I want an opinion of my power supply

I have been posting here for a few weeks now, asking questions about my motherboard and other accessories, and I respect and am grateful for the feedback. So now I have a new question... I had a power supply die on me a few weeks back, so I replaced it with a spare I had with the intention of installing a different power supply in my old supply's case (aesthetics of my machine is very important to me)... So I bought a new power supply from eBay (# 270168767807) in order to do the job.



The seller on eBay stated that this box retails for $65.00. But it has only 23 pins going into the motherboard instead of the traditional 24!!! After having one of my power supplies go on me, I am very skeptical! Plus it weighs LESS than the spare one I have been using! I want to know if anyone has ever heard of a power supply only having 23 pins before, and whether they think this new one is a genuine POS!



The machine starts up and has no problems, so I am assuming that the missing wire is just a ground wire... but still... does anyone think that this one will just go on me too? For me, and for anyone else interested, how can you tell a reliable power supply from a POS? Thanks for your responses,







Tim

I have never heard of a 23 pin PSU before. There's only 20 pin, 24 pin or 20/24pin modular. What brand is the Powersupply and what are its detailed specs? Most likely this guy tricked you and sold you some POS generic powersupply.

One of the pins missing on the 24 pin ATX main just means that there's no -5V rail (it's not required under the current spec), and hence one of the pins on the 24pin ATX main would be empty. That itself isn't a problem, but the power supply is terrible anyway.



Note the listed specs: +12V@14A. The amperage on the +12V rail is one of the most important PSU specs, and that's terrible. What you need on that rail really depends on your system specs.



Another good rule of thumb is that if you can't find much information about the brand (reviews, etc...), it's probably bad. Take a look at the various PSU guides here for more info: Useful PSU & Case Guides

Cool, thanks ceewi1. I'll use that site... Can you fill me in on why that amperage is important? Thanks,





Tim

Haha, nevermind... that link answers my question.

Ok, I looked in "Section 2: How do I go about picking a nice PSU?" and I see that you mentioned several times not to pick a supply with less than 18A in the 12V rail... But can you tell me what can happen if I use my supply at 14A (Is it not reliable)? And most importantly, could it damage my computer (either my motherboard, CPU or RAM? Thanks,





Tim