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3BTech.net Viotek "Black Titanium" Power Supply Ripoff
Hi All,
I just ordered this Viotek 550W24 Black Titanium 600 watt "High Quality" power supply from 3btech.net http://3btech.net/vi600wahiqu2.html In the past I have gotten good prices with free shipping from 3btech. I did a internet search for this power supply and it seems to be something specially branded for 3btech and a few drop ship re-sellers of 3BTech equipment. The picture shows a modern looking black power supply with open grill back. You would assume it had a bottom mounted 120 mm fan or some other fan mounted in front (not visible). What arrived was some old grey steel standard looking power supply with a 80 mm fan in back and 120V/240V switch. Nothing like the picture. It had Viotek model VIO60 listed on label. It has 20 pin ATX connector and no SATA connector. There was a 20 to 24 pin adapter but no SATA adapter. This would have been very nice supply in 2003. I plugged it in and was dead. There was no 5V standby or voltage on power-on line. As an internet search for this comes up mostly empty, I am posting for future reference. I will send this POS back to 3B Tech. |
#2
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3BTech.net Viotek "Black Titanium" Power Supply Ripoff
On Sat, 17 May 2008 09:48:02 -0700, "Kent_Diego"
wrote: Hi All, I just ordered this Viotek 550W24 Black Titanium 600 watt "High Quality" power supply from 3btech.net http://3btech.net/vi600wahiqu2.html In the past I have gotten good prices with free shipping from 3btech. I did a internet search for this power supply and it seems to be something specially branded for 3btech and a few drop ship re-sellers of 3BTech equipment. The picture shows a modern looking black power supply with open grill back. You would assume it had a bottom mounted 120 mm fan or some other fan mounted in front (not visible). What arrived was some old grey steel standard looking power supply with a 80 mm fan in back and 120V/240V switch. Nothing like the picture. It had Viotek model VIO60 listed on label. It has 20 pin ATX connector and no SATA connector. There was a 20 to 24 pin adapter but no SATA adapter. This would have been very nice supply in 2003. I plugged it in and was dead. There was no 5V standby or voltage on power-on line. As an internet search for this comes up mostly empty, I am posting for future reference. I will send this POS back to 3B Tech. Thanks for the info. Some further info- You will get get a decent house brand "600W" PSU for $30, nor 500W, and 400W is unlikely as well. For the best savings on PSU you'd left looking for name brands that have significant rebates or coupon code discounts. Rarely you can find some surplus from the OEM market marked down to be a great deal but I haven't seen nearly as many values on these types as I did earlier in the Pentium 4 era and then it could be explained in that many OEMs had shifted to using motherboards with Intel's 4 pin power connector for CPU power while the surplus were very high quality PSU without that connector and more 5V current - perfect at the time for the coming generation of Athlon XP boards that hadn't transitioned as quickly to 12V power for CPU (subcircuit). |
#3
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3BTech.net Viotek "Black Titanium" Power Supply Ripoff
Claude Hopper (11) 5. ? wrote:
I got a good power supply for $15.00 It has 24 pin mobo connector and SATA connector. Works great. Does it come with a fire extingtuisher? Hold on, is that /all/ its got, a 24 pin connector and a SATA connector? Not gonna be much use, is it? -- SteveH |
#4
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3BTech.net Viotek "Black Titanium" Power Supply Ripoff
Kent_Diego wrote:
Hi All, I just ordered this Viotek 550W24 Black Titanium 600 watt "High Quality" power supply from 3btech.net http://3btech.net/vi600wahiqu2.html In the past I have gotten good prices with free shipping from 3btech. I did a internet search for this power supply and it seems to be something specially branded for 3btech and a few drop ship re-sellers of 3BTech equipment. The picture shows a modern looking black power supply with open grill back. You would assume it had a bottom mounted 120 mm fan or some other fan mounted in front (not visible). What arrived was some old grey steel standard looking power supply with a 80 mm fan in back and 120V/240V switch. Nothing like the picture. It had Viotek model VIO60 listed on label. It has 20 pin ATX connector and no SATA connector. There was a 20 to 24 pin adapter but no SATA adapter. This would have been very nice supply in 2003. I plugged it in and was dead. There was no 5V standby or voltage on power-on line. As an internet search for this comes up mostly empty, I am posting for future reference. I will send this POS back to 3B Tech. If what you were promised did not match what was delivered you simply notify the vendor and demand satisfaction. More importantly, notify your credit card company that you were ripped off. Then move on. Expecting a "high quality" power supply for such a cheap price is beyond comprehension. Do your homework. Read every review you can lay your hands on. Look at what well-reviewed equipment sells for. If you suddenly find something selling for 1/3 as much as the others in the category you can pretty much write it off immediately. Their is no good power supply fairy going around waving her magic wand filling the shelves of unknown sellers with superior parts for free. -- John McGaw [Knoxville, TN, USA] http://johnmcgaw.com |
#5
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3BTech.net Viotek "Black Titanium" Power Supply Ripoff
"John McGaw" wrote in message ... Kent_Diego wrote: Hi All, I just ordered this Viotek 550W24 Black Titanium 600 watt "High Quality" power supply from 3btech.net http://3btech.net/vi600wahiqu2.html In the past I have gotten good prices with free shipping from 3btech. I did a internet search for this power supply and it seems to be something specially branded for 3btech and a few drop ship re-sellers of 3BTech equipment. The picture shows a modern looking black power supply with open grill back. You would assume it had a bottom mounted 120 mm fan or some other fan mounted in front (not visible). What arrived was some old grey steel standard looking power supply with a 80 mm fan in back and 120V/240V switch. Nothing like the picture. It had Viotek model VIO60 listed on label. It has 20 pin ATX connector and no SATA connector. There was a 20 to 24 pin adapter but no SATA adapter. This would have been very nice supply in 2003. I plugged it in and was dead. There was no 5V standby or voltage on power-on line. As an internet search for this comes up mostly empty, I am posting for future reference. I will send this POS back to 3B Tech. If what you were promised did not match what was delivered you simply notify the vendor and demand satisfaction. More importantly, notify your credit card company that you were ripped off. Then move on. Expecting a "high quality" power supply for such a cheap price is beyond comprehension. Do your homework. Read every review you can lay your hands on. Look at what well-reviewed equipment sells for. If you suddenly find something selling for 1/3 as much as the others in the category you can pretty much write it off immediately. Their is no good power supply fairy going around waving her magic wand filling the shelves of unknown sellers with superior parts for free. -- John McGaw [Knoxville, TN, USA] http://johnmcgaw.com I have found the magic hardware fairy selling 1/2 price quality equipment at 3B Tech several times. The way it works is manufacturers have bulk inventory and they offload with steep discount to 3B Tech. With the Viotek power supplies, Viotek is just a label they slap on some other power supply. Also $30 is not an unreasonable price for a quality PS. Newegg has the Antec Earth watts 380W for that price (with rebate). The whole point of my post was the only info available for this specific model was one cryptic photo and a scant paragraph. Now when someone Google's "Viotek 550W24 600W Power Supply" they get a real description of what the part is. I submitted RMA and am awaiting response. I am hoping this was an error and they can send me the PS that was advertised. If so I will post an updated follow up. The Viotek 550W 24 could turn out to be a great deal. In either case this would be of interest to the home build computer group and an on topic thread. |
#6
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3BTech.net Viotek "Black Titanium" Power Supply Ripoff
On Sun, 18 May 2008 10:19:53 -0700, "Kent_Diego"
wrote: I have found the magic hardware fairy selling 1/2 price quality equipment at 3B Tech several times. The way it works is manufacturers have bulk inventory and they offload with steep discount to 3B Tech. With the Viotek power supplies, Viotek is just a label they slap on some other power supply. With one-off items that may be true but it will not be the case with quality commodities as contemporary PSU are. Also $30 is not an unreasonable price for a quality PS. Yes, it is an unrealistic price and wasn't that even a delivered price? Newegg has the Antec Earth watts 380W for that price (with rebate). Meaning: 1) That's not the price, that's the after rebate price. Rebates don't count because it is well known by those that offer them that a certain % of buyers won't end up cashing the rebate check for one of many reasons. That is how they can offer the rebate instead of just offering it at the lower cost (adjusted for the interest on money based on how long they held it between making sale to distributer and paying out on rebates). 2) That's only 63% of the wattage. The whole point of my post was the only info available for this specific model was one cryptic photo and a scant paragraph. You fell into the trap of assuming PSU were honestly sold like most other goods. They are one of the exceptions to the rule, unlike expecting a gallon of milk to have darn near one gallon worth as rated, with PSU anything goes... some should be seized at the ports into the country instead of sold at all. You are correct though, that if you had good consumer protections and avenues for recourse and penalties against the manufacturer and seller, it would go a long way towards helping to ensure that people don't get sent junk psu, but also that they aren't typically listed as $30 delivered for a 600W either. Now when someone Google's "Viotek 550W24 600W Power Supply" they get a real description of what the part is. I submitted RMA and am awaiting response. I am hoping this was an error and they can send me the PS that was advertised. If so I will post an updated follow up. The Viotek 550W 24 could turn out to be a great deal. In either case this would be of interest to the home build computer group and an on topic thread. No, you're getting confused. There's no "great deal" on these, an honest manufacturer or reseller doesn't put their name on junk one day then give away the farm for peanuts the next. |
#7
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3BTech.net Viotek "Black Titanium" Power Supply Ripoff
Claude Hopper (11) 5. ? wrote:
If you ever built a power supply you'd know what's in it. High priced ones are mostly bull ****. From many years of having built and repaired PC's, I would have to disagree, except about the bull**** bit - your statement is indeed BS. -- SteveH |
#8
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3BTech.net Viotek "Black Titanium" Power Supply Ripoff
On 2008-05-18, Claude Hopper wrote:
If you ever built a power supply you'd know what's in it. High priced ones are mostly bull ****. If you ever built a power supply you'd know what's in it, and what differentiates a quality PSU from tat. The OP was talking about a $30 supply. A first rate fan can cost more than that. Cheap commodity PSUs usually work fairly well for unchallenging commodity type machines but if your machine is a little special, or you want it to run for ten years or more before it breaks down then it's worth paying the extra. Higher quality units tend to be more conservatively rated. As many have noted a good PSU will deliver its rated power without problems. Cheap PSUs don't. There may well be a good margin in component specifications, such as coils or the choppers where theoretically they are capable of much more than they are being asked to do. That leeway gives you extra reliability and better performance since things are not being pushed to their limits the same. Good quality PSUs individually monitor and regulate each rail to assure that it is the correct voltage at all times. Cheaper models may only monitor one and assume all the others are loaded in a fixed proportion in relation to that one rail. Higher end units are faster to recover from sudden changes in loading. In many subtle ways you do get what you pay for. If reliability is a consideration, or simply saving money in a commercial environment where failiures cost money, then better quality units are the way to go. -- Andrew Smallshaw |
#9
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3BTech.net Viotek "Black Titanium" Power Supply Ripoff
Kent_Diego wrote:
snip... I have found the magic hardware fairy selling 1/2 price quality equipment at 3B Tech several times. The way it works is manufacturers have bulk inventory and they offload with steep discount to 3B Tech. With the Viotek power supplies, Viotek is just a label they slap on some other power supply. Also $30 is not an unreasonable price for a quality PS. Newegg has the Antec Earth watts 380W for that price (with rebate). The whole point of my post was the only info available for this specific model was one cryptic photo and a scant paragraph. Now when someone Google's "Viotek 550W24 600W Power Supply" they get a real description of what the part is. I submitted RMA and am awaiting response. I am hoping this was an error and they can send me the PS that was advertised. If so I will post an updated follow up. The Viotek 550W 24 could turn out to be a great deal. In either case this would be of interest to the home build computer group and an on topic thread. Have to disagree. For a _real_ top-quality 600W PSU $100-150 would seem far more reasonable. Antec PSUs have shown themselves to be of reasonable quality in my experience but not in the league of Seasonic. In computers where really quiet cool operation was paramount I have pulled new Antec units and replaced them with Seasonic. Then Antecs are always good to have on the shelf as replacements for use in friend's computers. I guess that sometimes one can get lucky and buy equipment that was sold as stock clearance by the maker but every time I see such items offered I start wondering why they couldn't sell it originally. Sometimes the reasons can be figured out and are not a hindrance (overrun, failed contract, discontinued line, etc) but sometimes it turns out to be a bad product who's shortcomings became known to the public before the stock could be dumped. In any case a lot of research is called for with the proverbial "offer that is too good to be true". -- John McGaw [Knoxville, TN, USA] http://johnmcgaw.com |
#10
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3BTech.net Viotek "Black Titanium" Power Supply Ripoff
11 Claude Hopper 5. ? wrote: I got a good power supply for $15.00 It has 24 pin mobo connector and SATA connector. Works great. What brand and manufacturer? Because unless it's used, a pull, or $15 is the after-rebate price, I'd be reluctant to use a $15 PSU, except for parts. |
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