Athena 950W PSU Replacement

[dstorm95]

My system has been running on an Athena 950W power supply (AP-P4ATX95FEPC) for the last year and a half. A few weeks ago, I added a second Sapphire 4870 1GB card which I had wanted to do when I first built it (hence the large power supply). This morning when I came down the computer was off and would not start. No fan, no anything. When I tried to start it, I heard a *snap* inside the case and have not been able to get it to do anything since. The circuit breaker for the wall outlet had been tripped, though I can't confirm whether that already happened when I pressed the button. We did have a lightning storm last night, but my surge protector still lights as working normally, so I don't think that was the culprit.

I have checked the following:
-good wall outlet
-good powercord
-tapped a screwdriver to the soft power to check the power button
-no burn marks or melted components in the rest of the case

After some research, I have concluded that the snap sound may have been the fuse blowing inside the power supply. I am 99% positive that my power supply is dead and have ordered the exact same power supply from Newegg to tide me over. What I am trying to determine are the following:

1.) What caused the death? Was it just the PSU's time? Did I have too much load on the supply? (see specs below; I would think if I had too much load, it would have burned out at a high performance moment, not at idle, but I really don't know).

2.) Should I purchase a different replacement and return the one I have coming? That power supply is rated for continuous performance at 950W and 40 degree Celsius case temps, but I am asking a lot of it. OC'ed processor and video cards plus 4 hard drives. It does run off of 4 rails, but it's certified for Crossfire so I would think the power load is spread correctly.

Current setup
-Q6600 OC'ed to 3.0 GHz
-Dual 4870's using Overdrive to get 840 MHz core and 1000MHz memory
-4 hard drives (three 1TB and one 2TB)
-8Gb DDR2 1066 RAM (I forget my timings, I don't know if they matter)
-2 CD/DVD drives
-1 Soundblaster X-fi Xtreme Gamer soundcard

I punched all this info into a calculator on the ASUS site and it recommended I have at least 900W available. I have the video cards overclocked using ATI overdrive, but they are driving 3 22" monitors and none of my games put a particular strain on them at stock, so I can always turn that off if it would push my PSU too far.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I'm going to drop by Best Buy tomorrow and see if they'll run a PSU tester on my current supply for my own satisfaction of knowing it is definitely dead (I haven't gotten a tester of my own yet, and I'm not confident of my multimeter skills in pronouncing death.) I also shot the manufacturer a message in case they will help.

 

[TemjinGold]

1) Online calculators grossly overestimate how much power you need.

2) That system draws no where NEAR 900 watts.

3) Your PSU is a crap brand, which means it most likely cannot output anywhere near what it advertises.

I would try to remove one card and see if it starts. That will tell you if it's dead. If it is, I would get a quality Antec/Corsair/Seasonic PSU in the 600 - 750W range.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

<snip>
I punched all this info into a calculator on the ASUS site and it recommended I have at least 900W available. I have the video cards overclocked using ATI overdrive, but they are driving 3 22" monitors and none of my games put a particular strain on them at stock, so I can always turn that off if it would push my PSU too far.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I'm going to drop by Best Buy tomorrow and see if they'll run a PSU tester on my current supply for my own satisfaction of knowing it is definitely dead (I haven't gotten a tester of my own yet, and I'm not confident of my multimeter skills in pronouncing death.) I also shot the manufacturer a message in case they will help.

900W? That's insane. Like TemjinGold says, online PSU calculators tend to overshoot, and apparently the Asus one overshoots by a lot.

eXtreme Power Supply Calculator recommends a 575w PSU for your system, based on the specs you posted, and a few guesses by me. http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

I wholeheartedly agree with TemjinGold's PSU recommendations. :thumbsup:

 

[bruceb]

Just a note: You have a surge protector. You took a known power hit / surge / spike. Just because it still lights up, does not mean the components inside it are still protecting your equipment as they should be. It may be in your best interest to replace it. Also, if you don't have one get a good APC Backup Power Supply. A nice one can be had for under $100 and not only provides protection, but allows enough time to safely shut down the computer when the commercial AC power goes out.

 

[dstorm95]

Thank you very much for the help. Newegg has already shipped my replacement Athena power supply; I need to get this computer up and running so I'll use that and replace it with a better one as soon as possible.

Is there a way to tell if my surge protector is actually working? I'm going to replace it either way, but if it did fail, I'd like to see if the company will replace any of my bad parts. On that note, does anybody have experience with asking a company to warranty their surge protectors?

I'll invest in a UPC next; I should have done it a while ago, but when I built the computer I was overbudget as it was and kept promising myself I'd get one later and depend on the surge protector as a stopgap.

In trying to get it to work, I actually removed every single power connection and tried adding them back in one by one (starting with the mobo) to get a response. No response from anything, so I think it is really and truly dead.

 

[TemjinGold]

Btw OP, I hate to tell you this but there's a fair chance you lost a lot more than just a PSU. I had a former roommate who had a shit PSU like you have and one morning after a thunderstorm, he woke up to the same thing. It turns out because his PSU was so crappy, it took his entire system with it. He had to completely rebuild a new machine from the ground up.

Not saying that's necessarily you but the situation seems eerily similar. Be ready.

 

[dstorm95]

Here's hoping it didn't fry my machine. I didn't see any melting or burns, but that only covers what I can see...

 

[dstorm95]

It was the power supply; everything came back fine once I swapped it out.

 

[TemjinGold]

Congrats. Sounds like you lucked out this time.