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Have you ever experienced a power supply failure?

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After reading tons of PSU reviews, many power supplies seem to be quite poor. Somehow that really doesn't align with reality well to me as power supply failures are incredibly rare as long as you respect amperage limits on rails. I have seen some really cheap power supplies working for a really long time. They seemingly don't fail often and they certainly don't self combust. The only thing tat I have seen in real life was that one PSU had really short hold up time, but that's it. It was likely below ATX spec, so when power went out that computer also went out (I thought it was just normal, since PSU doesn't have a battery and is not expected to act as UPS, but my own computer didn't shut off in same conditions and I thought that it was my computer that was weird). That's as as close as I have been to PSU failure. So, I want to ask you all have you experienced PSU failures? Or at least some clear quality shortcomings?

Please mention PSU model and what happened to it. I'm more interested to hear about cheap power supplies without sleeving, that are unpainted and don't have an 80 plus rating.
 
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I had two.

Back in late 90's/early 2000 had a diablotek PSU. Yes, a terrible PSU and was just waiting for it to die. It died. But it didn't take anything with it.

Back when release of the Thuban series of CPU's, I had purchased a PC Power & Cooling 600W PSU. I was told they are solid and top of the line and what not. It lasted a total of 1 month and killed my Mobo, CPU and RAM, forcing me to upgrade from my C2Q to a Thuban.
 
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Yes with powering up there was a loud bang and that was it....
Luckily only the PSU went to heaven, it was an older Enermax.
It was around 2010 that it happened.
 

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I said goodbye to an Antec 3 or 480, Corsair TX850, and Thermaltake SPM850. That Antec was shit, the other two put up a fight, sorta.
 

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Yes, I had 10 or so Antec units fail on me, and a Corsair HX850 die(though the corsair failure wasn't really the fault of the PSU itself).
 
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i bought rather pricey psu´s always, i buildt around 10 pc´s for famely no psu fails so far. Spanning over 20 years, used mostly EVGA or Seasonic.
Im sure its the quality that made them stay alive.
 
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In my own PC I only had 1 that was developing stability issues like randomly shutting down the PC regardless of the power draw so I sent it back to the retailer I bought it from and they gave me back the money.
That was a Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W, it started having those issues after barely ~2 years of use.

Other than that nope and I mainly used cheap/budget PSUs like a Chieftec Smart Power 500W since 2008, used that thing for nearly 8 years and it powered multiple PC builds and GPU upgrades with no issues until the fan died in it but the PSU itself never died.
Also used a cheapo Thermaltake TR 2 S 450W for a few years which still works perfectly well and it saved my butt when I was waiting for the warranty process with my 650 CM.
 

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Yes, but it's a very long time and most of them was when I was reviewing power supplies, a long time before it became a "thing".
The only brand still around of those ones are Enermax, at least that I'm aware of.

Personally I have only had one unit fail and it was partially my fault, but it was a Gigabyte PSU...
It had really bad coil whine and it was top mounted in my case, so I slapped the top of the case, maybe a bit harder than I should've and the fan fell out...
 

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2004: I was a bit green about these things and didn't know any better. While I had a quality Abit AI7 mobo with P4 2.8GHz Northwood (oc to 3.5GHz rock solid from day one) and 2GB RAM + an AGP ATI 9800 card, I had it all working off some cheap no name PSU who's rating I can't even remember.

After some time of reliable operation, I remember smelling an odd odour from the PC for several days and immediately suspected the PSU, but sniffing around it, didn't reveal anything so I kept using it. A few days later, a puff of smoke comes out of the back of this POS which stinks something awful, but the PC carries on working as if nothing had happened. Ok, I wasn't that stupid and turned off the switch at the back of the PSU immediately. Then, I was that stupid and turned it on again, but this time there was nothing, it was dead.

I then replaced it with a new Antec True 430W PSU that was supposedly of good quality after reading reviews. I'd learned my lesson about cheap no name PSUs after that experience and luckily, it hadn't trashed my PC. (I still have that P4 rig btw sans PSU. :love:) However, after a year or two, it started making lots of squirly noises, so I stopped using it and eventually threw it away. I then got a more upmarket Antec 550W model (forget which one) but that also did the squirly thing after the warranty ran out, so I binned that too, vowing never to buy Antec garbage again and I haven't.

I think the PSU I bought after that is that Corsair HX850W in my specs, in 2009. Superb reviews and it runs solid to this day. It's running right now as I write this, in fact. :cool:

btw, when I tried to oc that P4 to 3.6GHz, it didn't wanna know, crashing all over the place, no matter what I did. Funny how it's such a cliff edge, eh?
 

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I want to ask you all have you experienced PSU failures? Or at least some clear quality shortcomings?
Tbh, i dont even know what a power supply failure is.
 
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I had a corsair TX750 and a fractal design newton R3 600w fail, with the last one being very sparkly.

Although both of them had been in use for rather long.
 
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I have a Dell and it would have problems booting with a new video card; turned out to be a failed capacitor in the power supply. Rebuilt the supply and it has been fine ever since.

Had some Power PC iMacs and got given them because the power supply had gone; again a power supply recap brought them back to life.

Fixed the power supply on some old monitors, again by recapping.

It's not so much that I am unlucky, but rather that I got some of the equipment because it was not working; some of it from the capacitor plague era
Capacitor plague - Wikipedia
 
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Tbh, i dont even know what a power supply failure is.
Hi,
lol yeah I'm leaning towards having to rma one

I did have to rma a evga 1200p2
No telling what happened I think I killed it plus a 9940x torched rma'ed as well board x299 tuf cheapo messed up too

I think it was because a vrm water block was touching the sides of the caps or what ever is directly below the vrm row.
My bad live and learn lol
1631036793825.png
 
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I've seen and replaced a fair few blown PSU, a be quite 650watt was the last one, only the PSU died.
The one before that was a POS I should have known better to use Even new, it killed my old 8350 and sabertooth combo, winpower wtaf?!.
 
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I am up for a quality PSU any day, but there's been a lot of fear mongering when it comes to potential issues. Some site's forums are common practitioners of this.

In over 20 years, I've had probably a handful PSUs fail, but most of them due to old age.
 

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I had an Antec 600W Bronze unit go bang on me about 13 years ago, took the motherboard out too, the warranty had only expired a couple of months before, apart from that I had a Thermaltake Toughpower 750W Bronze that replaced the Antec which after around 6 years of use got a dodgy rail, luckily I just replaced it before it went BANG.
 
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yes 2 bangs with sparks and one about the 2000s which caught fire the first 2 was corsair and i carnt remember the make of that one caught lite prob a cheapo.
 
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Somehow that really doesn't align with reality well to me as power supply failures are incredibly rare
Power supply failure is not the same thing as poor performance as noted in reviews.

I have seen generic PSUs last 15+ years - retired only because the user wanted a new computer. I have also seen brand new, top brand and model PSUs fail upon first power up.

Reviews test things such as compliance to the ATX standards on regulation, voltage tolerances, ripple suppression, in-rush and hold-up times - as well as cable complement and more.
 
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My parents oem pc back in 2001 had a crappy psu and only lasted 3 years before it gave a whine from it and then a puff and the smell of burnt electronic. Pc whent black and was stone dead.

It got revived with a new psu, but one or more hardware had taken damage. Meaning it boots and worked but now and then it just made spontaneous bsod after the psu died. Someting had suffered damage, but I never cared to see what was damaged.

Else I have only buying good quality psu and no failures. The psu before the one I have now. Was 12 years old when I sold the pc it was in and still worked flawless. It was an Thermaltake psu by the way.
 
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I have a Dell and it would have problems booting with a new video card; turned out to be a failed capacitor in the power supply. Rebuilt the supply and it has been fine ever since.

Had some Power PC iMacs and got given them because the power supply had gone; again a power supply recap brought them back to life.

Fixed the power supply on some old monitors, again by recapping.

It's not so much that I am unlucky, but rather that I got some of the equipment because it was not working; some of it from the capacitor plague era
Capacitor plague - Wikipedia
Besides capacitors, does something else also fail often in PSUs?

I am up for a quality PSU any day, but there's been a lot of fear mongering when it comes to potential issues. Some site's forums are common practitioners of this.
I think that this is common too. More than that, detailed PSU reviews can be like that too. Reviewer himself may not say that PSU is bad, but in review PSU, let's say, fails at crossload ripple test. I'm as reader, have no idea if that's bad or not. ATX spec mostly talks about voltage regulation, ripple, Power Good time, Hold Up time. But then considering how many random computers I have seen, chances are that some of them would fail spectacularly in reviews, but in real life they could work for decades without any obvious problems. I respect TPU PSU reviewers and Aris from Tom's HW, but I can't help but feel that something from their reviews just doesn't check out in real life.
 
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Besides capacitors, does something else also fail often in PSUs?

The fans; I oil mine when possible. Once recapped and reoiled, I suspect the units will last longer than they did from new (I only use top quality low ESR capacitors and fully synthetic oil).

but I can't help but feel that something from their reviews just doesn't check out in real life.

Part of real life is reliability and longevity, something they can't really test.
 
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Power supply failure is not the same thing as poor performance as noted in reviews.

I have seen generic PSUs last 15+ years - retired only because the user wanted a new computer. I have also seen brand new, top brand and model PSUs fail upon first power up.

Reviews test things such as compliance to the ATX standards on regulation, voltage tolerances, ripple suppression, in-rush and hold-up times - as well as cable complement and more.
But it looks like ripple that is big could make computer crash. Voltage regulation that is off can make PSU explode. In rush current can fry hardware once PSU is turned on. Poor hold up time can make PC turn off at any slightest power fluctuation. Too long or too short Power_OK signal can render computer unbootable. Seemingly every criteria in ATX spec, if not met, can lead to some really obvious failures. Or at least this is what reviewers claim.
 
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But it looks like ripple that is big could make computer crash. Voltage regulation that is off can make PSU explode. In rush current can fry hardware once PSU is turned on. Poor hold up time can make PC turn off at any slightest power fluctuation.
Now hold it! You are citing very rare, extreme examples of grossly deficient PSUs and suggesting that is how all poor reviews are. Not true at all. No PSU is perfect. And by far, those reviewed those that don't get top scores are only partially deficient in one or two categories.

You are not being realistic at all.
 
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I think that this is common too. More than that, detailed PSU reviews can be like that too. Reviewer himself may not say that PSU is bad, but in review PSU, let's say, fails at crossload ripple test. I'm as reader, have no idea if that's bad or not. ATX spec mostly talks about voltage regulation, ripple, Power Good time, Hold Up time. But then considering how many random computers I have seen, chances are that some of them would fail spectacularly in reviews, but in real life they could work for decades without any obvious problems. I respect TPU PSU reviewers and Aris from Tom's HW, but I can't help but feel that something from their reviews just doesn't check out in real life.
TPU's PSU reviewer is also Aris (the same from THW).

PSUs are very complex. There are many things to consider when reviewing them. The equipment to properly test them is not cheap and not many reviewers have them or are willing to pay for it since they most likely won't make much money (or none at all), and there's really not much demand for properly tested PSUs from a regular PC user. Most people will buy whatever is cheaper, has X amount of watts, or is "positively" reviewed on their preferred retailer. If the unit fails and doesn't take anything with it, they get a different unit under the same conditions, rinse and repeat.

Many cheap/regular units will work perfectly fine for years as long as you don't push them too far. Quality (professionally tested) units are preferred when you're building a high end/expensive PC.
 
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