Will this PSU work with my MOBO?

[zimmzimm]

I have a 24 pin MOBO and the coolmax 500w unit I want is a 20+4 power cable...www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817159062
will they work together, and will it be enough power for a mid range graphics card?

 

[waylander]

It will fit if that's what you're worried about....

On the other hand, I wouldn't take that psu if it was free. Like buying a car and putting a lawnmower engine in it.

 

[zimmzimm]

any reason why you wouldn't use it? Just so I know what to look out for...and it is actually free (With mail in rebate

 

[waylander]

The reason I wouldn't take it is because think about what it does... it provides 600w of power... 600w... if it's a cheap psu, which this one is (in terms of quality as well as cost) then what happens to the components that it's connected to when it goes? Bye bye video card, motherboard and cpu....

Nothing else in your computer will take anything else with it when it fails... bad motherboard? ok replace it... bad video card? replace that... bad psu? replace everything...

 

[adonlude]

Has anyone here actually had other components fried by their PSU failing? I am using a Coolamax 700W supply. I got it cuz it was well priced and there were only positive reviews. All modern PSU designs incorporate various forms of protection such as current limiting and over voltage protection so that if they fail they do so "gracefully". They are required to meet the ATX12V standard (See section 3.4):

http://www.formfactors.org/developer%5Cspecs%5CATX_ATX12V_PS_1_1.pdf

I am an electrical engineer and work on aircraft power supplies. I've even designed and built a simple forward converter. I have seen various supplies fail but I have never seen one suddenly start outputing a much higher voltage than it was meant to. To many things would have to go wrong for that to happen.

A cheaper PSU might use cheaper parts that could die earlier but they should still do so gracefully.

 

[waylander]

I'm sure you'll get other responses but yes a cheap psu CAN take other parts with it but the larger concern is whether it can supply the power required under operating temperatures. Cheaper psu's list their max wattage based on testing at 25C, top tier psu makers list their stable wattage based on testing at 40C.