After a while, lets check some “wonder”, the Spire SP-ATX-350WT-PFC Jewel! Though I cannot say many of the much more expensive mainstream or even high-end units performed any good lately. But priced less than 500 CZK for a 350-watter it is clearly in the bottom of low-end segment. So I think we can expect mostly very bad results. I have bought this unit a couple months ago (thanks to donations) already and in the meantime this particular version was almost sold out. But there are still higher-power rated models in Czech republic and also Germany.
This model is made by some generic Chinese OEM called Yi-Xin Electronic. Their Linkedin profile of YIXIN Electronics Factory leads to EGO. It seems they specialize to small power supplies (chargers etc.) and also cables these days. Though it seems their factory is quite large. There are also couple more brands mentioned here and there so who knows who else the factory manufactures for. Anyway, it is old ATX 1.3 topology, most likely another copy of half-bridge Linkworld or something like that. Though it comes with 120mm fan and even states it has some kind of overload protection.
The Spire SP-ATX-350WT-PFC comes with (passive) PFC though. You do not really see that every day for these el-cheapo units. Because of the old topology it is still +5 V heavy, it provides up to 25 A there. I wonder what use such a unit has today. Guess the “350W” and very low price is the main attraction for people who have no idea about voltage rails. The +12 V rail only provides 13 A, +3.3 V then 16 A. It even has −5 V rail which I do not even have a load for as it is long removed from the specification. It is actually interesting to find the rail here, as the ATX 1.3 from 2003 already did not call for −5 V anymore. But it is not prohibited either. Well, lets see how it works out…
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