Power Supply Fire?

[budgy]

People were telling me not to use a certain brand of PSU because it is prone to failures. I bought it anyway because it was a high 400-watt with a very very low price. The PSU ended up failing 2 months after purchase and the computer started to smoke. Fortunately I was home and the smoke woke me up from a nap.

My question is, has anyone seen a PSU catch on fire? This is one of the reasons why I never leave my computer on when it's not in use.

 

[Guest]

What PSU?

 

[rolli59]

I have seen videos of it, never witnessed it myself but then again I have always used quality PSU's.

 

[yoji]

You seem to have experienced "false economy".... you spent X on a PSU that lasted 2 months and perhaps nearly started a fire in your house.
If you spent 3 times as much - you would probably have got a PSU that lasted 5 years.. and did not nearly burn down your house, perhaps killing you.
Do you think you got good value from the PSU you bought?
VALUE is subjective.. but to me... you made a VERY bad call.
Lesson learnt?

Cheers

P.S Old saying which is VERY true when buying things.. "If it looks to good to be true.. it probably is"

 

[Guest]

What PSU was it ?

 

[clutchc]

It all depends on the type of failure. A PSU can simply quit working... or it can fail catastrophically, as you experienced. The latter type of failure has the bad habit of taking other components out when it goes.

 

[budgy]

What PSU?

Can't remember.. It started with a P. The name wasn't labeled anywhere on the power supply. Not even on the computer case it came with.

 

[budgy]

You seem to have experienced "false economy".... you spent X on a PSU that lasted 2 months and perhaps nearly started a fire in your house.
If you spent 3 times as much - you would probably have got a PSU that lasted 5 years.. and did not nearly burn down your house, perhaps killing you.
Do you think you got good value from the PSU you bought?
VALUE is subjective.. but to me... you made a VERY bad call.
Lesson learnt?

Cheers

P.S Old saying which is VERY true when buying things.. "If it looks to good to be true.. it probably is"

Learned my lesson.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezk9OA7aKOE"][/video]

 

[budgy]

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezk9OA7aKOE"][/video]

OMG What the heck?!?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Cheap power supplies , not even under a full load , that's why you don't go cheap on PSU.

 

[eodeo]

I know many people leave CPU on 24/7. I prefer my sleep as quiet as possible so I turn my system off.

Having a bad experience with a weak power supply a couple of years ago made me overspend all of my PSU purchases ever since. I haven't had a problem since. The key isn't getting more wattage, but getting an actual good quality PSU. There are many reviews of the PSUs and many recommendations. I suggest getting at least something ranking average. Something like that will be a spaceship compared to whatever you've just had catch fire and it will probably only be 20-40$ more expensive than whatever you've paid for the fire starter.

 

[budgy]

What PSU?

PowMax? EnerMax? CoolMax? I think it's PowMax because I remember the P.

 

[budgy]

Cheap power supplies , not even under a full load , that's why you don't go cheap on PSU.

I have this now. I am praying it will work for a long time:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182066

 

[rolli59]

Enermax is quality brand the other two are fire hazards.

 

[rolli59]

Cheap power supplies , not even under a full load , that's why you don't go cheap on PSU.

I have this now. I am praying it will work for a long time:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182066

Quality unit.