Antec power supply failures

[RobsTV]

This is not to debate the merits of quality Vs generic power supplies.
Of course quality should be much better, since you pay a premium.
But it may come as a surprise to some that quality parts fail too.
Just as often? Of course not. But, how often?

In poll, if you can choose multiple answers, try to answer highest choice. I know it may skew results to Antec, but I think enough like Antec to avoid wrong end results.

Having always used the cheap power supplies when building low cost gaming systems, (case with power supply for under $40), and never any failures in over 3 years and dozens of systems, updated my personal system to try out the Aria with it's 300w Antec supply.

In short, wasn't happy with temps and case, so went back to old Athenatech case, and moved the Aria to be used as an extra lan gaming rig. Very minimal parts used, such as onboard GF4 MX440 video, sound, lan. No AGP/PCI cards used. No overclocking Sempron 2400+. About as basic as you can get.

Died after about 6 months and 140 hours of light use. I was floored by this, because all posts say how great Antec is. More research on the net showed that they did have issues in the past. Is this isolated?

BTW, replacement power supply is on it's way back to me, which means down time will only be about 3 weeks. :frown:
Antec case used proprietary power supply, so I couldn't even use generic as a temporary solution.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Had about 130 total generic PSU failures. Not very fun.

 

[cbehnken]

I have about 4 antecs out of 4 fail on me. I switched to Enermax, no problems thus far.

 

[imported_rod]

Never had a PSU fail on me. The Antec Im using to type this has been going for more than 140 hours without a single glitch. I bought mine retail. Maybe yours was dodgy because you got it included with the case??? I dunno???

Also, if you notice more ppl with failed antecs in the poll, it'll be because so many ppl use antec.

RoD

 

[charlietee]

Out of well over 200 builds using Antec power supply's not one has failed...With a majority of the box's being used in a professional setting and seldom if every being turned off.

With the sheer number of Antec power supply's versus just about any brand you can compare them to out there...It should come as no suprise that you will find a larger number of people with Antec failures.

I personally have no problem recommending Antec supply's...200+ and 0 in my personal experience...Not bad.

One thing for sure...When I started, one of my first jobs was to build 10 AMD box's...Four had Kaa-Pow (Powmax) supply's and the other six had Deer supply's...One of the Deer's literally went up in smoke...Scared the hell out of me...And found the rails on the KaaPoww !!!! Max's to have the craziest I have ever seen.

I personally will not build a box using what I consider inferior power supply's...They provide the life blood to every componet in your computer and in my personal opinion are the foundation to building a stable and trouble free computer.

I like Antec cases...And consider Antec one of the few manufacturers that provide good power supply's and cases together...They are easily my weapon of choice and first consideration when putting a parts list together for an inexpensive box.

"BTW, replacement power supply is on it's way back to me, which means down time will only be about 3 weeks.
Antec case used proprietary power supply, so I couldn't even use generic as a temporary solution. "

I really do not understand the above statement "propietary power supply" Could or would you please explain to me how Antec power supply's are propietary...Or atleast tell me the model number in quesiton.

I bought a TruePower that made a popping noise...Called Antec and they gave me a RMA number no questions asked...When I started crying about not having a power supply while all this was going on they told me to give them a credit card number and they would send out my RMA that day and would return the money as soon as they recieved my power supply...Turns out that the AC socket that I was using had the positive and negative wires crossed and there was no ground...The "popping" noise was from the air conditioning turning on and off...Replaced the socket and hooked up the ground and she is still running with the exact same voltage to the rails...That has been over 4 years ago and that paticular computer is never turned off.

Antec ??? :thumbsup: Oh Yeah !!!!!

 

[RobsTV]

As stated in first post, case is Antec Aria, which uses a propietary Antec power supply.

I would disagree to the numbers of Antec supplies out there.
Very tiny amount compared to generic junk.
Junk makes up probably 95% of all PC's.

Since this thread should attract some power users, hopefully someone can explain this slightly off topic observation:

Why the need for high power?
Take a look at todays performance laptops.
You can get performance faster than most desktops (Dell i9300, P-M 2GHz, go6800 scores 4700+ 3dm2k5) with a cheap 65w power supply that has to handle all the motherboard, cpu, memory, DVD burner, HD, wireless G, Bluetooth, plus more AND the 17" laptop LCD, all at the same time, yet still remains 100% stable and reliable. Just a thought. To me eyes, looks like a lot of stuff is simple marketing bull. Not to say you can get by in a desktop with 65w, but if cheap 65w Dell can do that, you would think 300w generic would be more than enough to do LESS.

People do by cheap generic power supplies.
Newegg and Chiefvalue have Rosewill 300w supplies for about $12 delivered (when on sale every other week), and reviews all rate them highly. At least if it does go bad, it's not a huge loss. 300w junk that people actually like. Doing a quick check of Antec reviews at Newegg, and with about the same number of replies, sure seem like a lot report failures with Antec, while no one reported failures with Rosewill. Would I trade a $12 Rosewill 300w PS for a Antec 300w? At one time yes, but not anymore.

 

[0roo0roo]

i had a sl350 antec fail. sl is their low end though, and it did last a decent while. i guess i just stressed it beyond what it should have been doing for too long lol the plug literally welded to the pins of the m/b socket. scortched plastic and no way to rip that plug off, believe me i tried. my other antecs are fine. my older pos generic psu's had their fans die..then replaced, then just got tossed aside. its not so much whether its gonna fail, but whether its gonna be stable i guess. i like seasonic more though, efficiency+silence

 

[charlietee]

You state that the 300watt power supply in the Aria is propietary...Do you mean the 20pin ATX power connector for the motherboard ???

Or are you saying that a size or mounting screws are propietary ???

Most cheap arse cases you buy to build a system have real crap for the power supply's...But HP's...Gateways...Dell's...IBM's or have really good power supply's...Rumor control mill has it that some use PC Power & Cooling supplys.

My statement concerning Antec versus most other power supplys that are purchased by people who are building their own systems I feel holds water.

I thought we were comparing apples to apples...Laptop power supply's and micro ATX cube cases are really not in what I would call standard type desktop configuration and are completely different animals.

Glad you posted your poll because I am now aware of the Antec Aria...Looks like a great Micro Cube case...Last ones I checked out were the Shuttle and Solteks'

Compared to just about any power supply that is not what you term as junk Antec easily is the biggest seller...Way more than Enermax, Fortron, ThermalTake, PC Power & Cooling, Sparkle, Zippy, SeaSonic you name it...Would not suprise me if all them together sold less than Antec...In my humble opinion of course.

Just trying to get a grasp on your thread...It is fairly obvious that you are unhappy with your Antec Aria power supply failure...So are you trying to make a case that Antec power supplys are junk ??? Kinda confused as to what your intent is.

I would never build any kind of "gaming" box in a Cube box...Reason ??? Low watt power supply's, not so great thermal performance, the list just goes on and on...They are just not designed for a gaming platform...Most guys that build "gaming" box's do or usually will get around to overclocking...Either the video card or the processor, fsb or both...And believe me 300watt power supplys are not up to the these type applications.

If you do not mind could you please list the system spec's for the above mentioned system...Motherboard, processor, memory, hard drive, video card, every componet.

 

[RobsTV]

Originally posted by: charlietee
You state that the 300watt power supply in the Aria is propietary...Do you mean the 20pin ATX power connector for the motherboard ???

Or are you saying that a size or mounting screws are propietary ???

Yes, size of power supply and screw position is prorietory. Connectors are fine.

I thought we were comparing apples to apples...Laptop power supply's and micro ATX cube cases are really not in what I would call standard type desktop configuration and are completely different animals.

That was why I stated: "hopefully someone can explain this slightly off topic observation" about laptop power supplies. I knew it was off topic.

Just trying to get a grasp on your thread...It is fairly obvious that you are unhappy with your Antec Aria power supply failure...So are you trying to make a case that Antec power supplys are junk ??? Kinda confused as to what your intent is.

Yes, unhappy. Junk, no. Trying too see if mine was an isolated instance. I did more research after posting to discover stuff like Newegg reviews.

I would never build any kind of "gaming" box in a Cube box...Reason ??? Low watt power supply's, not so great thermal performance, the list just goes on and on...They are just not designed for a gaming platform...Most guys that build "gaming" box's do or usually will get around to overclocking...Either the video card or the processor, fsb or both...And believe me 300watt power supplys are not up to the these type applications.

Again, this goes back to the off topic laptop stuff.
If 65w supplies are more than enough for laptop gaming machines that will beat most desktops, then blanket statemenst about the need for high wattage power supplies make absolutely no sense. Laptops are different. But gaming laptops do prove that power supplies are not the key. All of the reasons listed go out the window. It doesn't get much worse than a laptop for thermals, yet users are overclocking the heck out of them. Swapping CPU's, increasing FSB, and overclocking video to the max are now commonplace. Again, 3dmark 2005 scores of 4700+ in a 65 watt laptop should show power supply can mean little for gamers.

In fact, many diehard gamers are now dumping desktops, and moving up to gaming laptops like Dell i9300 and XPS2 (XPS2 does use 150w I think, but has 6800 Ultra compared to non-Ultra 6800 in i9300). We have LAN parties every other Saturday, and the modern gaming laptops are the only way to go.

How do laptops relate to this thread?
Comes down to what do you Really Need, and what is overkill.
Do you need to get top of the line, name brand, high wattage power supply, or is it overkill when a 300w generic will work just as well? Will you feel better knowing the extra you paid for top of the line was needed, and will result in better reliability? Maybe. Maybe not.

 

[w00t]

it was a dell but when i switched to 20pin mobo it worked not quite she why but it did.

 

[RobsTV]

Originally posted by: charlietee
Glad you posted your poll because I am now aware of the Antec Aria...Looks like a great Micro Cube case...Last ones I checked out were the Shuttle and Solteks'

My initial Antec Aria review

Power supply arrived. Traded Aria for XP2200+.
Now going to try this:
Aspire X-QPACK Micro ATX Aluminum Case