2 Power Supplies - 1 Day

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r0amzki

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Apr 25, 2011
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I had just bought portal 2, installed it, got to playing for about 20 minutes until my power supply sparked and started smoking.

I thought no big deal because the thing was ancient, i had bought new parts and i needed a new one anyway.

the same day i went out and bought another one (425 watt to 600 watt).

I got everything settled in, started playing portal, and 5 minutes in my headset goes out, game freezes, computer shuts off, and i smell smoke coming from the power supply. AGAIN.

What can cause this? I need help, i don't want to go through another power supply.
 
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Onus

Onus

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Jan 27, 2006
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What PSU did you have, and what did you buy? A quality modern PSU has full range active PFC (no little voltage switch) and at least 80+ certification for efficiency. Seasonic, Antec, Corsair, Enermax, and XFX are among the better brands. Apevia, Logisys, most Coolermaster, and anything with "max" in its name (other than Enermax) is what I call a Chokemax; overrated junk.
Plug in your components (which you did not list) at http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp to see what size PSU you need.

Edit: Cheap PSUs are never a good idea. Hopefully, it didn't take any other parts with it when it died; many do.
 
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R

r0amzki

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Apr 25, 2011
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Do you have any idea would could have caused the second one to blow?

I'm all for buying another PSU, i just want to figure out why it happened, so i don't go through ANOTHER one.

Thanks a lot, i appreciate the help.
 
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R

r0amzki

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what are the chances it was because something was shorting out INSIDE the computer?

My dad seems to be convinced that it is my front usb port, the cable that connects to it. I took a look at it and didn't see anything wrong with it. Would it be pretty apparant if this was the case?
 
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R

r0amzki

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Apr 25, 2011
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i'm going to go out and buy a nice 650 watt powersupply, that should be fine right?

My fingers will be crossed that nothing else happens, and i don't blow anymore money.
 
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Onus

Onus

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Jan 27, 2006
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^What he said. You said you just bought new parts; if you just added the GPU, you would have overloaded your initial PSU, and likely the second as well.
Here's the conclusion page of a review of a good example of consumer fraud: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Logisys-PS600A12-Power-Supply-Review/1211/9

Edit: Wattage isn't everything; QUALITY is. If you pay less than $50, it better be a good deal on an Antec Earthwatts or Corsair "Builder" series. Dynex is junk. Most Huntkey / Rocketfish are junk (HardwareSecrets blew up a lot of them). Don't buy anything with a little voltage switch on it; at best you'll get an inefficient, obsolete design, and at worst you'll get overrated garbage that will die violently, taking other parts with it into the Abyss.
 
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ko888

ko888

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Feb 18, 2009
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If the port isn't wired correctly it can cause a short circuit.
 
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