Toasting Power Supplies like they are made of Bread.

galexior

Reputable
May 28, 2014
6
0
4,510
I have roasted two different power supplies in my computer in the past three weeks and I have no idea why.

AMD Phenom II x4 955
ASRock Motherboard
8GB (2GBx4) G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3 1600
EVGA Nvidia GTX 660
1TB Samsung Spinpoint (i think?)
2 Disk drives I harvested from old computers

The first power supply was given to me by a friend when he gave me the case I am using as well. It was a 750W modular PSU and worked great for 2.5 years.

Then one day, while playing Elder Scrolls Online, my computer just shut off. No warnings, no errors, nothing. And it wouldnt turn back on. Minor USB devices would light up, like my LED light bar on my desk.

Various troubleshooting led me to believe the power supply was to blame, most likely for being old and not well cared for. I took a power supply from my girlfriends computer and hooked it up and BEHOLD! The computer lived once more. I purchased a new power supply and put it in my girlfriend's computer, so we once again have two functional computers.

Not 30 minutes ago, the exact same failure occured with the borrowed supply. The borrowed one was a 450W PSU. I had, not 3 hours ago, taken a can of air to the inside of my case and removed healthy amounts of dust from the video card, the CPU heatsink, the PSU, and the case itself, but no noticeable dust was seen in the PSU itself.

HELP PLEASE!

 
Solution
ULTRA X2 750 W (ULT-X750P)
• OEM: Wintech
• maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 50 Amps
two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors
• Full Modular Output Cables: Yes
• Official Intel Haswell Compliance: No
• No 80 PLUS Efficiency Certification
• 3 Year Limited Warranty (upgradable to a LIFETIME warranty by simply registering online)
• This PSU died during [H]ard|OCP's review. It could only deliver 364 Watts and would then die if an attempt was made to draw more power. It is constructed with bottom rung junk JEE capacitors on the primary and low quality Jun Fu capacitors on the secondary.

The Extreme RSY-645 is some unknown generic brand. It is very...

galexior

Reputable
May 28, 2014
6
0
4,510
No, I didn't want to select that as a solution. Yes, my computer is plugged in to a surge protector. I have both computers plugged in to that surge protector and the second one is fine, but my main computer is the one giving me problems.
 

galexior

Reputable
May 28, 2014
6
0
4,510
(Edited: I was incorrect about the wattage of each PSU, the numbers here are the correct ones.)
The 750w is brand "Ultra" Model ULT-X750P.
The latest one is a 450w brand "Extreme" model RSY-645.

Both are considerably old, probably in the 3-5 year range, but that shouldn't really mean they failed because they are old, right? (Though, if it is because they are old, and nothing is wrong with the rest of my system, I certainly wont complain.)
 
ULTRA X2 750 W (ULT-X750P)
• OEM: Wintech
• maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 50 Amps
two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors
• Full Modular Output Cables: Yes
• Official Intel Haswell Compliance: No
• No 80 PLUS Efficiency Certification
• 3 Year Limited Warranty (upgradable to a LIFETIME warranty by simply registering online)
• This PSU died during [H]ard|OCP's review. It could only deliver 364 Watts and would then die if an attempt was made to draw more power. It is constructed with bottom rung junk JEE capacitors on the primary and low quality Jun Fu capacitors on the secondary.

The Extreme RSY-645 is some unknown generic brand. It is very doubtful that it can even supply 450 Watts. It may be 450 Watts Peak but definitely not continuous.

So far both of the PSUs you've used don't have any decent quality to them. It's no surprise that they died.
 
Solution

galexior

Reputable
May 28, 2014
6
0
4,510
So it is a safe bet that both of these low quality PSUs failed purely because they are low quality, and that there is no other problem with the rest of my setup? I have been browsing around [H]ard|OCP and have found several candidates for a replacement, but I intend to further research while I wait for payday.

Thank you all very much for the help!
 
The problem with low quality PSUs is that some of them will lack even the basic protection circuits.

The ATX12V Power Supply Design Guide states that a PSU that adheres to their design specifications shouldn't destroy any devices attached to them if they should fail.

If the PSU doesn't adhere to the ATX12V Power Supply Design Guide specifications then there may be a chance that damage to attached components may have occurred. Testing the components is the only way to determine if any damage has occurred.
 

galexior

Reputable
May 28, 2014
6
0
4,510
Point taken. Thank you very much. So, my current course of action is to take my computer to the computer repair store nearby and have them run diagnostics on my components, since I do not have the knowledge or the capabilities of testing them myself. While they do that, browse [H]ard|OCP and locate a quality power supply to replace my burned out one. Regular functionality shall follow, without fear of recurring trouble. Just to be sure, I'll look for a good warranty...

Once again, thank you all!