Who really makes this stuff....

[2Tired2Tango]

One of the computer industry's best kept secrets is the actual manufacturer of many key PC components.

One of the more important of these is the Power Supply. There are actually only a very small handfull of companies making power supplies for PCs and most of the "brand names" you see on the market are buying from these companies and applying their own labels.

Interestingly I've even seen competent reviewers comparing two identical units, sold under different names, and claiming one is better than the other... based on the specs on the labels, rather than actual testing.

So, why is this important? Well because not all "name brand" companies selling these supplies are honest about the specs and, with a little research, you will often find the identical unit much cheaper from a "big box" supplier.

Here's an article showing you how to track the actual manufacturer of your Power Supply....

How to discover your power supply real manufactuerer

From the Hardware Secrets website.

 

[Rob Williams]

I don't think this practice is too well unknown. When we used to produce reviews for power supplies, most companies had no problem divulging the real manufacturer of the unit. It is a bit funny though, since as you said, you could possibly get the same unit directly from the original manufacturer, and save money in the process.

As far as I can tell, though, this method of finding out a real manufacturer is only going to prove so useful. For example, if a Corsair PSU was actually produced by Seasonic, how are we supposed to figure out which Seasonic model it actually matches up to? Just by wattage's and rail voltages alone?

 

[2Tired2Tango]

I don't think this practice is too well unknown. When we used to produce reviews for power supplies, most companies had no problem divulging the real manufacturer of the unit. It is a bit funny though, since as you said, you could possibly get the same unit directly from the original manufacturer, and save money in the process.

As far as I can tell, though, this method of finding out a real manufacturer is only going to prove so useful. For example, if a Corsair PSU was actually produced by Seasonic, how are we supposed to figure out which Seasonic model it actually matches up to? Just by wattage's and rail voltages alone?

No. It will have the same UL approval number.

UL is pretty picky... they don't let you have 2 approvals for the same thing or two things under the same approval. Plus with the expense of it, most companies don't bother cheating... As you say this isn't well known so it's no threat to the re-branders.

In another thread I mentioned InWin supplies... yep, they make their own (under the Fortron Source Products name) and I do get them considerably cheaper than from any of the re-branders using them.

 

[Rob Williams]

No. It will have the same UL approval number.

What I was getting at is... how does someone know if the PSU they're ordering shares the same UL number as another top-rate unit? Most people aren't able to check for a UL number before committing to a purchase (especially online), so if there's no review available for a given supply, how are they do know if the unit they are thinking of ordering shares the same UL as a proven unit?

 

[2Tired2Tango]

What I was getting at is... how does someone know if the PSU they're ordering shares the same UL number as another top-rate unit? Most people aren't able to check for a UL number before committing to a purchase (especially online), so if there's no review available for a given supply, how are they do know if the unit they are thinking of ordering shares the same UL as a proven unit?

Wellllll ... you could call and ask... but I doubt that would bring much joy. Today's sales staff probably wouldn't have the first clue what you're talking about. (The days when a salesmaker needed anything more than a bright smile are long over.)

For "store bought" units, check the UL number on the website given in the article... then look for similar models from the original manufacturer's website. That's what I did.

 

[Psi*]

ma-a-aybe it would be worth putting together a database of "suspected" & "confirmed" rebranded devices. This is no great surprise thinking about refrigerator, washers, & dryers ... just ask any service tech for those items & you will find out that there are only about 3 brands of repair parts that they need.

You think that failing PSUs is just a random thing? And, no, I am not a conspiricist, just pragmatic.

 

[2Tired2Tango]

ma-a-aybe it would be worth putting together a database of "suspected" & "confirmed" rebranded devices. This is no great surprise thinking about refrigerator, washers, & dryers ... just ask any service tech for those items & you will find out that there are only about 3 brands of repair parts that they need

Yeah... just like in the transistor days... a bag full of 2n2255s and some assorted power transistors and you could fix anything... Man I miss those days. Now you throw out entire sub-assemblies over a burnt resistor.

You think that failing PSUs is just a random thing? And, no, I am not a conspiricist, just pragmatic.

As the one who gets to fix some of them, yes I can confirm that random failures do occur... However I am forced to agree that design flaws and manufacturing level parts substitutions --usually done to save a penny per unit-- are far and away the most common cause of failure. It's usually the chopping transistor that goes, and most often because of poor contact with the heat sink.

 

[ThomasW]

I'm embarrassed to say I've never heard about this before. I just started digging around, and found a bunch of people dumping on one brand of PSU while praising another, only to learn that both brands are contracting primarily with the same company. Still, they may have a point.

It seems entirely possible that one company may be buying the higher-end models and the other company buying the cheaper products - both sold by the same manufacturer. Without going over every unit, it's hard to draw any conclusions even if I know who actually makes it.

 

[2Tired2Tango]

I'm embarrassed to say I've never heard about this before. I just started digging around, and found a bunch of people dumping on one brand of PSU while praising another, only to learn that both brands are contracting primarily with the same company. Still, they may have a point.

It seems entirely possible that one company may be buying the higher-end models and the other company buying the cheaper products - both sold by the same manufacturer. Without going over every unit, it's hard to draw any conclusions even if I know who actually makes it.

Yes it is. One of the favorite tricks is to produce a "top end" unit and an "el-cheapo" version based on the exact same design. The cheapy will have lots of PNIs (Part Not Installed) in evidence on the board itself and may have lower rated or even unmarked parts on the board.

(Unmarked parts are usually those from batches that don't test up to specifications and are sold off cheaply. They work, but just barely.)

Back in the CB days, there was quite the uproar over Cobra radios when the word got out that many of the Radio Shack CBs were just repackaged Cobra boards... But they weren't just repackaged, they had PNIs all over the place, cheaper parts and missing features. Cobra was making Radio Shack's radios... but no where near Cobra's specs.

If experiences like this are any guideline, I might suggest that tracking down the OEM for this stuff should, most often, lead you to a better quality product.

As I mentioned earlier I've been favoring InWin supplies for some time. If you look at InWin's PSU page you will recognize some of the designs as being those available from other "high end" companies... but I do have to wonder if they aren't getting the "el-cheapo" version so they can be price competative with the OEM ...

 

[2Tired2Tango]

ma-a-aybe it would be worth putting together a database of "suspected" & "confirmed" rebranded devices. This is no great surprise thinking about refrigerator, washers, & dryers ... just ask any service tech for those items & you will find out that there are only about 3 brands of repair parts that they need.

You think that failing PSUs is just a random thing? And, no, I am not a conspiricist, just pragmatic.

Actually if you look in the article there is a link to a beginning database by one of the articles contributors... Perhaps you should get in touch with him and see if he's interested in expanding it.