DId you notice?

i don't know as i would call a Cooler Master as a "HIGH QUALITY" psu, though honestly i do feel bad as that is either an RMA (if in warranty) or out of pocket expense

EDIT: is the rest of the system ok?

The black thingy attached to the heatsink looks like this I presume?



If so, then that's one of the voltage regulators.

@well its not a cooler master. it is (was) a xtreme power lp-6100d.
and i got it nearly for free, and yes the computer was fine thankfully.
oh and i was kidding about HIGH QUALITY!
@pyroflea: yep...
what type of failure happened to kill one of those voltage reg things?

hahahaha, i build castles out of my dead psus, and even the working ones!

hahahahahahaha i could probably make a stack up to the cieling if i wanted to with all the dead and working psus in my house-but my house its too small!  

yeah, i have so much broken tech im too lazy to fix, like 5 year old laptops whose hdds burned out, or about 30 dead psus. i wonder if you are allowed to sell broken stuff on ebay     those are my funds for bulldozer (or sandy bridge, gotta see the bench's, but my guess now goes to BD being better)

well if you sell it as broken im sure someone who is good with fixing broken psus can use them. give it a shot, like $5 per broken psu. and then just buy parts (liek hdds), fix the laptops, and sell them. then give all the money to me.      

hahaha, well these are old laptops, so the cost of repairing them is likely more than they are worth. not to mention id loose the drawbridge to my castle!!!      

dont use a PSU that you know has leaky caps. Thats just asking for trouble. it could take out your mainboard when it goes.

Consider yourself lucky then. I know some people sobbing (literally) over their dead HDDs and motherboards due to PSU faulty. That's why I bought a "better" PSU for $42 at a Computer Exhibition. It's worth every penny...

a 42$ psu?

well actually i rescued that psu from my friend who was using it in a core2quad rig, dual 9800pe cards, an h50 cooler, and massive OC on every piece in the copmuter   i think thats where it gots its leaky caps. and i think its such cheap crap that it didnt even shut down at high loads  

well it's funny because there is a Cooler Master eXtreme Power
though i just noticed and it probably slipped that yours has no "e" in the front (for Xtreme)

good to hear that the rest of the computer is ok (that would suck real bad)
didn't know you were joking about high quality though as i have known some people who use CM all of the time



EDIT: stupid google took me to the wrong site (it found High Power first, be happy it isn't one of those)
though is this you PSU: High Power Plus 405w, still doesn't look that good (25A on the 12v combined), and that's if it can be trusted

EDIT: stupid google took me to the wrong site (it found High Power first, be happy it isn't one of those)
though is this you PSU: High Power Plus 405w, still doesn't look that good (25A on the 12v combined), and that's if it can be trusted[/quotemsg]

I assume you've checked my rig's details. I know, it's a shabby one  

But if you care to look carefully, every part of my rig is power efficiency (and price) -minded. Using onboard GPU, relatively low TDP CPU, and power efficient motherboard (Tom's reference) is my goal from the very moment I plan to build a PC. That's why I bought the PSU to replace the crappy with-case-combo one. With my PC's max power requirement of 230W, the 405W with active PFC and 80+ standard efficiency is more than enough for reassurance from overload purposes.

Well, even with my low level of expertise, I know that the PSU doesn't have a high reliability factor. That's why I use the term "better" (with quotes)... lol

Yes, that's after I bargain straight with the head boss who happens to be inspecting his employees. The initial price was $45. I was also skeptical at first, looking at the brand which is not familiar to me. But with some hard convincing effort, the salesman beat me with his proofs and sweet talking.

This is the "facts" he showed:

- The PSU was made by Sirfa, a long time manufacturer for OEM companies (whatever that means).
- The capacitors are tier 1 and 2 from Japan (I guess it has something to do with the resistance).
- Photos of reviewed PSU, with case opened!!!..(this is the one that gave me the death blow!!!).
- Warranty is personally guaranteed by the company, 1 to 1 replacement (wow!!!).

And it's been working like a charm, hopefully for many years to come.....  

true there are worse and with the low load you should be ok, well at least hopefully

though good luck on the new build

I guess you haven't heard the whole story yet: It was the old, crappy, good-for-nothing PSU almost cost me my whole brand new system. It was fine at first, but when I started to play graphic intensive games, it suddenly stops. Sometimes it went to BSOD. At first I thought I screwed up somewhere in the installation. But after an extensive research, I found out that the problem is on the PSU, and it can lead to a total system failure. OMG!!!.. my $300 setup (I know it's not much, but it came from my 3 months saving...lol)

And that's where my PSU story begins...which ended with a happy ending...(tech romance)...hahahahaha

it's always a bit scary when things like this happen, though i am saving around $1500 by the end of the summer to change my desktop from a Phenom II X4 + 790GX to a Phenom II X6 + 890FX and add a decent raid controller to my server and add 4 more drives (moving from raid 0 to raid 10), i have good reason to do this to my server, but not so much for the desktop as i want to mess around with Xen and GPU pass through to virtual machines (linux as main OS, windows as a guest but with access to the video card)

so i have a question: what could happen to make a voltage regulator fail? a short? overload? overheating?

Crysis.


Oh yes I did!

Change that to Metro 2033.
Crysis is so 2009.

i still think crysis on ultra high looks better  

i dont care what looks better   i have neither crysis or metro. but i do have an unanswered question?

Are you referring to an external AVR or the internal PC PSU? Since both components are highly different in terms of application.

the psu that blew up

Well, in some cases the PSU blew up because of being overloaded. The max load given number (e.g:400W) is supposedly the limit which will only last for a few moments. In reality, a 400W PSU can be stressed with a 400W load. But it will eventually reach its limit and broke down.

It can also because of components' aging factor. Low quality PSU with shabby coil and capacitors is most likely died because of this reason.

Electrical fault can also be the cause, since the PSU is the first thing that the electrical power comes in contact with. That's why I use an AVR, just in case the electricity at my house is unstable.

But that's just me, maybe the more experienced members can elaborate it better than I do.

i guess it could be the house, cuz 2 days later i had another psu die on me. it was a codegen 350w, but i think it was overrated cuz the model was 250x1. but it was in a dell that shipped with a 200w so it still shouldnt have died...
could heat have been a factor? that psu had nicely silent fans, but it also was extremely hot always (i mean the air coming out).

What do you mean about the "house"? The PC case or the PSU case?

Well, Codegen does make some nice cases, but I wouldn't bet my entire rig for an unreliable PSU. My best guess would be my 1st comment about why PSUs broke down. I assume the company said something about >70% efficiency. This statement is like a 2 edge blade: On one side, it clearly stated its reliability. But this also means that the PSU doesn't meet up with the 80+ efficiency standard. My suggestion: only go for the 80+. This label ensures that a PSU will have a stable voltage at 80% load (I think it's something like that, but maybe the others can fill you in on this issue).

Heat shouldn't be an issue, unless you're pushing the PSU to its limits at a long period. Maybe in your case, the component quality factor and overload issue are simultaneous, which accelerates the PSU's "death". Be careful, if this goes on, the one going next might just be your motherboard or GPU. Gives me the chills just thinking about it...  

actually 80plus is that it is more than 80% efficient. it has nothing to do with stable voltages. by house i mean my houses electircal wiring, which happens to suck (we have old-style dual 30a fuses and no circuit breakers), and when you turn on a vaccuum or something the lights flicker. once my computer even shut off when the refirgerator turned on at the same time as the washing machine.

sounds like you need a UPS so when this happens you don't lose power and so it can clean the line for you

would a used ups do? i could get a apc 300v 180w one pretty much for free. would that do a good enough job of cleaning the line?

it might, i'm not sure, maybe some one with better knowledge on UPS's will come in

Okay, I finally got a glimpse of this 80+ thing. 80+ means that it has an 80% efficiency of converting AC current to DC, which will save power due to its efficiency. Without a high efficiency, it will cost more on your electrical bill and higher temperature to the PSU.

In accordance to the temperature issue, the hotter the PSU gets the less efficient its components are. That means it could also affect the voltage stability, since the efficiency of the components responsible for this task are decreased. I just found out about this thing, so I guess my previous asumption was dumb luck...  

As for the unstable voltage in your house, a UPS, with built-in AVR to be exact, would be more appropriate. If you can't find (or afford, since these kind of thing is VERY expensive!!!absolutely way out of my budget) a UPS AVR combo, just use an AVR first connected to the wall outlet then a UPS to be connected to the PC.

So, the line up is: House electrical(assuming it's unstable) > AVR(as voltage stabilizer) > UPS (as voltage supplier if no power comes in, or if power drop occurs) > PC.

FYI, I've had some experience on this issue. I work as a medical electronics engineer. The systems are so voltage sensitive, the fuses are just itching to blow. According to my past experience, the solution above should work.

BTW, don't reverse the order between the UPS and AVR, since you might end up blowing up the UPS.   Again, this is based on my experience. Don't want that happen to you, do you?  

1) what does an avr do?
2)why would the ups blow up?
3) whats the cheapest one   im a little low on cash (being 15 and all)

I've had my PC P&C 750w for over three years now. It's still working great.  

Only bad thing about it is that it has 10 of every connector.

Funny how my cheap dell PSU has lasted almost 6 years with the computer on for most of the days, and it has lasted through several power surges without a surge protector(plus my house lights flicker whenever the microwave turns on, vacuum is plugged in, fridge turn on, etc., so I know my house wiring isn't great either). I wonder what has to happen to get that psu to stop working after that   .

1) what does an avr do?

AVR maintains steady voltage. This is important for running sensitive electronics such as computers, microwaves and televisions.

2)why would the ups blow up?

damasvara would be best to answer that one, but I always thought it was an urban myth. Id test it out but if it is true my possible exsitence might come to an end and im not ready for that yet

3) whats the cheapest one im a little low on cash

Try ebay thats where I got mine from. Living in a small village and in a pre 1950's home wired up by monkeys I made sure there was something in place to protect the hardware.

1. Steve is 100% correct on that one

2. Since a UPS is just like any other voltage sensitive electronic devices, it's vulnerable to power surges and voltage spikes. I've seen a UPS blew up due to reversed placement on a hospital. It blew up because of a power source switch between main electrical source and the diesel electrical generator. A power source switch happens when the main electrical source is out due to a black out or power shortage. Between the switch, there will an instability in voltage produced by the diesel generator. But of course, this scenario is highly unlikely to happen in public houses.

In short, it blew up because of unstable, most likely over the limit, voltage in an electrical circuit. Hope it's not too confusing... lol

3. It depends on your country, I can't really say. But usually a lower capacity UPS is cheaper (duh! don't need a genius to know that!)

Being 15 means you'll have plenty of time to learn and expand your knowledge. Why, I built my first PC at my mid 20s. Pretty late, huh?  

That's one tough PSU you got there. But everything will meet its end someday. More than 5 years is already a great achievement for a generic PSU. Maybe you should consider a retirement for the faithful thing and replace it with a new one  

a bit expensive  
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
but why only 5 mins batt life?

which is the best?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Maybe it's able to supply 2700 watts of power(as in, the amount used within the 5 minutes since that 2700 watts is how much is used in an hour), but it doesn't actually have that much stored in a battery?

A UPS functions as a temporary power supplier, so it's not a substitute for the main power source. It lets you shut down the PC the way it should be, minimizing the risk of damaged hardware due to a sudden blackout. 5-10 minutes is the normal limit for a UPS to backup the power before the PC is properly shut down.

At least that's how we use it here...  

thats kinda dumb though. is there one that can do 1hr or more?

then you'll need a diesel/gasoline powered power generator. Or lower your PC's power consumption. Or get a higher capacity UPS. But it would be a pain to get through these 3 alternatives.

The point is, shut down the PC when you get a blackout. Or maybe in your case, a few seconds power drop won't force you to shut down the PC. As long as you still receive power from the main source, despite being unstable, I guess it's okay.  

Don't feel bad. I just lost a $140 Seasonic X-650 to bad capacitators, although Seasonic is going to make it up to me. Aren't you, Seasonic?