Replaced Antec X3 PSU with Corsair HX620 - and huge wtf moment

[omahagtp]

Thanks guys for reading, and if you have any rec's, they are appreciated.

I have an Antec P182 case, so the PSU is compartmentalized with the hard drives. I also have a 120mm fan down there blowing air out. My X3 seems to think it needs to crank the fan quite loud, and it bothered me enough to get a new power supply.

I went with the Corsair 620HX. Read great reviews about its noise (lack thereof) and power efficiency. (The Antec Ultra X3 was 800w, way overkill for my needs anyway.)

I have a 8400 oc'ed at 3.6, stock 8800 GTS 512, 4 GB RAM @ 800, 2 HDD's and 1 DVD/RW (all SATA). The 3 stock case fans + 1 slim one for the bottom. Nothing mind bogglingly power hungry, by any means.

They are both modular power supplies. I felt that my case had really well run cables, so I decided to re-use some of the cables that came with the antec PSU with the corsair. They looked identical (dumb, maybe. We will see).

Set it all up, pressed power. Nothing. My CPU fan's LED would come on for a split second. That was it.

I thought maybe I was over exerting the PSU unit (I had no idea what else it could be, other than a bad unit). Unplugged the two hard drives, powered on the machine.

I heard a very "bad" beep from what I assume was my APC unit. Then 'poof' a cloud of smoke. I immediately switched off the PSU. Just kind of stared for a second, trying not to get too angry.

I took out the DVD drive, and sure enough, it smelled like those old cap guns you would play with as a kid. The whole upstairs of the house did, actually. The cable was partially melted at the connector.

Turns on fine without any additional devices connected (only mobo connectors and GPU power).

Went to sleep. Thought about it at work, being stubborn, I decided to give it a second go. This time with 2 HDD's I don't care about, and a DVD drive I don't care about (all SATA). Also this time with the cables provided by Corsair and not by Antec.

Boots up like a champ, 0 issues that I can tell at this point.

So my question is... do I get the PSU replaced? Could the cables have been the culprit? Was the DVD on the verge of death, and this was merely a coincidence? DVD drive is obviously dead. I just don't know how I feel about the potential fire hazard that my computer may or may not be at this point.

Any thoughts?

 

[caniba]

I have heard very bad things happen when using modular cables that are not from the same manufacturer. They sometimes are wired differently. I don't know if that is the case with antec and corsair or not.

I assume the cable powering the dvd was from the antec and not the corsair.

If you now are using the proper cables and have no other issues you should be ok. I looks like you got lucky.

 

[delluser1]

Antec Ultra X3 was 800w

Any thoughts?

Antec doesn't provide the Ultra X3, Ultra does.
Like caniba said, looks like you got lucky.

 

[omahagtp]

Antec doesn't provide the Ultra X3, Ultra does.
Like caniba said, looks like you got lucky.

I guess this is what you get when you work a couple 12 hours and try to figure stuff out in the AM before you get some rest. I was reading that last night and knew I phrased stuff a bit funny.

Thanks guys.

 

[XMSYellowbeard]

You should be OK as far as the PSU. There should not be any "partial" damage. It should either work 100% or be dead. I'm just happy to hear you "only" fried a DVD drive.