In the old days, low-end Chinese manufacturers had only one power supply model with labels that could be fabricated according to what distributors buying from them wanted to be printed. This kind of power supply is still around – they are the so-called “generic” power supplies, but consumers became aware of this problem and started to demand products with labels that correctly described their current and power limits.

But it seems that Huntkey is still doing that. Dynex 400 W, which is a Huntkey Green Star 400 W, is identical to Huntkey Green Star 450 W: the exact same power supply, different labels describing the maximum currents and power the unit can handle.

This discovery explained why we exploded two Green Star 450 W units when trying to pull 450 W from them: internally they are a Green Star 400 W power supply with a different label. We are now curious to see the internals from other power supplies from the Green Star series like the 350 W and 550 W models to see if they are identical to the 400 W and 450 W models or if the manufacturer upgraded the components according to reflect the new power capacity.

Speaking specifically about Dynex 400 W, the main problem with this power supply is its price. Costing USD 80 it is simply too expensive for a 400 W power supply with low efficiency when delivering between 80% and 100% of its load and with a very high electrical noise level if compared to other good power supplies – even though it was able to deliver its labeled power at 50º C. Not to mention the ridiculous 1-year warranty – all other power supply manufacturers give a warranty of at least three years. Updated 07/03/2009: Best Buy reduced the price for this power supply to USD 49.99. It is still not worth buying it, since it provides efficiency above 80% only when you  pull between 160 W and 240 W from it and it can go as low as 71.9% when you pull 400 W from it.

If you are looking for a cheap power supply for your entry-level PC, Cooler Master eXtreme Real Power Plus 460 W is an excellent choice with its terrific USD 40 price tag. But if you have USD 80 to spend on a power supply, there tons of other better products around costing less than that: SilverStone Strider ST-50F, Corsair VX450W and Zalman ZM-360B-APS, just to name a few.