Why you don't cheap out on a crucial component, the PSU!
I'd quite like to see inside that properly, I'm wondering why it did as much damage as that!
A filter cap exploding might leave a dent somewhere and a bad smell, a switcher shorting might burn up but shouldn't cause that much damage? I'm also wondering if this was fused at any point. :/
Not sure, but this whole article reminds me of when I blew up my brothers computer maxing out the mighty BF2!, it wasn't a cheap unknown PSU but is sure was funny.
Anyhow not to avoid the point of this article, make sure you always look at many reviews of a PSU before purchase, ensure it has the right cables for your components, has sufficient power for your components and has a good efficiency rating (by a known company such as Corsair, Coolermaster, Silverstone etc... )
I'd go for the fan failing, something overheating and setting fire to the cables inside the PSU. No way that's just a cap popping - that should take out the PSU quickly and cut power so there's not enough heat build-up to cause that much damage.
I'd also put a small amount of money on the son standing there going "awww, cooooool" for a couple of minutes before realising that this might actually be serious and calling his dad - faster action would almost certainly have prevented some of that damage.
Basic rule of thumb I've always been told is spend 10% of your build budget on a PSU.
This sure is a wake up call to people who don't use proper power supplies.
I know someone still using some generic power supply, I did warn him, he has a GTX 480 in that thing and it made a rattling knock. He used a key to stop the fan spinning because of the noise, I am surprised that thing hasn't blown up yet.
Power supplies are too important to overlook! At least you know with the top brands even if it can't supply the power it'll at least shut down saving yourself and your house!
Scary thought...
I tend to go by at least £10/100W, personally. I think with components becoming increasingly energy efficienct the 10% of budget probably isn't that relevant any more - more expensive components won't necessarily pull relatively more power. A GTX690 alone costs £800, but an entire GTX690-based system could be comfortably run on an £80 PSU. Unless you're going for something truly esoteric, there's little point looking past ~ 600W as a peak rating.
OTOH, you can knock up a cheap office rig for ~ £200 nowadays, and I wouldn't go near a £20 PSUIn that case I'd want to spend nearer 20% of the budget on the PSU.
Horses for courses, really.
When it comes to selecting components it's the PSU that stresses me out the most and sometimes it seems that what looks like a good one in reviews is actually universally considered quite bad by many end users. A lot of people seem to think that the OCZ unit I have in my PC is one of those bad PSUs, yet it did well in all the reviews I read on it when researching PSUs.
When it comes to PSUs my take on it is that as long as it's a decent brand, don't worry too much. Sure, some are much better than others, but even a "poor" branded PSU is miles better than the no-name generic £10 500w jobbies.Originally Posted by KeyboardDemon
I've got a PC at home running a Hiper PSU. When I bought it they were considered good, now using Hiper in relation to PSUs seems tantamount to swearing. Must be 5 or 6 years on now, and no problems.
Another example is the Corsair cx450 - as far as I understand, it's worse than the cx400 it replaced (maybe not the exact models, but you get my point). As a result it gets widely panned. That's not to say it's a bad PSU, it's not going to blow up and set your house on fire, but reviews and forum posts would have you believe otherwise!
Efficiency concerns aside, I'd quite happily run my PC on a Coolermaster Elite Power 500w PSU. It's an older model and as such it's not as efficient, but it's not going to blow up and take your PC with it! It's cheap too
With cx400 vs cx430 I think it was more a case of people being annoyed that Corsair discontinued what was an excellent, well-made budget PSU with premium components in favour of one that's just acceptable made with cheaper components and less impressive performance, but under the same branding and for about the same price. IMHO they liked the success but not the profit margins of the cx400 so they swapped it out with a cheaper but "bigger number" model hoping people would just default to it, increasing their profits.
Cheaper branded PSUs should be safer than no-name ones but that's not to say they won't go bang and destroy your PC components with a power surge.
I agree with the £10/100W rule-of-thumb scaryjim mentioned, down to about 400W. Unfortunately, despite most desktops without a discrete GPU now needing less than even 200W, it's hard to find mainstream PSUs <400W. It's somewhat understandable considering low margins but it would still be nice to see more reasonable output units designed to run efficiently where real systems idle, not just in the 20-100% 80Plus testing margin - 20% of 400W is still 80W, while a common PC might idle at ~20W or so.
Actually it was one range of Hiper PSUs which was bad as they cheaped out on the capacitors and they had a tendency to go kaput. The other ranges were fine. The CX430W uses cheaper capacitors and a sleeve bearing fan and has gone through two redesigns AFAIK. The first version did not even have 80+ certification,unlike the CX400W.
When you had alternatives such as the XFX PRO 450 and Antec HCG400W for only £5 more,the CX430W for long time,was not that great value. The previous two are Seasonic units and they make the high end Corsairs. Corsair was using its brand name to pass off a PSU which they cost cut on,and most of the reviews were actually in the US,where it had 40% to 50% rebates for years.
In the UK it is actually priced higher relative to the competition for years. Only,now that it is heading nearer to £30,that I consider it not bad value,if you cannot spare £5 to £10 more.
That is a rubbish PSU. To put it in context the 460W version was overrated by 30W to 40W. Moreover since such PSUs tend to be used by people in cases with poor ventilation,the sleeve bearing fan has a greater tendency to wear out and it probably uses off brand capacitors.Efficiency concerns aside, I'd quite happily run my PC on a Coolermaster Elite Power 500w PSU. It's an older model and as such it's not as efficient, but it's not going to blow up and take your PC with it! It's cheap too
It won't blow up,but I expect more from a £30+ PSU!
Remember,one of our friends had a FSP PSU which is better quality than the cheaper Coolermaster ones. His previous case had poorer ventilation and the sleeve bearing fan wore out in under three years,and it was a decent one. I already wore out one Akasa Vortexx Neo GPU cooler in under two years and that used a sleeve bearing fan and the same goes with the Sharkoon fans I used. He was the one I got that Silverpower PSU for,ie,a rebranded Seasonic 400W PSU which was basically the same as a CX400W.
Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 28-11-2012 at 01:07 PM.
Another 'gutless wonder' review over at JG: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...Story&reid=324
scaryjim (03-12-2012)
And there be a lesson in "if it seems too good to be true - it is".
Butuz
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