Two power supplies died within four months

[Giephri]

*Sorry that I wrote a lot. I wanted to be as descriptive as possible to answer incoming questions*

The first time it died was on the night of New Years. When I shut down my PC, it suddenly sparked from the inside. My room lights were mildy flickering until I unplugged my power cable. Earlier that day, I had a power surge (which happens all the time, I also have a surge protector) while my computer was on. Afterwards, I turned it back on. Nothing happened for a few seconds and then it started normally.

Since I was inexperienced, I had it repaired at a local computer shop. The clerk said that the power supply was exposed to moisture or something. That would've made sense, as the ignorant me had my computer placed next to a window where rain got in. I also used an air conditioner right above it a few times. He replaced the power supply with a new one.

The power supply died again a week ago, or at least I think it did after trying out troubleshooting methods from various websites. This time, I did not notice any sparks or other unnatural activity. I successfully shut down my computer one night, and it didn't start the next day. I had moved my computer since the first incident, and have never used the aircon since, so it can't be moisture.

I didn't want to waste any more money and take any more risks having it repaired again and decided to build a new PC. As I am waiting for my parts, I am wondering what is the cause of my PSUs' deaths as to prevent future problems. My outlet seems to be fine, as my TV and chargers work perfectly. The same goes for my surge protector. I'm not entirely sure if they're okay, however.

I'd also like to mention that my PC was custom built by the same shop I had it repaired at. It lasted two years until the PSU first died. In my computer bill, the power supply only says "cool max 600 watts power sipply sli ready". I looked it up on amazon and similar products have bad reviews. My second power supply was a "Blue star 650 watts power supply" which also had bad reviews.

Which is the real problem here? Please help.

 

[i7Baby]

They are both crap power supplies. Buy a good one - Seasonic or something made by Seasonic - XFX or some Corsair.

 

[mickypheonix]

Hi Glephri
as i7baby stated they are very poor quality power supplies ,
go with a well known brand for your power supply , of all the things in your system you cannot skimp on your psu.
Corsair make good psu's
Or sesonix/xfx same thing
or Evga have good new psu's aswell
at the end of the day look at the warrant period of the psu , that will tell you how well the manufacturers stand behind their product and
how long you should expect that psu to be good for.
There are many brands out their if you are unsure google and youtube are your friends , someone will no doubt have done a review on whatever power supply you are curious about

 

[Kraszmyl]

I know most shops I've dealt with would handle the recent one dying for free........that being said the I7Baby is right. The first psu brand I atleast recognize and they are fairly low tier. I have never even heard of the second brand. If you paid more than lets say 40 USD for that power supply I'd would complain to them and demand they use something that is at least somewhat decent quality.

Also I wouldn't use that place in the future if they charged more than ~100$ USD parts and labor for that recent power supply. Either they are using poor components and marking them up wildly or they are using poor components to have you come back repeatedly as a revenue source.

If they didn't charge you to much for the service and that recent power supply then they are just taking a calculated risk and trying to save you money. While neither of those are great or even good power supplys, in many cases they are good enough. Frankly they should be willing to work with you on this after you explain that you understand that they have at this point provided you with two cheap power supplies that have risked your other computer parts and that you would like them to replace the current power supply with a better one at a discount with free labor.

I know we would do that in a second and we have had similar things happen in the past. It's not to uncommon for us to use lower end stuff like raidmax, cooler master, ect for basic computers to save costs since they are under warranty so there's no cost to us and the user generally doesn't care about the RMA turn around time. But sometimes people try to stick in high end gpus and other stuff and forget the warnings at the time of purchase concerning such things and we have to have a talk about upgrading them after they bring it back for shorting out or whatever.

 

[Tradesman1]

What CPU, mobo and GPU, you also want one that has enough power (as in continuous power, many these days advertise at peak power so a 650 or whatever adverised, may only run a continuous 500 (more or less)

 

[Giephri]

So it was my power supplies after all. Thank you! I actually ordered a Corsair CX for my new PC, which arrived yesterday.

Is there a chance that my power supplies damaged my components? Or can I still buy a new one and use my old PC again?

 

[mickypheonix]

you should be good to go , you will only find out by trying the new PSU
i wish you luck and all the best with it , let us know how you get on
edit ; the corsair is a good choice

 

[ko888]

The Blue Star 650W ATX power supply doesn't have any regulatory safety approvals like UL, CSA, CB, TÜV, C-TICK, CCC, CE, Gost-R so it may very well have lacked protection circuits and could have damaged components attached to it.

 

[Giephri]

Kraszmyl, they actually charged me $120 for repairs but I also picked the expedited option. They charged me $30 more than its worth for the PSU plus they sold me a GT 460 for $170, since my old gpu was dying as well (I didn't know much about components that time). This shop is the most renowned in my location, yet they got that status through overpriced rubbish. I know I should be complaining, but I really don't like going through stuff like that. I will let it slide, even though its wrong.

Of course, I'm never going to that shop ever again.

 

[Tradesman1]

A 460 needs about 26 AMPs min on the 12volt rail, the Blue Star thing has like 24/5 and they Retail for about $23, pure junk

 

[i7Baby]

Put the GT 460 in the bin. GT's are crap. Old 4 series are crap. Its doubly crappy. Or do you mean GTX460 or GT640? Can you put up your components list?

 

[Giephri]

Shoots. I meant to write GT 640, but I guess it still applies. They sold the blue star for $60. If only I was more informed at that time.

 

[Kraszmyl]

Oh dear god. To think I bitched my boss out for pricing a gtx460 we had at 100$ when they are worth maybe 40-50$. 20-40% mark up I can live with being a physical location an all but 350% is rather silly. Plus side that's at least a decent card even for these days.

Expedited or not even on rather complicated systems a psu takes maybe ten minutes on the high end. Assuming they were completely swamped and they needed to expedite it that is still ridiculous. Sounds like this place is sadly out to generate as high a margin as possible. I get business need money and I help run one but I don't trust ones like that.

Edit - notice you corrected it to 640...holy shit that's even worse. I think we have those for 80ish and r7-250's for 130 and even those prices still bug me. I guess atleast the the psu that gave you last time is quasi appropriate ignoring the complete lack of protections built into it and you just happen to be one of the unfortunate cases where they rolled the dice on warranty. That is assuming they offer replacements , if not basterds are scumbags milking money and purposefully killing stuff.

 

[i7Baby]

See what Linus thinks of GT 640's etc - http://youtu.be/sph6cjJeRdI