New computer died: pop, smell of smoke, house's fuse blown.

[hexagonalbolts]

While my brother was playing a game (Starcraft II) the was a pop noise, the computer died and the house's fuse was blown, and he could smell smoke. What has happened, I'm guessing a problem with the PSU or motherboard? I can't believe this has happened after we bought a new PSU specifically to have a more trusty and well-reviewed corsair, this current build is driving me a bit nuts!


Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2 Socket 775, 1156, 1155, 1366, AM2, AM3
G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V
Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3-B3 Socket 1155 7.1 Channel Audo ATX Motherboard
Coolermaster CM690 II
Corsair TX750w
Samsung HD204UI Spinpoint F4 2TB Hard Drive SATA 5400RPM 32MB Cache - OEM
Gigabyte GTX 560Ti OC 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini HDMI PCI-E Graphics card
LiteOn IHAS122 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black
Corsair 60GB Force 3 SSD - 2.5" SATA-III 6Gb/s - Read 550MB/s Write 490MB/

 

[plasmastorm]

Most likely the PSU thats blown, wether it's damaged anything else when it went is another story.

I know corsair gets good reviews and everyone here seems to rave about them but to be honest I've had nothing but problems with Corsair PSU's and RAM, never using them again.
I do love my Corsair case though.

 

[Proximon]

Any PSU can be faulty, but given the design of the TX750 and the load you were putting on it (maybe 300W) it seems very strange in this case. Do you have power issues in the house? Flickering lights and such?

Has the computer displayed any issues prior to this?

Regardless, you will find Corsair has a good service department. Just follow the RMA procedure.

 

[inzone]

It is definatly the power supply , I had the same thing happen to me as I was sitting there there was a poping crackeling sound and a lot of smoke. The MB and components were not affected and after a RMA the new ps worked and so did everything else. I suppose there is some sort of protction that the power supply has that allows the ps to blow up but not the whole computer.

 

[hexagonalbolts]

We have no power issues in the house, the computer didn't display any other issues before except the previous 650w PSU was extremely noisy.

Is everyone totally sure that the PSU would have been compatible with the system? An 'IT guy' came over and told my family that he reckoned the computer should have a 1000w psu which surprised me greatly.

 

[Petrofsky]

The Newegg web page for your video card says it wants a 500W PSU. I never know what to make of that. How do they know what else you have in your box? So I take that to mean that the card itself will want 500W for headroom under extreme load. If you add that to the 248W that the CoolerMaster calculator says the rest of your rig needs, you're right up against your now-undoubtedly-toast Corsair's wattage. I always apply the engineer's rule of thumb to divide by 0.80 for safety, which gives us 810W or 938W, so I have to agree with your mysterious "IT" guy. Get a bigger boat.

 

[northface]

An 'IT guy' came over and told my family that he reckoned the computer should have a 1000w psu which surprised me greatly.

Sounds like someone is trying to squeeze a few bucks outta ya, but you never know......

You have your part list, you can easily search the net(since you did post here, you must have something else) and find the wattage n add it up

 

[ScrewySqrl]

The Newegg web page for your video card says it wants a 500W PSU. I never know what to make of that. How do they know what else you have in your box? So I take that to mean that the card itself will want 500W for headroom under extreme load. If you add that to the 248W that the CoolerMaster calculator says the rest of your rig needs, you're right up against your now-undoubtedly-toast Corsair's wattage. I always apply the engineer's rule of thumb to divide by 0.80 for safety, which gives us 810W or 938W, so I have to agree with your mysterious "IT" guy. Get a bigger boat.

Bullpucky!!

the 500W is the minimum wattage because of CRAPPY PSUs like Diablotek. the system he has should have been fine with the corsair, so yeah, RMA the PSU, get a replacement, and if nothing else was damaged, the system should work fine.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

1000w is something you would use on a 3 way sli 580gtx rig, not a single 560ti. The psu you have was faulty, regardless how good/reliable a PSU manufacturer is, there will always be a few faulty ones. Its possible the fan wasnt working for some reason and it overheated, it got damaged during transit, cockroaches can take out a psu also......many many things can cause a psu to fail, dont go blame the manufacturer strait away.

 

[koogco]

Corsairs own calculator recommends a 450w PSU even if you choose a GTX 580 (the calc does not have the 560ti)
http://www.corsair.com/learn_n_explore/?psu=yes
I should be fairly surprised if they themselves recommend a product with less power than needed (seeing how they would make less money)
Even with a heavy overclock it recommends nothing above 650watts. And looking at your rig i would say a good 600w PSU should be plenty.
So its just a bad unit, do the RMA and get a new.

 

[ervinelim]

The Newegg web page for your video card says it wants a 500W PSU. I never know what to make of that. How do they know what else you have in your box? So I take that to mean that the card itself will want 500W for headroom under extreme load. If you add that to the 248W that the CoolerMaster calculator says the rest of your rig needs, you're right up against your now-undoubtedly-toast Corsair's wattage. I always apply the engineer's rule of thumb to divide by 0.80 for safety, which gives us 810W or 938W, so I have to agree with your mysterious "IT" guy. Get a bigger boat.

Sorry, Engineer's rule of thumb doesn't apply when it comes to PSUs.

 

[Petrofsky]

Sorry, Engineer's rule of thumb doesn't apply when it comes to PSUs.

... because you say so. Whatever. I'm not doing it for the same reason engineers do when selecting girders, I'm doing it because there is doubt in the data.

@ ScrewySqrl (love the username): exclamation points and all-cap adjectives detract from your credibility, in case you didn't know.

Better PSU overkill in my book---your mileage obviously varies. I'm not saying that his PSU blew because it was under spec, I'm saying that more is better when it comes to PSUs. It's hard to get the information you need to select a PSU wattage, so beef it up some, I always say.

 

[008Rohit]

Are all electrical sockets and connections connected parallaly with a single main line like in our house?

Just yesterday, My mother connected an electrical oven while the PC was on, the oven was reportedly drawing 2000W from the mains and all the lights and even my cheapo surge protector started flickering. Within a minute, The PC shut down immideately. I found out that both the 13A fuses in the surge protector and in the PSU Cable burned out. I just fitted a new surge protector and a new PSU cable without any fuse. The PC is working now.The PSU is a Corsair CX430 v1.

What I want to ask is, can a PSU cable be non-fused? 6A is written on it, but I can see the fuse nowhere. and the cable that got burnt (came with the PSU) had a replacable 13A fuse. My question is, does my old cable really has a 6A fuse? If not, will that affect the health of the PSU and the PC itself?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

Are all electrical sockets and connections connected parallaly with a single main line like in our house?

Just yesterday, My mother connected an electrical oven while the PC was on, the oven was reportedly drawing 2000W from the mains and all the lights and even my cheapo surge protector started flickering. Within a minute, The PC shut down immideately. I found out that both the 13A fuses in the surge protector and in the PSU Cable burned out. I just fitted a new surge protector and a new PSU cable without any fuse. The PC is working now.The PSU is a Corsair CX430 v1.

What I want to ask is, can a PSU cable be non-fused? 6A is written on it, but I can see the fuse nowhere. and the cable that got burnt (came with the PSU) had a replacable 13A fuse. My question is, does my old cable really has a 6A fuse? If not, will that affect the health of the PSU and the PC itself?

3-prong power cables are cheap ($2-3) if you have any concerns, I'd just go to a hardware store or computer store and buy a replacement.

 

[008Rohit]

Can I just replace the fuse on the current cable?

 

[008Rohit]

What if I use a power cable without a fuse? is it gonna kill the PSU? What if massive surge comes through the cable into the PSU? I think my PSU has over-current protection, so I shouldn't worry, right?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

again, why risk your multi-hundred-dollar computer over a $2-3 cable?

 

[008Rohit]

You're right.

I'll go to the store soon to get that cable and another stick of RAM.

 

[Proximon]

... because you say so. Whatever. I'm not doing it for the same reason engineers do when selecting girders, I'm doing it because there is doubt in the data.

@ ScrewySqrl (love the username): exclamation points and all-cap adjectives detract from your credibility, in case you didn't know.

Better PSU overkill in my book---your mileage obviously varies. I'm not saying that his PSU blew because it was under spec, I'm saying that more is better when it comes to PSUs. It's hard to get the information you need to select a PSU wattage, so beef it up some, I always say.

The PSU guide is here for a reason. It's linked in my signature.

If that still is not enough, how about empirical evidence? Thousands of samples? A list of EVERY video card and the DC power it draws?
http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index.php?showtopic=264

My overclocked i7 2600K and overclocked 5870 with a water pump and 11 fans pulls under 400W at absolute maximum load, from the wall. That's a DC load of 360W on my PSU. Measured with a Kill-a-watt device.
Average gaming loads are generally less than 300W. As I type this my computer is pulling 127W from the wall, or about 114W DC.

My 650W Seasonic PSU is absolutely overkill in my system, and anything MORE would be outright dumb.

Has my use of capital letters detracted from my credibility as well? Perhaps we are shouting because we are having trouble getting through.

 

[Petrofsky]

The PSU guide is here for a reason. It's linked in my signature.

If that still is not enough, how about empirical evidence? Thousands of samples? A list of EVERY video card and the DC power it draws?
http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index.php?showtopic=264

My overclocked i7 2600K and overclocked 5870 with a water pump and 11 fans pulls under 400W at absolute maximum load, from the wall. That's a DC load of 360W on my PSU. Measured with a Kill-a-watt device.
Average gaming loads are generally less than 300W. As I type this my computer is pulling 127W from the wall, or about 114W DC.

My 650W Seasonic PSU is absolutely overkill in my system, and anything MORE would be outright dumb.

Has my use of capital letters detracted from my credibility as well? Perhaps we are shouting because we are having trouble getting through.

Hey, pax. I'm not here to fight, but when strangers get shirty with me right off the bat, I react.

All I'm saying is that overkill is a good thing in PSUs. By the way, I'm an electronics technician with a science background, and I don't know what W DC is. All I'm saying is do all your calculations, and then beef it up, anyway.

 

[Proximon]

PSUs convert AC power to DC. When discussing loads on a PSU, it's important to distinguish what the measurement is, because a PSU that is rated 80plus Gold will have a (supposed) efficiency of 87% under a 20% load.
http://www.plugloadsolutions.com/80PlusPowerSupplies.aspx
The above link is the official 80plus website.

As the DC load decreases from there, so will the efficiency, but a good PSU will generally be efficient enough at low loads... because we are talking about a minor cost in power.

Where the real importance lies is the actual efficiency and power consumption at a standard gaming load. That is where you want your PSU to shine. If you can do that and have expansion room and all sorts of margin, then you are at the right spot power wise.

My purpose here is not to argue what exactly constitutes a reasonable fit in a PSU. Rather, I just want to refute any notion that bigger is always better. It's not.

 

[internetlad]

I've got a quattro 850 in my machine, and my parts come nowhere near that number. I've always held the "better safe than sorry" card with PSUs to be pretty important.

In this case you seem to be in the clear with your current unit and i'd assume it would be some manner of manufacturing flaw. Although you do not need more, there is certainly no harm in having more, especially since it normally means higher quality parts and more wiggle room for the future, upgradewise.

TL;DR, everybody in this thread is right, stop arguing.

 

[g-unit1111]

Interesting, I have two systems (one - Intel SB, the other Intel i7-920) - both use the same power supply which is a TX-750, and I've never had any problems with either of them, and I've owned them both for well over a year.

On the flip side, I have had two Ultra PSUs, and they were both HORRIBLE pieces of equipment, one just completely failed my i7-920 build when it was brand new. The modular 850 was failing my system by shutting it off at random whenever I would try to play games, watch movies, or do anything that I got the system for in the first place. I put it in another system and it kept doing the same thing. It got so bad that I finally had to retire it. When you get a new PSU double and triple check to make sure it's UL rated and certified. Don't get a no-name PSU.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

Hey, pax. I'm not here to fight, but when strangers get shirty with me right off the bat, I react.

All I'm saying is that overkill is a good thing in PSUs. By the way, I'm an electronics technician with a science background, and I don't know what W DC is. All I'm saying is do all your calculations, and then beef it up, anyway.

actually, overkill is a problem. Most PSUs are at their best from 50-80% of their load. a 1000W PSU on a system drawing 250W will use MORE power than a 350W PSU on the same load.

 

[hexagonalbolts]

We RMA'd the PSU and got the same one back and it's all working well now, hurrah! No need to argue now