I have a computer thats killing all the PSU's its given.

Specs:
Intel Celeron 2400/400 northwood
512mb dual channel ddr400 @ 266
gigabyte i865g motherboard
nvidia tnt2 m64 32mb agp
onboard sound + lan
western digital 80gb hdd(2mb)
LG 16x cdrw

PSUs:
350w (started to smell burnt)
350w (wouldnt allow the system to start after a while)
300w (yes ATX - from an old pc working for years and now its starting to play up, this psu was working in a P4 2600 for a ~1 year so its fine)

this computer is just a simple basic computer built with all new parts, apart from recently installing the TNT2 card for TV out function. The first PSU started to smell electrical (that smell) so we removed it and replaced it with another brand new 350w and that eventually wouldnt work (this time pressing the power button wouldnt work 80% of the time) and we replaced that with the current 300w PSU which was working for over 1 year in a P4c 2600 and now its also starting to play up - not turning on sometimes (every few days)

What is killing the PSU's?

there all generic PSU's but this is a crappy system not some power hungry prescott based system with a high end video card.

That's normal behavior for cheap power supplies, I get dozens of 400W PowMax power supplies from the local dealer sometimes with blown caps, all of them new enough to not even have dust accumulation.

Get a good power supply. You know Fortron Source and Sparkle Power 300W units are cheap enough, and solid.

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crash is right. You need to get a good name brand PSU instead of using generic ones.

Even generics have brand names, so what are they, and what are the amp ratings for their +12V outputs? You probably need at least 8-10A for the CPU alone.

what im wondering is how come that 300w P4 ATX PSU worked in a P4c system with an FX5600 card for over a year yet its starting to play up now after a few months in a basic system - im wondering if any of my components are killing it? Its only a Northwood Celeron, not the Prescott ones.

Iv sofar had good luck with generic PSU's - my main P4 2.6c + 6600GT works fine with a generic (L&C) 400w PSU and my other Celeron 2.4D@3.2 system with FX5600 video card also works good with an Omni 400w PSU - why does the other celeron system kill PSU's?

I will get a branded one next, but will my system kill that one too? I just want to be sure it isnt the system doing it.

A possible cause is the Celeron system draws more power at one of the voltages than the other system did, and this is too much for the power supply. But no properly made supply will be damaged by a computer, and your L&C (Deer) is not properly made.

could it be the wiring in your house?

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