Public Service Announcement. Cheap PSU overheaded and killed my rig

[deejayburnout]

Afteroon peeps

My cheap crappy PSU overheated and blew my rig.

i had one of these > http://www.scan.co.uk/products/700w-...an-atx-v23-psu

and after installing my new HD 6850 after 3 days of blissful gaming, while playing Borderlands. It turned off and computer is dead.

Now awating a new OCZ one from PC World and my concern now is that will my Rig still work with the new PSU. All the components look ok, just hope the PSU is fried.

So the moral of the story is don't buy a cheap PSU.

[scaryjim]

... the moral of the story is don't buy a cheap PSU.

Something stated in every "check out my rig" thread, ever

Hope the rest of your rig is OK - I know you hear horror stories about cheap PSUs blowing and taking out expensive components, but I've had a cheap PSU blow and leave my rig completely unharmed in the past. When the worst happens it's pretty bad, but I think it's far more common to have the PSU just take itself out and leave your rig alone.

As an aside, I notice you've got your Phenom clocked up pretty high - have you got adequate cooling on the VRMs on your motherboard? It could well be the increased power draw from the overclocked CPU that's pushed your cheapo PSU over the edge. Ideally you need heatsinks for the VRMs, and at the least a fan pointing at them - looking your mobo up on Google it looks like the VRMs are uncooled as standard...

[Agent]

20 quid for 700W? Such a shame Scan is selling rubbish like that.

[kalniel]

20 quid for 700W? Such a shame Scan is selling rubbish like that.

Don't say that, or they'll just charge 70 quid for the same thing and confuse people.

[deejayburnout]

As an aside, I notice you've got your Phenom clocked up pretty high - have you got adequate cooling on the VRMs on your motherboard? It could well be the increased power draw from the overclocked CPU that's pushed your cheapo PSU over the edge. Ideally you need heatsinks for the VRMs, and at the least a fan pointing at them - looking your mobo up on Google it looks like the VRMs are uncooled as standard...

its only clocked up 400mhz over stock, so i am hoping its ok. I have added an additional fan on the side to blow more air in. Been Oced for a while now so presuming its ok.

I never turned my pc off either as it serves as a Samsung Allshare server for the house. Maybe 5 months with it being on 90% of the time didn't help either.

[scaryjim]

Seriously, you left that rig on 24/7 with a cheap, low efficiency PSU? I'd hate to see your 'leccy bill

oh, and 400Mhz is still a > 10% overclock. Even without extra voltage that will increase the power draw - and therefore the load on the VRMs - by 10%, and if you've had to bump the voltage up to get there the increase will be greater than that. Just something to bear in mind for the future

[IronWarrior]

What in the world made you buy an 700w PSU for £20?

[Pob255]

What in the world made you buy an 700w PSU for £20?

my thought exactly

rough rule of thumb guide is expect to pay around £10 per 100watts non-modular
so you're looking around £70 for a 700w psu.

As to taking out components, it depends how it dies, I've had a cheap psu take out components without dieing.
The problem is as they hit their limits they don't shut down but instead start sending out all sorts of dirty power with high levels of noise and wildly fluctuating voltages and when they finally go BANG they can send out a massive voltage spike which can easily fry stuff.
I think the most I've lost was ram + graphics card + hard drive + cpu (somehow the motherboard was fine) that's all at one time to a bad psu.

[Behemoth]

Even one of my friends is still buying and using cheap PSU's in his main system, I've told him but he won't listen. I want to slap him round the face realy for doing it but meh, not to worry.

[Phage]

Jonny guru's site is an excellent resource.

[deejayburnout]

Seriously, you left that rig on 24/7 with a cheap, low efficiency PSU? I'd hate to see your 'leccy bill

My 'leccy bill' is high but i blame the wife and 2 kids with cbeebies on in 2 rooms and endless showers for messy kids. After my PSU blew, i did some investigating and found out about the whole 80 bronze and so on ratings for PSUs. hopefully moving on i will have learned my lesson and the new PSU will bring a saving.

oh, and 400Mhz is still a > 10% overclock. Even without extra voltage that will increase the power draw - and therefore the load on the VRMs - by 10%, and if you've had to bump the voltage up to get there the increase will be greater than that. Just something to bear in mind for the future

Cheers for the advice. i kept my voltage under mobo control and iirc it didn't change from stock. a complete noob when it comes to OCing. i just upped the multiplier via the bios and primed it for a few hours.

What in the world made you buy an 700w PSU for £20?

I must admit i was being a cheapo at the time. i had just bought a new Phenom II 965, a mobo and Ram ( i had a phenom 9650 before ) and was skint. i looked at my old PSU and it was the oldest part of my rig. Thought the £20 would do me for now and never thought about it until it blew. Was slightly concerned when i got my HD 6850 about the power draw but i thought a 700w psu would handle it. Turns out a high quality 500w will most probably outperform a cheap ass 700w one.

My lesson has been learnt and my tail is between my legs.

Lets hope my new PSU will last a bit longer. It arrives today > http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/ocz-zs...42078-pdt.html

oh and just noticed that i bought it on sale for £60. its now back to £75.

Awesome

[deejayburnout]

New PSU installed and it reeks of quality.

All my components are ok and all is well.

A lesson learn.

[Pob255]

yes the ocz zs are good, and £60 isn't a bad price on a 750w unit, although you of been fine with the 550w version
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/ocz-zs...y~RR~~11342068

[deejayburnout]

I did think a 550w would have been fine but i already ordered it by the time i realised. At least its kinda furture proof.

[Behemoth]

I'm running on a 600 watt OCZ StealthStream 2 PSU, does the job nicely. Pretty silent, the loudest part of my PC is my fron intake fan when on full speed.

[IPexpress]

Reasonable price to expect to pay for 700w PSU is around £65-95