Whitenergy ATX-350W (05749): full daylight horror

Conclusion and evaluation

The Whitenergy ATX-350W (model PN 05749) was not even able to deliver rated power so hell it has not passed! First, it exploded at about 260 W so the 350 W label is just a lie to the customer. But it also lies about being double insulated which is very dangerous. Second, the voltage failed ATX specification anyway and it was also rather high. The only good thing in here was the ripple, which was fairly low.

The platform is obsolete for almost two decades and the components used are utter garbage. The cables are thin and short. It has no PFC and the no-load stand-by power consumption is over five times what it is allowed to be. So this is third and fourth serious violation of electrical norms and rules. And it uses that terrible two-transistor stand-by rail. This is the thing that can fry your motherboard with 10, 12, even 15 V instead of 5 V. This is clearly the best example of where exactly it leads to when you want the absolute cheapest. This thing is good maybe to power a few fans, definitely not for a PC if you value your components, time and your place (as this can easily catch on fire).

Besides the price and ripple suppression, and oh, maybe the C13 receptacle (which serves almost no practical purpose in 2016), there is nothing good about this gutless wonder. Everything else is bad, at best, because many aspects of this are horrible.

Pros	+ low price + good ripple suppression + extra C13 receptacle
Cons	− unable to deliver rated power − very obsolete platform, undersized components − poor build quality (tens of solder balls) − half of the input filtering is missing − no PFC − thin and short cables, cheap connectors − noisy fan (fixed at high speed) − very bad voltage regulation − low efficiency − very high stand-by power consumption − hazardous and unsafe
Be aware of…	/?\ touching it even with a pole

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