Apr 5, 2020
2
0
10
A few days ago, I completed a new build with the following components:
i5-9400f
MSI Ventus XS 6G RTX 2060
MSI z390-A Pro LGA 1151 (300 Series)
Thermaltake Smart Series 600w

The computer was running well, and I was using it to play CS:GO earlier today. Nothing unusual. Suddenly, I saw smoke rising out of the case and my screen went black. I unplugged my machine and found that the source of the smoke was my power supply. I made sure to double check all of my connections and wiring and I saw no evident errors. I took it out of the computer and I am going to call Tt tomorrow. The PSU is brand-new and probably had less than 18 hours of continuous runtime on it before it smoked up. When I was picking the PSU for this machine, I used a few different calculators to get the power use of my build. They all said that my PC would use around 400w. '

It is my belief that the PSU is faulty.

I have a few questions/concerns and I was hoping to hear some feedback. I'm not a professional, I just like to build PCs as a hobby.
  1. Did I make some fatal error in picking these parts out? (I'm quite certain that they are all compatible, but maybe I messed-up somewhere.)
  2. Was 600w not a good choice for a PC that pulls ~400w? (Again, I'm pretty sure that's not the case.)
  3. Is it likely that other components are now destroyed because of this?
  4. Other than my theory that the PSU is faulty, what could've caused this?

Let me know if you have any other thoughts or recommendations. Let me know what you think I should do. Thank you!
 
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Let me know if you have any other thoughts or recommendations. Let me know what you think I should do. Thank you!
It's called Infant Mortality.

Failures in electronic systems follow a bathtub curve...far more failures at the very beginning that drop significantly after several dozens of hours of use then stay really low until rising again at end of life. I worked in ultra-high-reliability aerospace electronics manufacturing. We'd test our products in operation across temperature extremes for (up to) hundreds of hours just to accelerate the onset of infant mortality and force it to the bottom of the curve. Way to costly for commercial mfr's to do that, so they offer warranties instead.

Take it back to your retailer for an exchange, if you can, or call TT support for an RMA. I think these things have a 5 year warranty...mine does...which is pretty good.
 
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Apr 5, 2020
2
0
10
It's called Infant Mortality.

Failures in electronic systems follow a bathtub curve...far more failures at the very beginning that drop significantly after several dozens of hours of use then stay really low until rising again at end of life. I worked in ultra-high-reliability aerospace electronics manufacturing. We'd test our products in operation across temperature extremes for (up to) hundreds of hours just to accelerate the onset of infant mortality and force it to the bottom of the curve. Way to costly for commercial mfr's to do that, so they offer warranties instead.

Take it back to your retailer for an exchange, if you can, or call TT support for an RMA. I think these things have a 5 year warranty...mine does...which is pretty good.

I called today and I am requesting an RMA. Hopefully no other parts give me trouble after the replacement. Thank you.