer building.

Still the point is that you are wise to be very careful on what power supply you get, if you do gaming, or if you have a large amount of equipment installed.
We seriously doubt that very many of those power supplies were actually bench tested.

Brands also vary by country. Some are not certified for sale in the United States or Canada, and therefore will not have a UL code.

Some decent power supplies missing, or besmirched on the list are:

Ablecom (many models)
CoolerMaster (many models)
Delta (makes both bad and great models)
Epsilon (I believe this is made by FSP Group, one of the best makers of low priced power supplies)
Fox Conn (tests great. Rarely fails)
LiteOn (and getting better with each model)
Phantom
Seasonic (many models)
SFF
SmartPower (certain models)
Sparkle (important maker of many standard and odd shaped power supplies, and we have never seen one fail)
SuperMicro (amazing reliable performance for their rated output)
Tagan (Don't know why this excellent power supply missed)
TruePower (many models)

The problems are complicated by the fact that there is only one power supply maker left in the US (PC Power and Cooling) and they now have some of their models made in China.
There are now well over 120 brands of power supplies, and changing daily. There is no way to track them all. There is brand changing which is apparently controled by marketing and advertising folks.
OCZ, for instance, is a marketing company nowadays, with divisions in Canada, Singapore, and China. They make some superiour models under the auspices of PC Power and Cooling, and OCZ also makes power supplies that fail in less than a year.
You can tell the models, by looking at the UL number on the required sticker attached to one side of every power supply, not by the name or brand name.
There is simply no way to know, except to buy reviewed brands that are bench tested. And there is no law to prevent a company from making a new power supply under the brand and model of the old highly reviewed one... unless you check the UL number.

 

[raybay]

Common experience of most users. Still, we see an enormous number of failed power supplies in our shop. They last until they fail. If you have a gamer or designer quality computer, you need more power. Amperage is more important than Wattage... Wattage doesn't mean much, really.
What really counts is the ability of the PSU to provide consistent, level output under load. Cheap power supplies simply cannot do that. Their output rises and dips in response to whatever component demands power first... or longest. Most power supplies can provide constant (enough) power for a CPU and fan, hard drive, CD-ROM, Video Graphics port, and USB connections.
But a demanding program such as Photoshop, or CAD, or a game may be too much for many power supplies.
Add a high grade video graphics card, or use a major Gamer motherboard, and you cannot do without a power supply that provides high amperage steadily.

The major failure of a computer power supply, we believe, shows up in pauses and stalls, slow performance, and such. Many computers with inadequate power supplies show their incompetence by shutting down, and then the computer reboots.

It is our believe that many of the problems reported by average users are the result of inadequate or poorly performing power supplies. Hard drives and optical drives also fail when the power supply is erratic.

So asking, how long does a power supply last, is relative to what you mean.
A properly functioning power supply should last three to five years. But poorly functioning PSU's will keep on running, so users think they are fine, even though the computer stalls or slows down.