PSU 500 wat went pop spark dead...

[killaser89]

Well long story short, ive recently stared to upgrade my desktop, I had a ATI radeon 4650 which i replaced with a GTX

560 TI and everything was running just fine, my motherboard is a nvida 7025, when just yesterday i finally received my

phenom IIx4 black edition which i upgraded from a Athlon IIx2. I started up my PC got on BF3 and about 40 mins in pop

sparks dead... i now bought myself a 750 wat psu http://www.newegg.com/Product
/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703027.

I was wondering what are the chance of my motherboard graphics card

processor going dead do to this situation.. any help would be appreciated. The before PSU was a 500 wat thermaltake.

I did a calculation on what could have been the cause and figured it was that the PSU was MAX 500 while my setup

went over 500 to 524..

 

[Raiddinn]

Thermaltake 500w PSU aren't up to very many challenges and yours was one of them.

The Thermaltake 500w PSU is mislabeled, its more like a 300w PSU.

A rule of thumb is that you pay about $1 per 10w. So if you paid about $25 or $30 for it then you probably were only getting about 250w - 300w regardless of what the label said.

It is common for PSUs to have internal components explode during good reviews, because a lot of cheap PSUs don't have protection that shuts down the power when too much is drawn from it. The thermaltake 500w, for example. They just let you draw and draw until they can't handle it and components explode.

Usually it doesn't even have to be even close to the stated wattage before stuff blows, 500ws commonly blow up at 300w or 350w.

That is probably about all you were doing when yours blew up too, maybe low 400s.

In any event, PC P&C is a much more trusted brand around here (especially in the ultra high segment 800+) than the Thermaltake ones are (substantially never recommended by anyone).

Your new one shouldn't have these sorts of problems. You can probably take as much as 900w from it before it breaks, but I wouldn't try if I were you.

As far as the chance that the other internal parts were damaged, it is pretty remote, maybe 10% likely.

Usually when the PSU goes it doesn't take anything else with it. In rare cases, though, it does take something else with it. 90% likely everything you have is still undamaged.

I would suggest you read up on these sorts of things at this link:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Why-99-Percent-of-Power-Supply-Reviews-Are-Wrong/410/1

So you are better prepared for this sort of situation in the future if it becomes necessary again.

 

[killaser89]

Thanks a lot, took a load off my chest. pleasure reading your post. 10/10

 

[Raiddinn]

Glad I could lighten and enlighten.

Seriously, though, read the link if you haven't. It is not hard for lay people to understand and it really opened my eyes when I read it the first time.

If you read it you can easily discern a good review from a bad one and a good PSU from a bad one.

Probably half the questions posted in the computer forums here on Tom's Hardware would never need to be posted if everyone just read that link first.

 

[ko888]

My PC Power & Cooling 750W Silencer popped, I did see a flash of light when it happened, about 5 months ago. It's a good thing that it didn't take out any components that were attached to it. I RMA'd it back to OCZ/PCP&C for repair and got it back a few weeks later.

I replaced it with a Corsair Professional Series HX750W PSU because I wanted modular cabling and I couldn't do without my PC for a few weeks while the PCP&C PSU was out for repair. I find that this Corsair PSU is a much better PSU than my previous PCP&C PSU. Higher quality, quieter and more efficient.

 

[killaser89]

I read the article you recommnded, good stuff! again thank you.
@ko88

What set up do you have, curious for future reference if you dont mind.

 

[pjmelect]

In my experience of power supplies blowing up and I have seen quite a few in my time, normally it is the 5V standby supplies that is the problem as on some power suppliers it does not have over voltage protection. Often the motherboard is damaged in that it does not boot up. Other components normally escape any damage including the processor which is effectively isolated from the power supply by its own voltage regulator on the motherboard.
I hope that you are lucky in this case and that no components have been damaged, but if they have then it is the motherboard that is at fault.

 

[ko888]

I read the article you recommnded, good stuff! again thank you.
@ko88

What set up do you have, curious for future reference if you dont mind.

My current build is:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K @ 4.5 GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P8PZ68-V PRO
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB CML8GX3M2A1600C9B @ 8-8-8-16-1T
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Venomous X-RT
GPU: two old GeForce 8800 GTS 512 in 2-way SLI mode, waiting to see what Kepler brings before I decide what I'll upgrade to
PSU: Corsair Professional Series HX750W (CMPSU-750HX)
SSD1: Corsair Force3 120GB SATA3 - Windows 7 Ultimate system disk
SSD2: OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SATA2 - Windows XP system disk for testing application backward compatibility when doing application development work
HDDs: two Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB, one WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6Gb/s

GPUs, PSU, SSD1 and HDDs were reused from my previous Core2 Quad Q9550 build.

It wasn't intended to be high end. For me it was more of a budget upgrade.

 

[killaser89]

Update: Ended buying a GF700 Corsair and still have the other one on the way( i have the money to spend) Well now

that all the cables are pluged in and everything lights up all pretty... just one problem for me though the psu came with

no cable for the atx12v... but has a 24 pin.. could this be the problem for my motherboard not making a beep sound and

my monitor not geting a single?

 

[ko888]

The Corsair Gaming Series GS700 (CMPSU-700G) power supply has one ATX (24-Pin) Main Cable and one 8-Pin EPS/ATX12V CPU Cable.

The 8-pin EPS/ATX12V CPU connector splits in half. Use half of this connector for the 4-pin EPS/ATX 12v connector on your motherboard. If you don't plug in this cable the CPU will not receive any power and the motherboard will not perform its POST (i.e. Power On Self Test) and you will never hear the beep. It is after the beep that the graphics card will usually begin to display an image.

 

[killaser89]

face palm. thank you lol

 

[killaser89]

Yea motherboard made 2 beeps and still no display on the monitor.. guessing its fried?

 

[ko888]

Yea motherboard made 2 beeps and still no display on the monitor.. guessing its fried?

What is the make and model of your motherboard?

 

[gnomio]

Just one thing to add. Thermaltakes old stuff was bad but the new TR2 psu that was released by them was a great improvement and passed with flying colors. So not all theyre stuff is bad

 

[killaser89]

Nvida 7025, model number ASUS M4N86T-M V2 <GA>

 

[Raiddinn]

Just one thing to add. Thermaltakes old stuff was bad but the new TR2 psu that was released by them was a great improvement and passed with flying colors. So not all theyre stuff is bad

Actually, the TR2 is just as bad as their other stuff is.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermaltake-TR2-RX-750-W-Power-Supply-Review/902/7

There is you a TR2 with FAIL written all over it and absolutely huge ripple charts.

I am not going to recommend a brand that once in a while makes a PSU worth something, but 95% of the time not and I will try to dissuade others from partaking in such a brand.



Killaser89 - You can put the EPS 12v 24 pin cable into the 20 pin slot and leave 4 pins hanging off the edge and it will work fine.

If there is not enough space on the board (which there should be, but if not) then you can physically cut off the additional 4 with some sort of tool and it will work after that. 99% of the time this extreme step shouldn't be necessary, though. Manufacturers are supposed to plan for this eventuality so usually there is room for the extra 4 just off the side of the 20.

It will only fit in one way without being forced so it is hard to mess this part up. Try it with one short side lined up and if it doesn't go in easily then try it with the other short side lined up.

 

[killaser89]

the motherboard is a 24 pin and already have the 4 pin pulged into the to atx 12v so that parts done. just still no signal and 2 beeps on boot

 

[Raiddinn]

Two beeps could be a sign of RAM failure.

If you have two sticks of RAM then take one out and try to start

If still 2 beeps, put the one that is in in the opposite slot and try to start

If still 2 beeps, take that one out and put the other one in either slot

If still 2 beeps, switch it to whatever slot it isn't in and try it then.

It is possible one of those will produce some different reaction.

 

[killaser89]

ok im geting 1 beep now displays the fallow on monitor rebot and select proper boot device... help ;x

 

[Raiddinn]

If you could type out the exact message it says, that would be helpful.

If it says select proper boot device, it sounds like it isn't recognizing the hard drive.

Are there any options when it asks you that?

If you hit delete or whatever key to go into the BIOS when you turn on the computer, are there any hard drives listed?

 

[gnomio]

Actually, the TR2 is just as bad as their other stuff is.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermaltake-TR2-RX-750-W-Power-Supply-Review/902/7

There is you a TR2 with FAIL written all over it and absolutely huge ripple charts.

I am not going to recommend a brand that once in a while makes a PSU worth something, but 95% of the time not and I will try to dissuade others from partaking in such a brand.



Killaser89 - You can put the EPS 12v 24 pin cable into the 20 pin slot and leave 4 pins hanging off the edge and it will work fine.

If there is not enough space on the board (which there should be, but if not) then you can physically cut off the additional 4 with some sort of tool and it will work after that. 99% of the time this extreme step shouldn't be necessary, though. Manufacturers are supposed to plan for this eventuality so usually there is room for the extra 4 just off the side of the 20.

It will only fit in one way without being forced so it is hard to mess this part up. Try it with one short side lined up and if it doesn't go in easily then try it with the other short side lined up.

The new TR2?
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermaltake-TR2-700-W-Power-Supply-Review/1422

We were very impressed by the new Thermaltake TR2 700 W, as in the past the TR2 series used to be a very entry-level power supply series, with low-efficiency units. The TR2 700 W proved to be a flawless unit, with high efficiency between 82.6% and 87.4%, voltages closer to their nominal values all the time (3% regulation), and very low noise and ripple levels.

The only negative aspect of the TR2 700 W is the relatively reduced number of SATA power connectors (seven), but since it is targeted to the mainstream market, this should not be a problem.

What we can’t understand is why Thermaltake decided to use the name “TR2” for this new power supply series. As mentioned, several of the old TR2 models presented lousy performance, and many people may think that the new models have the same problem.

So your are included in that many people group

 

[Raiddinn]

I maintain that if I can't even trust the TR2 products (some ok some terrible) that I probably also cant trust the greater brand Thermaltake.

It will take many years for them to gain my trust, along with ensuring that none of the bad kind still remain on the shelves during that time.

There are plenty of other brands that are good 100% of the time that one doesn't need to go with a brand that is good sometimes and not other times.

 

[killaser89]

yes it says that non my of sata are detected, im guessing i fried the hard drive ;x

 

[Raiddinn]

I am sorry to say that you may be right.

When sparks fly, potentially everything the power supply is connected to can get damaged.

It is somewhat likely the old PSU did take a hard drive down with it on the way out.

Do you have another hard drive laying around that you can try instead?

 

[killaser89]

the unfortunate part is that i do not, but its my birthday today lol i think ill treat myself to a new one from best buy ;] thank you for all your help fellas, but it seems to me the video card my processor and my motherboard are all doing there part. hard drive down beats my 200$ video card ;x i dont mind not much of a loss, it was a gaming rig.