Question Choosing psu for replacement

[Mxshii]

Hello i just want want to know if

Thermaltake Smart SE SPS-630AH3CCB 630W Power Supply​

Is good?
Because recently my psu died and i need to change it and my budget is pretty low keep in mind i can't order from the Internet as the shipping is wayy too expensive for my country so i have to go to the nearest computer shop and i found this psu

 

[Darkbreeze]

That PSU has probably been sitting in that computer shop for MANY years, because it's a very old design and it's not a very good quality power supply either.

 

[DSzymborski]

What components are you powering? If you're powering a 15-year-old office rig or something, it *might* be OK, though it was a pretty horrifying PSU even when it was new. If we're talking a PC with a GPU, I wouldn't even want the PSU to be in the same house as this PC, just in case a burglar breaks in and to be especially cruel, installs the PSU into a working PC.

 

[Mxshii]

That PSU has probably been sitting in that computer shop for MANY years, because it's a very old design and it's not a very good quality power supply either.

No it's brand new and has 3 years warranty

 

[Mxshii]

What components are you powering? If you're powering a 15-year-old office rig or something, it *might* be OK, though it was a pretty horrifying PSU even when it was new. If we're talking a PC with a GPU, I wouldn't even want the PSU to be in the same house as this PC, just in case a burglar breaks in and to be especially cruel, installs the PSU into a working PC.

My pc specs
Intel core i5 4690
14gb ram
1tb hdd
Rx 570

 

[35below0]

No it's brand new and has 3 years warranty

It's never been used. The box was never opened, so it is new, but it was built a long time ago.

A 3y warranty is very low. 5-7 is medium quality. 10 or more years is the sign of a good PSU.

For that PC, buy a SeaSonic GM12 or beQuiet! Pure Power 11. That's my advice.
What other PSUs do they sell in the shop?

 

[Satan-IR]

No it's brand new and has 3 years warranty

That 3-year warranty speaks volumes. Good PSU series/models have 7, 10 or even 12-year warranty periods. It basically translates into the manufacturer's faith in the quality and durabiliy of the unit. They know it's going to last longer than that because no company likes to lose money replacing PSUs for free.

That is not a good qulaity PSU. Being powered and going under load are not the only situations that make a PSU age and prone to failure.

Almost all brands/models of PSU have electrolytic capacitors. They have a fluid inside (electrolyte) which has a shelf life. So even if you keep and never turn the PSU on that substance expires and doens't work as well after a few years and would degrade and break sooner.

In a nutshell, electrolytic capacitors suffer from self-degradation if unused for a period. You apply power (power on) and they tend to fail. A failed cap means a failed PSU and if unlucky the PSU might take other components with it.

I would avoid using that PSU at any cost. I won't power anything on with it.

 

[geofelt]

You have to be rich in order to afford a cheap psu.

The danger of a cheap psu is not that it might fail,but that it may destroy all the other parts that are connected to it if it should fail under load.

Look for corsair power supplies, they are, with a few exceptions decent.

 

[DSzymborski]

With an RX 570, that's a definitely no. You need at least a decent budget PSU to run that safely.

This is not a decent budget PSU. Not even close.

 

[Mxshii]

It's never been used. The box was never opened, so it is new, but it was built a long time ago.

A 3y warranty is very low. 5-7 is medium quality. 10 or more years is the sign of a good PSU.

For that PC, buy a SeaSonic GM12 or beQuiet! Pure Power 11. That's my advice.
What other PSUs do they sell in the shop?

Corsair CV650 650W 80 PLUS Bronze​

 

[Darkbreeze]

No it's brand new and has 3 years warranty

It can't be "brand new" because that model hasn't been manufactured for YEARS and YEARS. It might be "unsold" for a number of years sitting on the shelf in that shop, but it most certainly isn't "brand new" and it is is STILL a VERY OLD design. Wouldn't even WORK for the majority of systems these days unless you wanted to go and disable half of the low power sleep states in the BIOS. And beyond that, it was CRAP even when it was brand new, so no, I would not recommend it unless your only other options are iBall, Ultra or similarly disastrous brands.

Give us a list of everything that is available to you through your local shops, including the prices, and we will tell you out of them all what looks the most promising although I can tell already that they are probably all going to be pretty terrible if you thought that was the best one.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Corsair CV650 650W 80 PLUS Bronze​

Equally garbage. Sorry. We could make you happy by hornswoggling you, but if you want honestly, then in truth we have to say it like it is. Those are both garbage unless you are running a very basic machine with ONLY integrated graphics. Even then they are still garbage, but since they will never get pushed at all, they might work ok for a while and that's about it. Both those are two of the worst products those companies have ever sold. The only worse model for Thermaltake is probably the TR2 and the only worse models for Corsair are probably the green label CX and the CS/VS models.

 

[Ralston18]

@Mxshii

"No it's brand new and has 3 years warranty"

And when did that warranty clock start ticking?

Likely that whatever clock - it is long gone....

 

[Darkbreeze]

Likely never had one at all since being sold to shops in those non-Western regions other than what the shop itself provides, or doesn't. Lot's of older models from name brands that had bad reputations or didn't sell well, get shipped off to be sold in regions where hardware is hard to come by. But it certainly doesn't change the fact that they were still crap to begin with and are even worse crap now, and as you say, also likely without any manufacturer warranty.

 

[35below0]

There are some bad PSUs that will run for a number of years. 5-6 maybe.

Sometimes you have to choose the best of bad PSUs.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That is true, but it is STILL bad advice. You don't want to say "Will still run for 5 or 6 years", when you KNOW it is probably or definitely a bad product. It's like telling people in the Walking Dead series that this gun will "probably" work. And if I need to explain that, I've wasted my time already.

 

[35below0]

My advice was to buy a SeaSonic GM12 or beQuiet! Pure Power 11.

The GM12 is not exactly inspiring, but it is above garbage. It has a 5y warranty and will probably run longer than that. Maybe even 10.

That is what i was refering to. If on a budget and faced with many bad PSU, the only thing to do is pick the least terrible one. You can't create a good one out of thin air.

edit
Myself, i'd rather not buy anything than buy a risky PSU. I've had two cheap ones die on me. One exploded. White smoke and all.

But i know that when on a tiny budget, people often will choose to buy a cheap PSU. And pray. Or more likely they won't even consider a good PSU, and wonder why anyone would pay high prices for them.

I can advise buying the least horrible one, or strongly advise NOT buying a dangerous PSU.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Myself, i'd rather not buy anything than buy a risky PSU.

THIS, is the right answer. And I know it was your first instinct. So stick with it, because it is not wrong. It doesn't matter if you have money, or come from a country where there is little availability of decent hardware, or any other excuse. The bottom line is, none of that matters. Do you know what DOES matter?

Yes, you do, but you don't want to say it because you are also from a region where hardware is hard to come by like MANY of our long time members are, and you don't want to offend anybody by telling them what I am going to say right now.

IT DOES NOT MATTER WHERE YOU ARE FROM.

That sort of belief is like saying "Well, I'm from Siberia and all we have is ice, so figure out a way for me to run my truck on ice or water because we have no gas.

The answer to that is, go frack yourself. And that is not even an attempt to avoid the rules on language. Literally, get the truck converted for natural gas and then go frack some, since I know that's a region well known for HAVING much natural gas resources. That's an answer that can ACTUALLY result in something. You know what can't?

Making a POS piece of hardware seem like it's ok to have because it's the best thing available. It does not matter what is available to you. It does not change what the basic NEED MUST be, if you want to do a certain thing. And if you do, you MUST MEET that need by having a thing that can DO what you WANT it to do. You CANNOT meet that need with something that is not capable of doing it, no matter what your situation or desires are. Period.

Short version. If you don't have what you need, you cannot do it. If you want to do it, GET the hardware that you NEED to have in order to do so. Otherwise, stfu.

 

[35below0]

All we can do is give advice.

Maybe some visitors think everyone here with lots of posts or rep is an elitist pro or know-it-all. Maybe some people don't even want to ask for fear of being talked down to.
We're just people.

But let me clear up something about picking PSUs. Something important.

A power supply is just as important as a CPU or GPU. The wattage is just a number, the quality is what matters. Good PSUs supply clean and reliable power to the entire system. Is that all? Yes, it affects everything every second the computer is on.

The Corsair CV650 isn't even so awful on it's own, but it's been sitting unsold for a few years now, and it's warranty period is only 3 years. It's much worse than it appears.
Even brand new, it wasn't good or reliable. The best thing that could be said about it is that it wasn't dangerous. But now that it's effectively out of warranty, it is a bad PSU.

The reason "experts" always urge buying a quality PSU is because it's very stupid to buy cheap, and almost impossible to overspend!
That is different from other components. Overspending on other things is still stupid but harmless. Buying a bad PSU is NOT harmless!

That's why they should be avoided! Not because of some arcane enthusiast rule.
It doesn't go against rules of PC building; It's not form or benchmarks; It's not because "experts" say so, and you gotta buy one to be cool. No

It's because a bad one is bad enough to fry a computer. When you're broke, you don't want that to happen.
Even if the worst doesn't happen, a lousy PSU will very likely not be able to deliver it's stated watts. That can lead to games crashing or weird Windows behavior. Motherboards or components could get damaged; a bad PSU puts everything at risk! Every second the computer is on.
It can even start a fire if it's dangerous.

And that's what it is. Dangerous. Is that all?

And yet...
People will risk it. So if you must. If you have no alternative at all and you must choose between terrible PSUs.
Don't!
Slap yourself.
Save money. Be patient. Buy a good unit.

When someone buys any new part for their PC, they are happy and excited to have a nice new box in their hands. It's something they expect to be a lot of fun. There's an element of giddy joy in buying new stuff!
So when you buy your cheap and unreliable PSU, just remember what you hold in your hands.
Crap.
That you went and paid money for. 💩

So, don't.
Save money. Be patient. Buy a good unit. It will work well for many years. Everyone's a winner.

 

[geofelt]

No need to beat up on the OP.

Since his psu is dead, he is out of computing until it gets fixed.
That could be a very long time.
I have no idea about his budget or how important computing is to him.
He needs a replacement PSU sooner or later.
If the op would clarify his budget options, needs, and the available power supplies we might be better able to provide the least bad suggestion.
While the Corsair units in question are not very good, they are not as dangerous as some other no name products.

On a temporary basis, the OP could run on integrated graphics which has minimal power draw. Not good for gaming, but fine for desktop work.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Far as I can see, nobody is beating up the OP. In fact, trying to help. We understand, as there are MANY members here, long standing ones like yourself Geo, that are from regions where hardware worth having is hard to come by. There is no question of this and nobody is going to dispute it and if they do I'll kick them in the tender parts. However, there is also no reason, ever, to not tell the truth about the universal reality that if you have only the choice between a turd and a POS, the end result is STILL going to be crap. Period.

So long as the OP understands that, then you try to go with the LEAST crappy thing they can get and then hope for the best. I get that. Some don't. Some think we are over zealous when it comes to being so blunt in regard to power supplies. We are not. We are simply being realists. That is all. If that offends, then maybe some need thicker skin. It is only in an effort to help each person avoid pitfalls. Nothing more. It is not because we are all sitting in our mother's basements trying to be keyboard cowboys. It is not because we think we know more than everybody else. It is ONLY because we have seen things, and in point of fact, many of the top ranking members and moderators here not only do this for a living but have been doing so since before there were even certifications for, well, much of anything really. So we don't lean on that as a comforting credential. We simply relate our experience, and while it might not be the exact same as the next person's, it's definitely, usually, not wrong either. I won't back down from opinions I've formed based on years of personal first hand experience and I would not expect anybody else to either.