Oversized PSU is bad?

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ChairmanSaab

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Feb 8, 2013
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My power supply burst yesterday , there were sparks and spark related sounds, that's it, Computer went down! I was only watching a movie and temps were around 35c. Although my PC is working fine as tested by a local computer center in my town, Computer center guy told me that my PSU is not made for this "tiny" system, he advised me to buy a lower wattage PSU.

Is he correct? Did I made a mistake to buy Antec VP500PC (500W)?

My PC specs

I3-4150
GA-H81M gaming 3
Corsair value select 1600mhz 4GB
Hitachi 500GB HDD


I think total load is around 140 watts, , even lower at idle. I bought this because I wanted to add a GFX card but my brand new computer barely lasted 10 days.
 
Solution
geofelt
Any component can fail.
The advantage of a quality psu is that it will have sufficient protective circuitry to keep from destroying other parts if it does fail.

Your pc, without a discrete graphics card actually needs perhaps a 200w psu.
But a 500w unit will allow you a future graphics card upgrade to perhaps a GTX970 class card.
Yes, the psu will be loafing, but it will draw only the wattage demanded of it. In the process, it will be quieter because the cooling fan will not need to run fast, if at all.
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Rogue Leader

Rogue Leader

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Dec 22, 2014
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He is absolutely positively wrong. The PC will only use the power it needs, and buying a bigger PSU, while it can be a waste of money in some cases, won't hurt anything at all, ever.

Looks like you may have just had a bout of bad luck. It happens. The Antec VP is a good PSU.
 
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cosmoji

cosmoji

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this was a component failure, for which you should look in to the warranty on if you only had it for 10 days, and a high wattage power supply will not harm a system just because its not being fully utilized. so get one in th 500 watt range if you intend to add a good gpu, and your only concern to avoid damaging the system should be making sure its a quality unit.
 
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Rogue Leader

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This is patently not true. Not only that there is like 3 games that actually use DX12 right now.

He didn't ask about GPU's, he asked about power supplies, so taking a thread off the rails, with incorrect information no less, isn't helping anyone.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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Oct 9, 2006
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Any component can fail.
The advantage of a quality psu is that it will have sufficient protective circuitry to keep from destroying other parts if it does fail.

Your pc, without a discrete graphics card actually needs perhaps a 200w psu.
But a 500w unit will allow you a future graphics card upgrade to perhaps a GTX970 class card.
Yes, the psu will be loafing, but it will draw only the wattage demanded of it. In the process, it will be quieter because the cooling fan will not need to run fast, if at all.
 
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Solution
Rogue Leader

Rogue Leader

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Dec 22, 2014
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Last thing I'm going to say on this, because uninformed comments like that turn threads into flame wars. He asked for a piece of advice, and we answered it. Throwing in a little extra on what GPU range to look at, sure. Adding in uninformed flame bait like that, is NG.
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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I'm guessing they don't know and/or don't care.

I think total load is around 140 watts, , even lower at idle. I bought this because I wanted to add a GFX card but my brand new computer barely lasted 10 days.
Click to expand...

So what GPU did you buy? Because that PSU should be able to handle just about any low to mid range GPU.
 
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logainofhades

logainofhades

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Because many are run either by slimeballs looking to make a quick sale, on the uninformed, or run by people clueless of power supplies, or hardware in general.
 
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C

ChairmanSaab

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Thanks for the help guys!

Quietness was one of the reasons I went with this PSU , noise levels were nill even under full load. I was very much satisfied with my build.

@geofelt Yup, this guy offered me a 220 watt PSU of some brand I never heard of, I rejected it. He tested my PC on a similar PSU I believe.

BTW, I don't have a budget for GPU now but I'll add something which let's me play games like GTA V , watch dogs, at 1080P on eye pleasing settings. Also some free steam stuff like TF2.

I'll proceed with RMA now.

Thanks again for your valuable advice.
 
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