Hey there! Registered just to comment on this because I have some questions.
You see, for my current rig (specs can be found in profile) that I built in late 2009 I chose the case Antec P183, for which I got an Antec CP-850 power supply back then. It was a very large power supply with great performance and good ventilation since it had its fan on the front and a lot of space for the air to blow through inside. A few months ago, over 6 years later, the PSU started behaving odd, it restarted randomly at any time especially after cold boot. At this time I decided to get a new one and chose the Corsair RM650i since I didn't need higher wattage and read everywhere how reliable and quiet it was.
After 2 months of working perfectly, I was playing World of Warcraft and the PSU just turned itself off, followed by a "bang", like a firecracker type sound, then a burnt smell filled the room. When I brought the PSU back to the local computer shop they plugged it into some kind of small test unit to confirm it was broken and as soon as they fired it up the whole room was filled with that burnt smell and they gave me a replacement.
Now what I'm wondering after reading this review is about this part: "No bypass relay for the NTC thermistor, which protects a unit against large inrush currents"
I know next to nothing about electricity but this got me worried. Could it be that very part that exploded in my first RM650i? The shop said they're not allowed by Corsair to examine what happened to faulty units so there's no way for me to know.
Also, is there anything wrong about my setup and usage? I will tell you a bit more. I do not have grounded power outlets in the wall. From the wall socket I have a small extension cord, then a power strip with surge protection. (which I guess won't work since it's not grounded but I got it just because of the high quality) I don't know if the order of plugging things in to the power strip matters (does it?) but the order from closest to wall/cord is PSU, monitor, printer, ADSL modem. I'm also using another power cable for the PSU since the one that came with it was too short. The ampere and all specs is the exact same as on the one that came with the RM650i.
Now to the usage. Where I live we tend to get thunder a lot. I'm a nervous type of person when it comes to that so I always want everything unplugged when that happens. I use earplugs when sleeping at night so I wouldn't hear thunder if it appeared at that time.
I use the small extension cord from the wall as a way of unplugging all the PC setup since the power strip and wall socket are located where I can't typically reach them. I plug it in, switch on the modem, switch on the PSU on the flip switch, then start the PC. Naturally I keep it plugged in during the day unless there's any thunder or anything. After shutting it down later, I turn off the modem, flip the PSU switch off, then unplug the power strip from the extension cord.
This is how I've always done it since 2009 at least, and there has never been any problems! So I'm wondering about inrush current and all that, and if I somehow caused something to explode in the PSU or if it was just one of those "1%" bad PSUs.
The RM650i has a 7 year warranty so logically I'd say it should be expected to last for a long time. My Antec CP-850 had a 5 year warranty and lasted for over 6 years of daily usage and switch flipping. My rig isn't overclocked by a lot either. Just slightly on the CPU and GPU and when I tried Corsair link on the first RM650i it showed a pretty normal power usage and stability. (I think it was between 300-400w total at peak)
Thanks a lot in advance if someone can give me with some answers!
