Is Raidmax PSU OK?

[zzmurray]

While asking questions on another site about my computer I had several people tell me to buy a new power supply because the one I have is really lethal and my computer will catch on fire. Others told me it was fine. Now I am nervous and I need opinions, I really don't have the money to replace it. I am using a Raidmax 850W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply.


My setup:

Asus Z97-A motherboard

Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor

Memory Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Mushkin 1TB SSD

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card

NZXT Phantom 410 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case

Raidmax 850W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)

AOC e2752Vh 60Hz 27.0" Monitor

BenQ RL2455HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor

 

[Someone Somewhere]

It's not quite on the verge of catching fire, but I would replace it when possible.

850W is way overkill though; a good 550W would be fine.

 

[i7Baby]

I wouldn't use a Raidmax on that rig. Its too precious to risk.

See http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html - only the 500W Cobra is useable - and that's only a tier 4 PSU - No Japanese capacitors found. Only Taiwanese capacitors and may even include Chinese capacitors. Very basic safety circuits or even thin gauge wiring used. Not for gaming rigs or overclocking systems of any kind. Avoid unless your budget dictates your choice.

 

[herrwizo]

Start saving up for a new PSU immediately and replace as soon as possible, this one is truly considered a junk quality.

Get Seasonic, XFX, Antec HCG, EVGA B2/G2 PSU, 550W will be fine but better go for 650W to have more headroom (price difference is small anyway).

 

[toyftw]

I wouldn't use a Raidmax on that rig. Its too precious to risk.

See http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html - only the 500W Cobra is useable - and that's only a tier 4 PSU - No Japanese capacitors found. Only Taiwanese capacitors and may even include Chinese capacitors. Very basic safety circuits or even thin gauge wiring used. Not for gaming rigs or overclocking systems of any kind. Avoid unless your budget dictates your choice.

+1 !!

 

[pjstar30]

I've been using a RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-730SS in my computer for 6 years (purchased 1/20/2009) and have had no issues. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Raidmax. The stories you hear about PSUs catching fire, killing other components, etc are more often user error than a faulty PSU. A lot of people underestimate how many watts they need for their system due to these online calculators which are typically either wrong or give you the lowest wattage you would need to turn the system on. It's like the "minimum" and "recommended" specs on a game. Yeah, it'll run with the "minimum" but not well and in PSU world that equates to fires, dead components, etc.

If people would worry more about getting enough wattage, multiple 12v rails, etc and less about the brand, using common sense and reading plenty of reviews of course before making a final decision, they'd see a lot less fires and dead components.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

I've been using a RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-730SS in my computer for 6 years (purchased 1/20/2009) and have had no issues. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Raidmax. The stories you hear about PSUs catching fire, killing other components, etc are more often user error than a faulty PSU. A lot of people underestimate how many watts they need for their system due to these online calculators which are typically either wrong or give you the lowest wattage you would need to turn the system on. It's like the "minimum" and "recommended" specs on a game. Yeah, it'll run with the "minimum" but not well and in PSU world that equates to fires, dead components, etc.

If people would worry more about getting enough wattage, multiple 12v rails, etc and less about the brand, using common sense and reading plenty of reviews of course before making a final decision, they'd see a lot less fires and dead components.

No, you're somewhat confused there.

A good PSU won't cause a fire or any damage, even if you overload it. It'll calmly shut off long before anything bad can happen.

Reading plenty of reviews will tell you not to buy a Raidmax, because they strip out a lot of the protection stuff that makes the PSU turn off when bad things happen.

They also tend to use cheap caps, so after a while you'll likely get high ripple and voltage instability, leading to potential crashes and other issues.

TL;DR: get a good PSU. Don't just get a big one.

 

[pjstar30]

A good PSU won't cause a fire or any damage, even if you overload it. It'll calmly shut off long before anything bad can happen.

Reading plenty of reviews will tell you not to buy a Raidmax, because they strip out a lot of the protection stuff that makes the PSU turn off when bad things happen.

If you're getting plenty of wattage as to not overload the system then the "shut off" features aren't even necessary. That's just what I like to call "stupidity protection".

Now, do bad things happen to PSUs even when you don't overload them? Sure, but those things will happen no matter what brand you buy. I'm not saying go crazy and buy some off the wall brand that you've never heard of but Raidmax has been around awhile and they make good PSUs from my experience.

Negative reviews should be taken with a grain of salt because you have a lot of young, inexperienced kids that think they can build a system because their buddy did it and then they screw something up and blame it on whatever part happened to fry. Common sense goes a long way.

My advice to the OP.... if it's not broke, don't fix it.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

They are necessary. What happens if there's a short circuit, or an internal failure in the PSU? Power spike? Fan fails and it overheats? Caps die and the amount of power it can produce drops?

A 'good' PSU will only take out itself with a nice, quiet 'pop' when stuff like that happens. It will likely die, but it won't take your motherboard, GPU, and maybe house with it.

Let's agree that Newegg reviews and the like are crap.

My general opinion is that anything that can't do what's printed on the label within standards should not be bought. Agreed on that?

EDIT: Also, I can't find any recent good reviews of any Raidmax PSUs. Most companies that take pride in their work will give it to reviewers.

 

[pjstar30]

They are necessary. What happens if there's a short circuit, or an internal failure in the PSU? Power spike? Fan fails and it overheats? Caps die and the amount of power it can produce drops?

Seatbelts are necessary as well yet people don't always use them. Everything is debatable. Not having "shut off protection" is a risk you take just like choosing to not wear a seat belt. I just personally don't feel like it's necessary, but that's simply my opinion from my personal experience.

My general opinion is that anything that can't do what's printed on the label within standards should not be bought. Agreed on that?

I definitely agree on this point and I test every PSU that I purchase even if I'm buying an exact replacement for a PSU I've already owned. The current Raidmax PSU I own, as well as the few I purchased before it have all tested within acceptable tolerances when compared to the printed labels. That's another thing people fail to do properly before building a system is to test the PSU. I've sent back several PSUs of various brands before even installing them because the measurements weren't quite right when I tested them. Fortunately, and maybe just coincidentally, I've never had to send back a Raidmax.

Again, these are just my opinions based on my extensive experience. Maybe I'm just extremely lucky with Raidmax or maybe the more likely explanation is that they're really just not as bad as everyone likes to say they are.

All that being said, if someone feels they need to fork out more $ for a different brand PSU when building a system then that's their prerogative but I stand by my "if it's not broke, don't fix it" mentality with the OP. He's already got the PSU in his system and stated that he doesn't have the money to replace it so my advice is that he should stop worrying about what "might" or "could" happen because anything "can" happen with any brand.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

They are necessary. What happens if there's a short circuit, or an internal failure in the PSU? Power spike? Fan fails and it overheats? Caps die and the amount of power it can produce drops?

Seatbelts are necessary as well yet people don't always use them. Everything is debatable. Not having "shut off protection" is a risk you take just like choosing to not wear a seat belt. I just personally don't feel like it's necessary, but that's simply my opinion from my personal experience.

I live in a country where seatbelts are mandatory. I'd prefer to keep it that way. Sacrificing safety for a few bucks is generally not a good idea, especially given that it might end up costing you far more later.

Also note that your insurance may have reason not to pay out if the equipment that started a fire didn't pass UL tests - which it likely won't if it doesn't have these protections.

I definitely agree on this point and I test every PSU that I purchase even if I'm buying an exact replacement for a PSU I've already owned. The current Raidmax PSU I own, as well as the few I purchased before it have all tested within acceptable tolerances when compared to the printed labels. That's another thing people fail to do properly before building a system is to test the PSU. I've sent back several PSUs of various brands before even installing them because the measurements weren't quite right when I tested them. Fortunately, and maybe just coincidentally, I've never had to send back a Raidmax.

99% of people don't have the necessary gear to properly test PSUs (oscilloscope, dummy load capable of dumping 500W+ across four voltages etc.). Just a mulitmeter is not sufficient, and can actually say that the PSU is bad (overvoltage) because you're testing it with zero load. What do you use?

Again, these are just my opinions based on my extensive experience. Maybe I'm just extremely lucky with Raidmax or maybe the more likely explanation is that they're really just not as bad as everyone likes to say they are.

As I said previously, I can't find any recent reviews. That's usually a bad sign, and they've had a bad rep in the past. Maybe they've upped their game but without reviews, I don't know, and don't want to recommend anything that could be a firebomb.

All that being said, if someone feels they need to fork out more $ for a different brand PSU when building a system then that's their prerogative but I stand by my "if it's not broke, don't fix it" mentality with the OP. He's already got the PSU in his system and stated that he doesn't have the money to replace it so my advice is that he should stop worrying about what "might" or "could" happen because anything "can" happen with any brand.

Using a good PSU means you don't have to massively overspec, so I don't think you really spend all that more.

In this case, he should probably stick with it, yes. But I really wouldn't suggest buying one new.

 

[pjstar30]

99% of people don't have the necessary gear to properly test PSUs (oscilloscope, dummy load capable of dumping 500W+ across four voltages etc.). Just a mulitmeter is not sufficient, and can actually say that the PSU is bad (overvoltage) because you're testing it with zero load. What do you use?

You don't need all of that equipment. I simply start with a PSU tester such as this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16899705003&cm_re=PSU_tester-_-99-705-003-_-Product and then after testing, if it's good, I get the system up and running and then continue monitoring the PSU with CPUID HWMonitor. This method has never failed me and the PSU tester has caught a few faulty PSUs prior to installing them. Even as simple, and cheap, as that is people still don't do it and they really should.

 

[i7Baby]

It doesn't test with a load.

I 'test' by referring to a compilation of results from organisations that are set up to test 100% (eg Hardware Secrets, Jonny Guru). These results have been put into - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html#xtor=EPR-8886

For high end PCs, I choose a PSU from tiers 1 or 2. For not so expensive rigs, I also include tier 3.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Yeah, that's just a multimeter in a fancy box. It doesn't check anything about ripple or whether it can handle the loads on the label without going out of spec voltage wise.

 

[pjstar30]

I 'test' by referring to a compilation of results from organisations that are set up to test 100% (eg Hardware Secrets, Jonny Guru). These results have been put into - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html#xtor=EPR-8886

I'm still struggling to find any negative reviews except the one for the Raidmax Cobra Power 500W PSU. That "tier list" link you posted even mentions the AP Series and Vampire Series PSUs by Raidmax haven't even been professionally reviewed yet and there's no mention anywhere of the Raidmax Hybrid series on that list.

As I mentioned in another post, it's not really fair to Raidmax to make a generalized opinion about them based on a review of ONE cheap PSU out of the many that they make.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

No reviews is generally a bad sign. Good companies send their products off for impartial reviews.

Raidmax also seems to have pitiful 1-year warranties.

Both of those are a pretty sure sign of a company that wants to sell a PSU that works now, but doesn't care about the future.

Also, the RX1000AE comes nowhere near its efficiency rating of 80Plus Gold: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/02/23/raidmax_rx1000ae_1000w_power_supply_review/4

 

[pjstar30]

No reviews is generally a bad sign. Good companies send their products off for impartial reviews.

Raidmax also seems to have pitiful 1-year warranties.

Both of those are a pretty sure sign of a company that wants to sell a PSU that works now, but doesn't care about the future.

Also, the RX1000AE comes nowhere near its efficiency rating of 80Plus Gold: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/02/23/raidmax_rx1000ae_1000w_power_supply_review/4

If I make a product, which obviously sells well enough to keep me in business, I doubt I would send it off for any sort of "validation". I'd probably just let the reviews of the people that have actually purchased the unit and have used it in a real environment speak for themselves. At least those people are making realistic reviews and not subjecting the product to possibly ridiculous, not so real-world, scenarios. Electronics do all sorts of funny things when you subject them to situations that more likely than not will never occur in a normal usage environment.

Just my .02

 

[Someone Somewhere]

No reviews is generally a bad sign. Good companies send their products off for impartial reviews.

Raidmax also seems to have pitiful 1-year warranties.

Both of those are a pretty sure sign of a company that wants to sell a PSU that works now, but doesn't care about the future.

Also, the RX1000AE comes nowhere near its efficiency rating of 80Plus Gold: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/02/23/raidmax_rx1000ae_1000w_power_supply_review/4

If I make a product, which obviously sells well enough to keep me in business, I doubt I would send it off for any sort of "validation". I'd probably just let the reviews of the people that have actually purchased the unit and have used it in a real environment speak for themselves. At least those people are making realistic reviews and not subjecting the product to possibly ridiculous, not so real-world, scenarios. Electronics do all sorts of funny things when you subject them to situations that more likely than not will never occur in a normal usage environment.

Just my .02

The average consumer is unlikely to be able to review a PSU beyond:
a) It looks good/bad,
b) It powers up my PC now,
c) It's cheap.

People rarely come back and post reviews six months to a year down the track. Or know what the symptoms of an unreliable PSU are.

There's a reason we send cars off to be crash tested. A proper teardown and torture test is the PSU equivalent.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezk9OA7aKOE
Raidmax quality.

 

[pjstar30]

People rarely come back and post reviews six months to a year down the track. Or know what the symptoms of an unreliable PSU are.

This is simply conjecture. At best, just your own opinion.....unless you've done an extensive study on what the millions of people who build their own systems know or don't know about the "symptoms of an unreliable PSU."

There's a reason we send cars off to be crash tested. A proper teardown and torture test is the PSU equivalent.

Apples and oranges. Cars are crash tested because they can kill us. PSUs don't kill people. Well, I'm sure someone somewhere has probably died due to a PSU but that's just stupidity. If a PSU dies, you simply replace it (much cheaper than a car as well) and at worst you replace a couple other pieces of hardware in the process. By that point in the life of your computer you're probably going to be due for an upgrade anyway so it's a win-win.

 

[herrwizo]

If a PSU dies, you simply replace it (much cheaper than a car as well) and at worst you replace a couple other pieces of hardware in the process. By that point in the life of your computer you're probably going to be due for an upgrade anyway so it's a win-win.

To each his own. Some people don't value their rigs much, and are willing to take the risk, as they just "need to replace a few pieces of hardware". Others are willing to give them the best they can afford to assure safety, stability, longevity and peace of mind, especially if components are worth a lot.

 

[IamTimTech]

Yes, the raidmax PSU is an excellent paperweight or boat anker.

 

[Onus]

Corsair used to have a hilarious video on their site that included three "500W" PSUs self-destructing under 375W loads; they were later identified as Raidmax units; I refer to such ..."devices" by the generic moniker "Chokemax."
I learned the last lesson I needed on cheap PSUs back in 2002 or so after an apparently solid cheapie I'd had for a couple of years blew chunks for no apparent reason, taking a motherboard, CPU, and modem with it into the fiery abyss.
Pjstar30, I highly suggest you review some of the tutorial articles at HardwareSecrets on PSU internals, then read some of jonnyguru's "Gutless Wonder" reviews. It is possible that Raidmax is doing better (if they've got some 80+ units), but 80+ is no guarantee of quality either (read HardOCP's review of the Coolermaster GX-650 for a great example). The 80+ tests are run at the unrealistically cool ambient temperature of only 23C, but they do run the units for half an hour at 100% load, and they remain efficient; if they were about to croak, they'd likely be starting to wander out of spec.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

People rarely come back and post reviews six months to a year down the track. Or know what the symptoms of an unreliable PSU are.

This is simply conjecture. At best, just your own opinion.....unless you've done an extensive study on what the millions of people who build their own systems know or don't know about the "symptoms of an unreliable PSU."

Claiming that lab testing does not reflect the real world is similarly conjecture.

There's a reason we send cars off to be crash tested. A proper teardown and torture test is the PSU equivalent.

Apples and oranges. Cars are crash tested because they can kill us. PSUs don't kill people. Well, I'm sure someone somewhere has probably died due to a PSU but that's just stupidity. If a PSU dies, you simply replace it (much cheaper than a car as well) and at worst you replace a couple other pieces of hardware in the process. By that point in the life of your computer you're probably going to be due for an upgrade anyway so it's a win-win.

The single most common cause of house fires is electrical. They kill quite a few people.

A good PSU will also last you through multiple PCs.

 

[pjstar30]

To each his own. Some people don't value their rigs much, and are willing to take the risk, as they just "need to replace a few pieces of hardware". Others are willing to give them the best they can afford to assure safety, stability, longevity and peace of mind, especially if components are worth a lot.

To each his own indeed. I've gotten all the safety, stability, longevity, and peace of mind you speak of out of my Raidmax PSU for the last 6 years and it's still going strong. It's been in 2 machines so far and I'll probably keep using it when I build my new i5 or i7 machine.