My Adventures in PSU sleuthing.

[Smythe]

Ok, so I've been scoping out power supplies for an upcoming upgrade, well new system, basically, and couldn't help but feel that good power supplies have become quite pricey in the past few years. While once a $30 400W Fortron was enough power now we have 500W supplies that barely cut it with high-end rigs. The power requirement isn't so much my problem as it is the price/power ratio. For 100W more power the cost is doubled, tripled, and in some cases quadrupled.

Then I noticed a promising looking PSU from MSI. The MSI TurboStream 600W PSU. With 600W of power, 40A combined on the +12v rails, and active PFC (Newegg says it doesn't, but the picture and MSI's website both say it does) for ~$80 shipped seemed like quite a good deal.

After seeing the TurboStream I started searching for reviews. Nothing. Then I noticed the UL number on the PSU and decided to search for it. What I found was that it was registered to MSI. That basically shot down my idea of finding out who really made the power supply and getting a review that way. After that I started thinking about purchasing it and being a guinea pig as the UL search indicated that MSI built it. Perhaps we had a sleeper on our hands. That was until I found out that registering for UL status does not mean MSI built the power supply.

After a bit more investigating into the matter I found an identical looking PSU from Rosewill. The Rosewill RD600-2DB-SL 600W PSU. See for yourselves:






As you can see they are EXACTLY the same PSU. The chassis is the same and the ratings are the same. They both have two 80mm blue LED fans as well. Now, I noticed the UL number on the Rosewill and searched for it. What I found out was that it belonged to Solytech.

After finding out that information I started searching for information on Solytech. Once again I came up with nothing. I looked for lists of power supplies to avoid and Solytech was never on them. It seems that the further I investigate the matter, the darker the mystery. At this point I wasn't planning on trying the MSI anymore simply because I felt violated. It was quite dirty registering a UL number under their company when in actuality the power supply wasn't even made by them. Even still, I wanted to know the quality of these power supplies and originally started this post to see if my fellow sharks could help me find out the reliability of these power supplies. That was until I noticed this one logo on the Solytech website:

[speedyaxon]

Quite the interesting post. I've never heard of an MSI power supply before. Keep us updated if you find anything else out.

Is that logo supposed to mean something? I've never heard of any 3 of those companies before. Bit surprised to see a deer pop up there.

[Smythe]

Well I stopped my post there as I felt that nothing more needed to be said as the image spoke for itself. Deer is notorious for making cheap quality power supplies and is always on lists of PSUs to avoid.

I've got some more information about this subject now.

All of those companies (Solytech, SuperCase, and Deer) are part of the Foxconn group. Looking at the Deer website shows not only that, but also the phrase:

Remarked:
When you find "CE version" on our quotation, please understand it's for Solytech(Deer) internal
using and it's different from Europe CE mark.

Then for further proof that they are related, have a look at this image from the Solytech website.



Plugging the UL number shown in that image into the UL database brings us to a page registered for Deer.

So now that we know Solytech, Deer, and SuperCase are all part of the Foxconn group I went out to see if they are related to the motherboard maker Foxconn. So far it looks like the answer is yes, but, unfortunately, I have no solid evidence to support this. If anyone knows for sure please tell us. In the meantime I'll continue looking for a connection (if there even is one).