[SOLVED] Why is my power supply fan partially covered by plastic sheeting?

[tom2u]

Its a CoolerMaster 600 watt RS-600-PCAR-E3 power supply.
The fan is covered on about 1/3 of the underside facing the heat sink. It seems to be a way of channeling the air to just the heat sink but its not angled so you'd think it would just restrict airflow or reflect some of it right back out. It seems very odd. Wondering if people have noticed this on other power supplies; as its clear its not readily noticable unless you use a focused light to illuminate it or remove the power supply cover.

 

[bignastyid]

This is commonly used to direct airflow. Also that PSU is dangerous low quality garbage and should be replaced ASAP.

 

[tom2u]

This is commonly used to direct airflow. Also that PSU is dangerous low quality garbage and should be replaced ASAP.

I'm using a i5-2400 with no video card and 16gb DDR3 ram so my power needs are low. I also have a Silverstone SST-ST50EF 500 watt power supply. Any idea if its better than the CoolerMaster? What I did notice was that when my fridge started up the monitor and would go off for a couple of seconds occassionally. Also it seemed to interrupt the computer a bit. Afterwards everything seemed fine. I plugged the fridge into a different outlet and now it doesn't happen. I use a basic surge protector but I'm guessing that only works to stop the power from peaking, not dipping. But I wonder if UPS would remedy this. I should monitor my voltage to see how much it flucuates. I have a Kill-O-Watt meter but I don't think it monitors that. I'd have to record a video of the display which probably wouldn't be so hard.

 

[bignastyid]

That silverstone is the better of the two. Your monitor issue was being caused by voltage drop on the circuit. Many appliances with high initial power draws will cause this.

 

[FALC0N]

This is commonly used to direct airflow. Also that PSU is dangerous low quality garbage and should be replaced ASAP.

Low quality garbage, sure. I'm not prepared to say it's dangerous.

 

[bignastyid]

Low quality garbage, sure. I'm not prepared to say it's dangerous.

Bad ripple, poor voltage regulation, anything over 450w and 12v rail was well out of spec, pulling the advertised load caused the psu to blow up. Plus several reports of the extreme frying components. That deserves the dangerous tag.

 

[FALC0N]

Bad ripple, poor voltage regulation, anything over 450w and 12v rail was well out of spec, pulling the advertised load caused the psu to blow up. Plus several reports of the extreme frying components. That deserves the dangerous tag.

It's certainly all of those things, but I would characterize it as potentially damaging to hardware rather than dangerous. I have a high threshold for calling a PSU dangerous.

 

[tom2u]

Great recommendations everybody. Thank you!