PSU blew up

[njdevilsfan87]

I thought I remember reading somewhere... it was something like, if your computer hardware doesn't fail within X amount of time (wasn't long, maybe like a month tops), they should last on average for Y amount of time.

 

[Muse]

I had big problems last week, and I had the same PSU in there, the Corsair HX520w. First symptoms were no video, no post. I tested the video card in my other system and got the same behavior, so I set up an RMA on the video card.

I put a spare video card in the system but got no response from the power button. Figuring the PSU had died, I put in my Antec True430 and in a second it burned out. Could smell it, and opening it, I see boiled capacitors.

I tested the Corsair PSU outside of my systems and it tests fine, worked fine for me all yesterday with a replacement mobo and video card.

Conclusion is that the mobo was the culprit, and it burned out the original video card, the one I replaced it with and the Antec PSU. However, the Corsair PSU is still OK. Fortunately, my DDR seems alright (one pass of memtest86+ on each stick, separately shows no errors, anyway, and the system's been running stable for 12 hours or so), HDs, DVD-RW, PCI cards used so far seem to function OK.

That mobo (MSI K8N Neo-FSR/ V V2.0 OEM) looks fine on careful inspection but I wouldn't dare plug anything into it. As an OEM, MSI will not grant me service. It was 8 months since I bought it from geeks.com.

I figure I need another PSU, just so I have a backup (and the PSU in my backup system now, is a cheapie), so I'm looking. I'm wondering about the deal now at buy.com for the Corsair VX550. Is that a good unit? How does that compare with my HX520w?

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: Muse
I figure I need another PSU, just so I have a backup (and the PSU in my backup system now, is a cheapie), so I'm looking. I'm wondering about the deal now at buy.com for the Corsair VX550. Is that a good unit? How does that compare with my HX520w?

About exactly the same and it is a good unit, I think HardOCP has a review has a review comparing the two.

 

[bryanW1995]

I have an hx520 in my opty 180 system and an hx620 in my e6750 system. Both are rock solid, though I don't really push them all that hard. I am planning a Q9450 upgrade soon, however, so hopefully I'll give the 620 a little more to do soon

I think that it's a good thing the OP had a decent psu. Even though it fried, it is also not uncommon for a bad psu (or mobo) to destroy several other components around it. I know that there are several other brands that are better than seasonic, but it's definitely a good budget high-end part imho.

@muse: I believe that the vx550 is very similar to the hx520 but is not modular.


ps: @OP, did you ever stop to think that you might have screwed up the psu by having such poor case airflow? The hx520 sucks its cooling air in from the 140mm fan that faces the interior of your case. If you have very poor case airflow and a highly oc'd quad, that case should be getting VERY hot. Fix your airflow problem to prevent future psu problems.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

@muse: I believe that the vx550 is very similar to the hx520 but is not modular.

Thanks. I pretty much figured that the major difference was the lack of modularity, which for me would mean probably a bunch more cables dangling in my midtower case. I always take some long twist-ties and try to neaten things up, both for accessibility to components and to increase airflow.

 

[MarcVenice]

They are both fine units, but there's more to it then one being modular and the other not being modular. The 520hx is a seasonic OEM, the 550vx is a CWT oem. Anyways, the 550vx for 65$ is a awesome deal.

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

ps: @OP, did you ever stop to think that you might have screwed up the psu by having such poor case airflow? The hx520 sucks its cooling air in from the 140mm fan that faces the interior of your case. If you have very poor case airflow and a highly oc'd quad, that case should be getting VERY hot. Fix your airflow problem to prevent future psu problems.

bryan,

my airflow is EXCELLENT. (I really think so)

I say this since i am one of the few mounting a ultra-extreme CPU heatsink vertically and NOT horizontally (as many do). It barely fit...but it worked.

I now have three 120mm fans w/ airflow "in line"..sucking in from the front, then goin to the ultra and further to the 120mm exhaust, blowing out.

In addition - i added a SECOND 120mm in front as well as a 80mm in the 3.5 bay since i only have one optical, resulting in a huge open space in front. In those empty drive spaces i placed the additional fans. My case is a fricking wind-tunnel now

I also replaced all stock fans with better ones.

I really think that i MIGHT have pushed the 520 too far, respective was going close to 480-500W for my whole system....the unit maybe had a flaw and tolerance was lower than it was supposed to be. "Proof" is that it popped while i did this furmark 3d benchmark and put some heavy load on the GPU.

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

@muse: I believe that the vx550 is very similar to the hx520 but is not modular.

Thanks. I pretty much figured that the major difference was the lack of modularity, which for me would mean probably a bunch more cables dangling in my midtower case. I always take some long twist-ties and try to neaten things up, both for accessibility to components and to increase airflow.

must-have. Replacing the PSU gave me time to re-do this, besides the Corsair/TT modular cables are not compatible....so i had to re-do all this wiring anyway. Always looking that no wires are blocking any intake spaces and there is a clear line fan ---> target with no wires in between.

On a sidenote:

I like the "old style" PSUs better, eg. my old Enermax with fan on botton AND one exhausting. I think its odd that most (?) of the current PSUs dont have this exhaust fan anymore. Those beasts DO get hot, saving a fan right there doesnt make sense. (IMO). The old Enermax even had a pot for adjusting the speed. I just didnt go with Enermax this time since i heard about incompatibilties with my current board.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: flexy
I like the "old style" PSUs better, eg. my old Enermax with fan on botton AND one exhausting. I think its odd that most (?) of the current PSUs dont have this exhaust fan anymore. Those beasts DO get hot, saving a fan right there doesnt make sense. (IMO). The old Enermax even had a pot for adjusting the speed. I just didnt go with Enermax this time since i heard about incompatibilties with my current board.

Even Enermax has gone away from pairs of 80's.

Those two 80's only moved as much as air a 120MM. To move more, they'd be louder than you'd like. Also, PSU's are more efficient these days and don't need as much airflow as they did when Enermax was putting 80MM fans on PSU's.

 

[Martimus]

I have found that PSU's seem to blow up often (not weekly or anything like that, but every 1 or 2 years) when you have dirty power, but I figured that Corsairs have better protection against that than most PSU's. Maybe I was wrong. PC P&C seems to do well in that situation at least, at least in my experience.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: Martimus
I have found that PSU's seem to blow up often (not weekly or anything like that, but every 1 or 2 years) when you have dirty power, but I figured that Corsairs have better protection against that than most PSU's. Maybe I was wrong. PC P&C seems to do well in that situation at least, at least in my experience.

Corsairs do have better protection, as do most quality, enthusiast PSU's.

The Silencer in your sig is identical to a Corsair VX550, HX520 or HX620 in every way buy the heatsinks, cooling solution and brand of caps. That includes being identical throughout the entire primary stage including the transient filter.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
They are both fine units, but there's more to it then one being modular and the other not being modular. The 520hx is a seasonic OEM, the 550vx is a CWT oem. Anyways, the 550vx for 65$ is a awesome deal.

I bought the vx550w at buy.com last night. I got an email from buy.com saying I would get a $20 discount on any order of at least $80 if I used Google Checkout within the next week. Apparently it's for "select customers" (don't know why I was selected). How convenient! The before tax and MIR charge for this was about $85. So, I basically got it for ~$51, shipped (and it shipped today and should have it in a couple of days)!

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU

Originally posted by: Martimus
I have found that PSU's seem to blow up often (not weekly or anything like that, but every 1 or 2 years) when you have dirty power, but I figured that Corsairs have better protection against that than most PSU's. Maybe I was wrong. PC P&C seems to do well in that situation at least, at least in my experience.

Corsairs do have better protection, as do most quality, enthusiast PSU's.

The Silencer in your sig is identical to a Corsair VX550, HX520 or HX620 in every way buy the heatsinks, cooling solution and brand of caps. That includes being identical throughout the entire primary stage including the transient filter.

isn't the hx520 seasonic while the vx550 is CWT though?

 

[HOOfan 1]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU

Originally posted by: Martimus
I have found that PSU's seem to blow up often (not weekly or anything like that, but every 1 or 2 years) when you have dirty power, but I figured that Corsairs have better protection against that than most PSU's. Maybe I was wrong. PC P&C seems to do well in that situation at least, at least in my experience.

Corsairs do have better protection, as do most quality, enthusiast PSU's.

The Silencer in your sig is identical to a Corsair VX550, HX520 or HX620 in every way buy the heatsinks, cooling solution and brand of caps. That includes being identical throughout the entire primary stage including the transient filter.

isn't the hx520 seasonic while the vx550 is CWT though?

My guess is he meant the TX650

 

[Cheezeit]

There's many more people who own this PSU, me being one of them. I like it for being quiet and stable.
However, people will not post threads just to say that their PSU performs as expected, so it seems that there are many people who's PSU's are blowing up. Thats why just a few 1 in 10000 incidents make it seem like failure is widespread.