hec / Orion PSU Any Good?

[Boinkers]

for a basic build....

i am building a $200 computer for a friend and need to keep parts inexpensive. this price includes a used Windows XP OS

i have most of the parts and have $100 left in the budget and was wondering about the true quality of this PSU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817339019

newegg reviews are solid, and from what i could gather from around the internet hec / Orion psu's seem a somewhat respected OEM that just entered the retail market a few years ago. so its hard to get info on them

so i figured to come here and ask the experts in the know about these things. the system it will be used for will be an internet box and play games like Peggle and such

AMD 5000+ Brisbane
1 gig RAM
DVD Burner
Media Card Reader
Wireless Card
HD

thats about it

what do you think? thanks and Happy New Year :)

[burebista]

Just a couple of bucks more and you'll have a PC P&C (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703018).

[Boinkers]

yeah...trouble there is the rebate. its not my money and the person i'm building it for has gotten burned on some rebates before. not for computer stuff lol....but they just don't trust rebates and don't want to wait on them

so i'm looking for something stable and reliable as inexpensively as possible. i still need to get an 80 gig hd, burner, media card reader, used OS, and the psu, of course. i have the mobo, proc, cpu heatsink / fan, case, wireless card

not looking at the wattage here i know 485w is more then enough. i was just browsing the lowest costs psu's at newegg and came across this and it sounded good. said to be very quiet and thats a must, also. so i was just wondering about the overall quality of the unit

the Antec Basiq 350w would be an option, but they tend to be a little loud and its $10 more because of no free shipping. this has free shipping atm, fits the budget, and as said, sounds to be pretty good. i'd just like to be certain. other hec psu's also review well from users. but then again so do Rosewills :/

[MrWicked1968]

This 300w Enlight has a Delta UL# e131881 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817373011

although the one review complains that it's loud. "loud" can be pretty subjective though.

[Makalu]

Interior of a HEC Orion "485"

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/11/24/414397/orion33im.jpg

No PFC, no transient filtering, looks to be a 250ish watts unit and I notice there's no IC's or transistors on the board (not sure what's up with that but it can't be good).


PCboost still has a good deal on the Antec EA500D OEM version...$35 and free shipping.

http://www.pcboost.com/store/viewitem.asp?IDProduct=13928

[MrWicked1968]

PCboost at resellerratings.com (http://www.resellerratings.com/store/PCBoost)

ouch

of course, the interior of that PSU is even more depressing.

[Makalu]

Not very good rating....looks like a lot of complaints about shipping and also bad motherboards? All I know is I've bought two EA500D's there and both arrived in a week and they both work. <shrugs>

[spursindonesia]

Hmm, that HEC unit, it's not half bridge topology, right ? I can only see two transformators in the middle. But the secondary side only has a single coil for voltage regulation, is that even possible for group regulated design ?

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Yeah - the LPSW was like that. Sometimes, they don't even bother filtering one output. What the LPSW did was regulate the 3.3V off the 5V output, which negated the need for a filter coil.

[Travis]

PCboost still has a good deal on the Antec EA500D OEM version...$35 and free shipping.

http://www.pcboost.com/store/viewitem.asp?IDProduct=13928

Feature:
Peak Output: 500 watts
Connectors: (1) 20/24 Pin Main ATX, (1) 4 Pin 12V Aux, (4) 4 Pin Molex, (1) Floppy Power, (4) SATA Power Cables, (2) 6 Pin PCI Express Power Cables, (1) 8 Pin Aux 12V Connectorli>
Cooling Single 80mm High Cerformance Cooling Fan w/ internal heatsink design.
Standard ATX Size


Oh WTF...

[Travis]

Hmm, that HEC unit, it's not half bridge topology, right ? I can only see two transformators in the middle. But the secondary side only has a single coil for voltage regulation, is that even possible for group regulated design ?

Gabe has reviewed a ThermalTake PurePower 430W NP (http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/332) using a similar design and it's OEMed by HEC. I've never been satisfied with this OEM.

[spursindonesia]

Good catch mate, hmm, another overrating job it seems.

[MrWicked1968]

once upon a time, I bought an old HEC PSU to power a K7S5A Pro build and while I never looked inside, it had a nice heft to it and as far as I know, it's still working. They were much better before they allied themselves with Compucase.

[amdalex]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371019

[Boinkers]

hi!

its been awhile because after i made this thread i got into a fairly serious car accident a couple of days later and have been recovering since. i just wanted to thank everyone who posted with their suggestions

i just completed the build yesterday and the dude i built it for insisted on staying within budget and so he ordered the hec while i was in the hospital. its working is all i can tell you. doesn't weigh very much...about half as much as my antec earthwatts ea500, but it is quiet and seems to be powering the computer fine. we'll see how it holds up down the line

thanks a million once again


Boinkers

[spursindonesia]

Wow, i'm sorry to hear that, hopefully, you'll have a speedy recovery and no permanent, serious damage incurred. GBU, fella. :)

[Travis]

hi!

its been awhile because after i made this thread i got into a fairly serious car accident a couple of days later and have been recovering since. i just wanted to thank everyone who posted with their suggestions

i just completed the build yesterday and the dude i built it for insisted on staying within budget and so he ordered the hec while i was in the hospital. its working is all i can tell you. doesn't weigh very much...about half as much as my antec earthwatts ea500, but it is quiet and seems to be powering the computer fine. we'll see how it holds up down the line

thanks a million once again

Boinkers

Recently there's an HEC design that is very similar to the FSP Epsilon design. Light as a feather ... but still HEC is not in my "companies to avoid" list yet.

[Boinkers]

^ well thats good to know. computer got picked up late last night and he is happy with it. i spent a couple of days with it loading and running some software, encoding video / burning / ripping, and doing some photoshop stuff. just for "burn in" as they say. lots of starting / restarting and the psu seems stable. never shut down or anything weird. i don't test them like some here would. i figure if its working, its working. especially since its pretty much for an internet machine

thanks once again, all. and thanks for the well wishes, spursindonesia. i'm coming along fine :)

[EarlZ]

Speaking of HEC, i used the 550Watt model to power my rig.. no voltage issues but the air coming out of the PSU was really hot

Q6600@3.2Ghz
DDR2-800 2GB
8800GT 320MB
X-Fi
1 hard drive and optical drive
Abit IP35-E

And recently I built a PC for a friend using the 500watts model