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Can I trust my PSU after a power surge?

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  • Power Supplies
  • Power Surge
  • Components
  • PSU
Last response: in Components
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December 14, 2013 9:57:56 AM

A few months back I had a nasty power surge that took out several appliances and a few components on my PC such as front USB, NIC. Despite this, the PSU seems to be fine, but I've heard from a few folks that you still shouldn't trust it after such an episode.

I currently have a Corsair 600w CX600. I'm planning on building a new PC soon and was planning on using the old PSU, but now I'm not so sure. Any guidance would be appreciated.

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a c 1218 ) Power supply
December 14, 2013 2:01:06 PM

If you don't have an oscilloscope and programmable load tester to hook the PSU up to verify that it still meets ATX12V specs then don't trust it.

If any of the electrolytic capacitors have lost enough of their capacity to filter out electrical ripple and noise it will lead to eventual damage of the motherboard, graphics card, hard disk drive controller logic, etc.
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December 14, 2013 2:50:29 PM

ko888 said:
If you don't have an oscilloscope and programmable load tester to hook the PSU up to verify that it still meets ATX12V specs then don't trust it.

If any of the electrolytic capacitors have lost enough of their capacity to filter out electrical ripple and noise it will lead to eventual damage of the motherboard, graphics card, hard disk drive controller logic, etc.


Makes sense. It just so happens that there is a special for a CX600M on newegg so I guess I'll play it safe

Thanks
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December 15, 2013 1:00:18 AM

A programmable load tester can check for operation but not for safety issues such as breakdown of electrical insulation in the transformers.
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