PSU Crazy

[Philgo]

I know this will not be popular but I'm sure we have all gone PSU crazy, I have built a few hundred PC's over last few years and 95% of them had cheapie PSU's, the other 5% were so called top brands. I've had a handful of failures and believe it or not most of them have come from the 5% top brands. None of the failures caused other components to fail, so I'm sure that PSU's taking out Mobo's are well over stated. You must also bear in mind that most branded machines are fitted with cheap PSU's.

I know I'll get slated but I'm speaking from personal experience and I can't do no more than that. So for me it's horses for courses and if a cheap PSU fits the bill then I'll use it.

[dneilson]

I couldn't agree with you more. For probably 20 years or more I've always built my own computers, usually from Barebones kits that were a good buy and certainly didn't contain top of the line Power Supplies. Others I built by buying parts and a case that came with a Power Supply, again not with a top of the line power supply. In all that time I had one supply die and it didn't take out anything but itself. Like you--just speaking from personal experience. I'm sure we'll both get bashed over the head for this kind of outrageous talk.

[Train]

I will not bash you, but will add a couple comments.

The cheaper ps, i find last about 2 - 3 years before capacitor aging cause the ps to fail.

Now another thing I have noted, is the actual weight of the ps.
Seems the heavier they are, the longer they last.
So with my XION being real heavy and have taken some horrible voltage bashings, yes when live 250,000 volt lines hit each others, things can get real exciting, right fast.

[SpywareDr]

The "Bestec" brand (in eMachines) is the only one I remember 'taking out' other components with it when it dies. And it's usually the motherboard.

[SuperSparks]

You pay your money and take your choice. Having had a couple of failures of top-branded PSUs myself (but that's the only kind I buy), I'm not sure that they are any less likely to fail. It's how they behave when they do fail that sorts the men from the boys. There have been plenty of threads right here, including one recently, where a cheapo PSU has taken out everything with it. On the other hand, I can't remember an occasion where a good quality PSU has caused collateral damage.

You yourself, Philgo, are often (and quite rightly) banging on about making data backups. Well I'd estimate the likelihood of total drive failure and loosing all the data as more or less the same as a PSU taking out other components. You don't risk one, but yet you are happy to advocate risking the other

[Philgo]

Well I'd estimate the likelihood of total drive failure and loosing all the data as more or less the same as a PSU taking out other components.

That's the thing I don't see that.

As I say I have never personally come across it, I have built hundreds of machines and I work in a school with hundreds more and I've never known a PSU to damage other components. Had lot's of HDD failures though.

It's just not worth putting a high end PSU in a low end computer, the customer will just not accept the price. Now if it's a gaming machine with big graphics then that's a different matter.

You do read here and on other forums about PSU's taking out other hardware but who knows if that's what actually happened, it could have easily been a power spike or lightning.

Anyway I'm not asking people to agree with me but all I speak from is my own personal experience. I just feel that sometimes we shouldn't keep pushing the top brands when the posters here don't have the expensive hardware to match.

[Steve R Jones]

Last half dozen pc's I've built have all been with a XION case that comes with a 450 psu...$49.99 for case and psu...Inexpensive (hate to use the word cheap) is good for me

Two years ago, my office had three matching clones....In the middle of the day POP, there went a psu AND it took the mobo with it...Few months later the power in the building went out. When the power came back on - BOOM, there went another psu AND the mobo AND the hard drive. Darn user wasn't even in the office and the pc was off when the power went off.

The third machine still works if and when it's turned on. Go Figure.

[Philgo]

Recently I looked at a machine for someone with a dead PSU. I put in a second hand cheapie to see if my diagnosis was correct, all I got was a gentle phut and a smell of burning. Turns out my customer had tried to fix it himself and had wrongly wired the case wiring. Sorted that out and fitted a new PSU and away he went. So I'd say that a faulty Mobo can take out a PSU.

[bistro]

If anyone wishes to hire a proxy basher, I am available all this week.

I'll have to agree here that a low-end system does not really need a Super-Deluxe, warrantied-up-to-3 million volts, Ultra modular PSU. I usually recommend a run of the mill Antec, Thermaltake, etc. PSU for those folks. I do warn them against the ones that look and are priced in such a manner that makes it obvious they were made by a blind monkey in the outhouse of some back-alley noodle shop and tattoo parlor. Do the latter take out other components when they burn out? Not sure. The only times I've seen that is like when Philgo said...a huge power spike/lightning strike...OR when the cables/Molexes were poorly made and you get a big short. It's hard to find any decent reviews of "off" brands or "branded" brands (CompUSA, etc.). I usually will tell someone to steer clear of them if I can't find any user reviews. I said "usually"...if someone tells me they have a Pentium II machine with 64mb of RAM complete with a 5 1/2" floppy drive, well then....

[bistro]

Wow... a whole hour has gone by without anyone else commenting....leave it to me to kill a topic around here....

[SpywareDr]

Wow... a whole hour has gone by without anyone else commenting....leave it to me to kill a topic around here....

No no, not at all.

A few months ago at about 10:00 AM on a normal business day, had one eMachine "sizzle for a few seconds and then pop" (their words). This was in an office building with between 20-25 other eMachines running at the same time. It was the only machine that was effected. Slapped in a new power-supply, nothing ... dead. Replaced the CPU and RAM, nada ... still dead. Replaced the motherboard ... bingo. (New power-supply, motherboard, CPU and RAM).

Still don't know if it was the power-supply that took out the motherboard or the motherboard that took out the power-supply. It isn't the first time that this had happened though. In my experience with eMachines, if it has a "Bestec" power-supply and it 'pops', more than likely the motherboard is dead too.

[bistro]

Well...at least "Bestec" is a better name than "Kaplowee" or "Zappit"....

[lgbpop]

No no, not at all.

A few months ago at about 10:00 AM on a normal business day, had one eMachine "sizzle for a few seconds and then pop" (their words). This was in an office building with between 20-25 other eMachines running at the same time. It was the only machine that was effected. Slapped in a new power-supply, nothing ... dead. Replaced the CPU and RAM, nada ... still dead. Replaced the motherboard ... bingo. (New power-supply, motherboard, CPU and RAM).

Still don't know if it was the power-supply that took out the motherboard or the motherboard that took out the power-supply. It isn't the first time that this had happened though. In my experience with eMachines, if it has a "Bestec" power-supply and it 'pops', more than likely the motherboard is dead too.

All too true. To be fair to them, the one in my old HP worked fine for six years, and when it died it didn't take hostages with it.

All in all, though, I also have heard the original name for Bestec was supposed to be "Snap, Crackle, Pop" but that was already taken by the Kellogg cereal company.

[SpywareDr]

Well...at least "Bestec" is a better name than "Kaplowee" or "Zappit"....

... the original name for Bestec was supposed to be "Snap, Crackle, Pop" ...

I like it! The all new model "KZ-SCP".