PSU Anyone tried Novatech Powersupplies?

Ok so I think my power supply is on its way out... its whining and one of the 2 fans is rumbling!

I need something around the 500-600 Watt mark so I was looking at novatech (as its local!) and saw that they seem to do own brand PSUs now.

Usually Novatech just ship out something that is made by another company under the Novatech brand with no attempt to hide the original manufacturer at all. This is a good thing as they do sometimes score some good brands.

This time though it all looks properly own branded.


Linky Here.

It all looks rather good and not badly priced. £40 for the 500W and £50 for the 600W.
I know all the warnings about cheap PSUs being rubbish quality so I don't really want to buy a heap o junk. So, anyone heard any good/bad things about them? Or can we play "Spot the manufacturer" from that pic?

-J

 

OCZ ship their modular cables in a near identical case as the one in your pic. (at least in the Fatal1ty series anyway, unsure about others.)

 

I didn't even know they sold their own brand PSU's ??

Personly I wouldn't go near it, With something as important as the PSU I would stick to a well known name such as Corsair etc.

 

I would refer you back to this advice...if the manufacturer's name is not on it, then I would give it a miss and buy a "named" quality product, not worth the risk when you can get this for a few extra ?'s...
________
DEPAKOTE SICKNESS

 

But conversely you could say that you are getting the same quality product without the extra cost of the name. In this case the only difference could be the stickers.
-J

 

True but without knowing what lies beneath the Novatech branding, how will anyone know?

Do Novatech state who makes the PSU? It might be worth asking them and tracing the product (e.g. via a an OEM or serial number) back to the original manufacturer to be able to compare the quality of the product.

The worry would be that, even if it was made by a reputable manufacturer, it may have had components replaced with cheaper bits to meet the cost point requirement of Novatech. In my opinion, it will be highly unlikely to be of the exact same quality as our normally recommended PSU's - it isn't cheaper without a reason.

What warranty do Novatech offer for these PSU's?

 

Novatech offer 2 years but ocz offer 3 years for the same unit.
-J

 

What do you mean 'for the same unit'? Has it been confirmed that the Novatech is an OCZ with different branding?

Novatech are not on the 80Plus list, so that means the badge is either fake or they are using the badge that was given to the brand which got the design first. Neither practice should be encouraged.

I would get this for £52: OCZ StealthXStream II 600W.

Really I think the only good reason to buy that PSU is to open it up to see if it can be identified.

 

Well it looks the same and so do the specs. I do need modular though.
I'll find out if it is the same.
-J

 

Same unit? How do you know? Just because it looks the same on the outside doesn't mean the internal components are the same.

+1 on this ^

I do not think that Novatech would "fake" an 80+ badge, their reputation is worth more to them than the minimal gain they would get for doing such a thing. The badge is likely to come from the original manufacturer. There is nothing wrong with that, Novatech's requirement spec would probably have included 80+ when sourcing a PSU that they wished to place their brand on.

Such a badge doesn't measure the quality of the internal components, just the efficiency under the standards set out in the 80+ spec. There is a case that consumers sometimes pay over the odds for the "brand" - an example would be the OCUK "branded" GPU's that turn out to be Inno3D or Palit units which are perfectly fine for the price and requirement (there is a forum post somewhere here that demonstrates this). This is a completely different thread though so I won't go into it here.

The point is that unless the Novatech branded PSU is identical to known manufacturers PSU, how do you know that certain components have not been replaced to meet Novatech's price point? Cheaper capacitors for example.

Wouldn't the lesser warranty (as opposed to a lesser price) be a pointer to potentially lesser components being used?

This is the crux of the matter, you need to find out if it is exactly the same (to allow you to compare via independent reviews) or "slightly different", "based upon" or "designed specifically for Novatech".

To be honest, what is your time worth to you? Is it worth the effort to try and find this out or is it easier to simply outlay the additional few quid on a known brand PSU of measurable quality?

 

Who was the last PSU made by out of interest, you say it's whining and such?

Having a PSU as an unknown quantity in a PC is just asking for disaster. Unlike with fashion, buying a well known name is very good practice and as such you should do the same.

Think of that extra few quid as an insurance policy for your entire computer for a good couple of years against being frazzled. Well worth it if you ask me.

 

FSP Group make some maybe all of the OCZ units.
This does look a lot like the ModXstream 500W it seems to have more output sockets and there could be different components under the skin.
Check the Bit Tech review for the OCZ against the image at NovaTech
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/psus/2009/04/02/ocz-modxstream-pro-500w-psu-review/2
and
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/powersupplies/Novatech/NOV-PSG500.html

 

I can't think of any reason why I would "TRY" any power supply. Just go for the known manufacturers and models and be done with it. What's wrong with playing it safe?

 

It doesnt even cost that much more to go for a name brand tbh so its not worth the gamble.

 

While my first instinct is to say it looks incredibly like an OCZ unit, on balance i wouldn't go near it as you can't be 100% sure witthout taking it apart. The OCZ ModXStream isn't alot more expensive and with that extra money you get piece of mind that the psu isn't gonna cop out as soon as it goes anywhere near capacity.
Play it safe with a psu, else you could stand to lose just about everything on your rig.

 

Novatech used to sell Winpower units, I have one here.
could be a cheapo one of those made into modular?

BTW, what part of chav land are you in? Fratton here

 

It will be a branded psu, just give them a call and they will tell you what it is, i bought a nova branded graphics card once and it turned out to be a bfg model

 

I would never chance it with a piece of crap PSU. Everytime CustomPC test them they are not stable and usually blow near max load. I'm rather amazed that after the last piece of junk you want to replace it for another piece of junk!

 

Well I went and asked them. It is exactly the same as the Ocz unit. It is simply restickered all the componants are the same.
I've bought one now so I shall unbox it and let you guys have a look at it.
-J

 

The last time I bought a OCZ PSU it kept blowing the house main fuse and that was straight out of the box, And that was the last time I ever bought a OCZ PSU.