[SOLVED] Do you need a PSU warranty?

[ZuRriX]

I first have to say that I do not live in America or one of the EU Union countries, but in Serbia, a Balkan country. Why is this important? Because the PSUs I will be discussing are not produced or even sold here, but if they are, they are way too expensive and just not worth it.

My first PC from back in 2009. or so when I was a kid was using an unknown company 500W PSU (Zeus or one of those much less popular brands) and it was great, I did not have any problems and even those 500W were overkill. Last year I built my second (second one I built, the third one I own) PC and I am still using it. Here are the components.
Intel i3-7100
ASRock H270M Fatal1ty Performance
Crucial Ballistix 8GB DDR4 RAM @2400MHz
MSI R9 270 2GB DDR5
MS Industrial 500W PSU
* I am pretty sure none of you have ever even heard of MS Industrial, unless you are from Balkan. It is a Croatian company that creates tech equipment.

This PSU has been used in a lot of different PCs (all very basic components built PCs, that probably couldn't even play GTA: SA) over a lot of years and it NEVER had any problems. My PC is its hardest competitor yet and it still holds up.

Obviously, I do not intend to keep this PSU but to buy a new one. I have been looking at EVGAs G3 Gold rated power supply. As I said, only one store in the all of Serbia is selling it and even they do not have it in stock right now, nor do they know when or even IF they will get any units any time soon (yeah, tech industry here is pretty shitty, so be thankful for how developed everything is compared to here, America). So, I turned to the internet. There are a few "online stores" that do sell it. These "online stores" are not companies like Newegg, but more like an Ebay type of web company. These are basically people like you and me who import tons of tech here and sell it online under their name or that "companies" name. These online stores are not official retailers for EVGA or any other brand. This is important because the warranties they give are either by themselves or the "warranty" via the component"s own serial number (I am guessing this is done by sending the specific hardware to America to EVGA itself, for example, and then having it shipped back here).
So, I will not have a standard 10 year warranty from EVGA itself (unless I send the broken PSU to America and, which is just too expensive, because not only do I have to pay shipping, but a 10% customs fine for having ti checked, as well as an additional 20% of the price of the PSU if it is over $50 - it is a way too broken of a system and not at all worth it) but 1 or 3 year warranty from the seller himself (and do not worry, the sellers have tons of great reviews (500 and more) and I know it is safe to buy from them).

I plan on upgrading my hardware in the near future (ROG STRIX RX 580, a new i5 or an i7, unlocked for some light overclocking, 32GB of DDR4 RAM @320MHz, a Dark Rock Pro 4, a new MOBO, fans etc.)

So, that is why I am turning to you, forum. Have you ever had bad PSU experiences and you wished you had a warranty (I personally haven't, nor did I ever have one)? Do you approve of me buying it with a one to three year warranty? Tips, tricks, all of that leave it as a reply.

https://imgur.com/cKaOVQs

View: https://imgur.com/cKaOVQs

Cheers.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

I always buy high end PSU's for my setups , since it's the heart of your system. It protects and runs your components.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Current PSU's:

EVGA G3 850W
Corsair Limited Edition White 1000w RMi , only 1 of 100 made.
Corsair RMx 850w
EVGA P2 1200W
Corsair SF 600W

Two PSU failures in the distant past were the original Corsair CX500's ...but they aweren't very good in terms of quality.

 

[ZuRriX]

I always buy high end PSU's for my setups , since it's the heart of your system. It protects and runs your components.

As I wrote, I want to buy an EVGA G3 PSU, which is a pretty great one. I just wanted to know how important is the 5 to 10 year warranty. I treat my PC like a baby (a spoiled little baby), I never kicked it, nudged it or anything remotely similar.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

It's an important statement because a warranty that long shows that the quality of the power supply is very very good. The G3 models are based on the Leadex II platform = GREAT quality.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Warranty is important.
Not as important as psu quality, but as dark lord of tech said, they are hand in hand.

You can have luck with cheap units, but maybe not. A relative of mine ran an overclocked r7 250x in his pc and then upgraded to a gtx 960. He also has a heavily overcloced fx.
It has been running on a low end evga 500w 80+ bronze for about 4 years now. Im sure that psu is well out of warranty. No problems.

 

[jonnyguru]

Serbia

First off: All PSUs are made in China.

Second: You never have "no warranty". It's just a matter of where you have to send the product back to if the store you bought it from doesn't take it back. For Corsair, you send your PSU to the Netherlands. For beQuiet, you send your PSU to Germany, etc.

No. AFAIK, there's no "Serbian brand".

I know nothing about EVGA, but if you did your research and really did come to the conclusion that you're shit out of luck for any kind of warranty if you buy an EVGA PSU in Serbia, then maybe you should look at a different brand PSU.

I know plenty of people in Serbia that have received warranty service for SAMA, FSP, Seasonic, etc.

Most of the resellers on kpizlog.rs are reputable and will help you get a product warrantied if need be.

Yes... MOST OF THE TIME, you don't need a warranty. But you're always glad you have one when you do need it.

 

[ZuRriX]

SAMA

The first modular PSU I even had my eye on was the SAMA Armor. It turns out it is not a good product, at all.
I don't want to make this a long reply, but I looked at a SHIT TON of PSUs here and they are either not well built or WAY OVERPRICED. I wanted to get the Thermaltake Toughpower DPS G RGB 750W PSU. I got the money, went the shop they told me it would be delivered and when I got there, it wasn't the PSU they said it was. I called, emailed and contracted in any way LITERALLY every single place that was selling this particular PSU in Serbia and, as it turned out, NO ONE in Serbia sells it. Every single tech store and tech shop sells its counterpart, the Tougpower Grand RGB PSU. I went online. I went online to kpizlog.rs (the full site is called kupujemprodajem.rs) and... the same thing. Pictures of DPS G RGB, but the product number of Grand RGB. Ohh, and the DPS G isn't even available for order, unless someone is willing to wait 4/5 months (I am not kidding).

I really don't want to sound like an asshole, but most people here don't know that much about PCs. But those that do are confined to only a handful brands which have created sort a monopoly (talking about Cooler Master, Seasonic, FSP). You can get good products, but the prices compared to Serbian salaries are just ridiculous.

I personally don't know anyone who has any EVGA products, expects for friends who work in more developed counties such as Germany and actually can afford to buy these legit brands.

The price of G3 750W goes for $98 on Amazon. The price of the same PSU goes for $215 here. In Germany it's 130€ ($145).

I don't want to bore you, which I probably did, but it is so hard not to get frustrated and discouraged while looking for good quality, yet 'not having to work 5 days a week in a caffee just for a new Hyper 212 RGB' affordable components. I'm not lazy and just sitting on my ass waiting for someone to just buy it for me. If I was lazy, I would never even look at these high quality products.


I am way over topic.

Second: You never have "no warranty". It's just a matter of where you have to send the product back to if the store you bought it from doesn't take it back. For Corsair, you send your PSU to the Netherlands. For beQuiet, you send your PSU to Germany, etc.

I didn't know this. I thank you for clearing this for me.

 

[jonnyguru]

The first modular PSU I even had my eye on was the SAMA Armor. It turns out it is not a good product, at all.

Says who?

It's actually a very good PSU for the price.

SAMA, like EVGA, CoolerMaster, Thermaltake, etc. make a full range of PSUs. Maybe you're getting a low end model confused with the better ones.

I really don't want to sound like an asshole, but most people here don't know that much about PCs.

You see my name, right? And there's no way you can out-asshole me.

 

[ZuRriX]

Says who?

I am very glad you asked. Please do take some time to read these out.

1. Discussion on Benchmark.rs - one of the bigger tech forums in Balkan
2. ExPreview Test
3. The Chemi-con Data Sheets (Sama Armor uses the KMW capacitors)
4. Tech PowerUp Test
5. Discussion on Axe.rs - another one of the bigger tech forums in Balkan
6. The 2019. Updated PSU Tier List

I was set in stone with my mind on it. Affordable, thought it looked good, gold rated and fully modular. Most of the complaints have been about the bad soldering, cheap glue, bad airflow because of the bad capacitor placement (if I remember correctly), the use of the Chemi-Con KMW series capacitors (which feature about 2000 work hours), etc. I did read some of the concerns on your jonnyguru forum, but no testing so far.
A similar case was with the Sama Forza PSU, although I didn't see it was tested on your site, until now. I didn't know JonnyGuru was a big name in the PSU and PSU testing game . It got an 8.4/10 - the value score isn't a problem for me, since it is pretty affordable, so the value goes to a 10 and the final score is 8.8/10 for me. Although that was the Platinum Forza, I wonder if the Gold Forza is any different. Still, I also found quite a bit of bad reviews when I was first searching. Basically the same complaints as with the Armor.

The only good and positive review I found about Sama Armor is this one. But, seeing it doesn't go quite in-depth as the ExPreview test, it did not instill much confidence in me.
That is why I turned to some more reputable and better known PSU brands.
It would be pretty cool if you could do a review on SAMA Armor.

I am not someone who just goes for something because it is popular (as one user said:
"Slap EVGA on it and... 3... 2... 1... Out of stock sigh."), but I want to be 110% sure about my components, especially about the PSU.

Cheers.

 

[ZuRriX]

Also, while I am on the topic with someone more experienced than me, I am still deciding between the EVGA G3 and the Corsair RMX series. On your site, they were both tested and got great scores. When I change the value score to a 10, because they are the same price here for 750W and the price is not a problem for me, the Corsair RMX gets a 9.8/10 rating and the EVGA G3 gets a 9.9/10.
G3 got a 0.5 for performance compared to the RMX. Also, the only minor complaint was the same for both and it was about the capacitors inside the cables.

A few questions. They are both great and will do the job equally good, I am sure. BUT, I have read a good amount of posts of people complaining about the G3`s either weird whine noise or its very noisy fan.

1. Complaint #1
2. Complaint #2
3. Complaint #3
4. Complaint #4
5. Complaint #5

In the first complaint, one person wrote:
"The G3 is louder than the G2. Yes, the RMX is quieter than the G3",
while another one stated:
"I have a G3 and can’t hear the noise at all".

The second complaint follows basically the same pattern:
"I love EVGA but in my experience as well, their power supplies can be noisy. I had very similar loud noise issues with the fan cranking up to high RPMs with ECO mode to the point where it became very annoying so I switched to the Corsair PSU I have in my rig".
"I have the 850W G3, and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed. Eco Mode is useless - as stated by others, it's silent for 10 minutes or so, then the fan kicks in at a VERY high speed/noise level. And this is idling in Windows".
"Tom's Hardware just came out with their 1000W review, so you can judge for yourself.
Unfortunately, the take-home message, using their testing methodology, is that it's not quiet. =(".
"Eco mode off solves that, but the fan speed in non-eco mode is fast enough to be quite audible. It is easily the loudest thing in my case (given that my GPU is water-cooled)".

You get the point.

Also, in the aforementioned PSU Tier List, RMX was put in the Tier 1, while G3 got placed with the Tier 2 PSUs. Thoughts? As said, noise is basically what I am interested in.

Cheers.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

A lot of people like the G2 over the G3.

I believe some comes down to the fan, but i believe other complaints with the G3 come with some protections being set too high.