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PSU blew up

flexy

flexy

Diamond Member
Because many people claimed that the 520HX is a very good PSU i got me this PSU for my current build.

According to the PSU wattage calculator at http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp my sytem should draw a max 460-480. (Overclocked quad core, Geforce 8800GTS 512) so i thought the 520 should be plenty.

Before i got this i remember some people mention something on occasion about this PSU blowing up - but i didnt care.

Anyway i am writing this on a spare PC right now since the Corsair 520HX blew up yesterday while i did a graphics card stress test using "Furmark". Furmark heats up your card even more than Crysis benchmark.

PC shut down all of a sudden, then PSU tried to power-ip the PC a few times in very quick series...but failed. 5 Seconds later a spark flew from the back of the PC across the room.

I did an emergeny repair assuming it might only be the fuse. Too bad it was soldered on the PSU, anyway i replaced it. But the next power-up the PSU blew again.

I now express-ordered a Thermaltake Toughpower 750, i dont trust Corsair (which are actually Seasonic) anymore despites what people say. This PSU should not have had a problem with my build, i am not even running SLI!

G.
 
Read only good things about the TP. Maybe that Corsair PSU would also explain some random crashes i had and failure to OC my Quad over 3550 stable. I might have pushed my PC close to 500W (since literally everything is overclocked, higher voltages etc.)..but IMHO the Corsair shouldnt have had a problem with it. I only have ONE HD and ONE optical. The fact it blew while i did this benchmark is almost proof it couldnt handle the load.
Anyway waiting for thew new one in the mail today gives me time to re-arrange my horrible cable management 🙂

Also...cursing at that stupid Coolermaster Mystiqe 632S case which is extremely tight. I had to cut off metal bars to even remove the PSU, otherwise i would've had to disasemble 100% of the PC, board, HS, everything just to take out the PSU.
TP looks very good and price is also very reasonable.
 
Originally posted by: flexy
....i dont trust Corsair (which are actually Seasonic) anymore despites what people say. This PSU should not have had a problem with my build, i am not even running SLI!

G.
Click to expand...

I understand where you're coming from. Your first experience was a bad one. But EVERY product from ANY company has some failure rate. It may only be 1%, but even 3% failure rate is acceptable. Someone has to be that 1 in 33. This time it was you.
 
Originally posted by: flexy
I did an emergeny repair assuming it might only be the fuse. Too bad it was soldered on the PSU, anyway i replaced it.
Click to expand...

Didn't you just void the warranty?
 
99% of the time when the fuse blows replacing it will result in another blown fuse. This proves the transistor is the fastest fuse. 😉

Sounds like a bad PSU. Of course you were stress testing your video card in such a way that it could've made the power supply unstable and oscillated itself into oblivion. It would be interesting to repeat the same testing procedure with another 520HX to see if it can be reproduced.
 
well i have a overclocked 8800 GTS 512MB, quad q6600 running at 3540 1.45 vcore, 2x2gb ocz ram overclocked running at 2.21V, FSB,VTT also all notch higher, on a dfi x38. One sata, one optical, approx 5 USB devices.
4 120mm fans, 1 80mm, all drawing right off PSU, not motherboard. And i had one fan using the 7V Molex Mod (as mentioned in the other forum).

Config run fine for 1-2months, but yesterday i did this furmark test, giving me +4 degree more on the card than running crysis benchmark. i also reapplied thermal paste one the GTS (hell, did i just void another warranty? Yes 🙂 ) and i was measuring temps of the card (which were allright btw.) compared to stock cooling with AS5 on the GTS.

All in all not too much hardware, but the one i have i overclocked but in a range which is safe considered i am using air cooling. its not that i throw 1.5+ V on the CPU or something stupid 🙂

also.."stress testing" the gpu should NOT blow it up.

On my old build (the one i am right now) i used this old Enermax 420W, i even modded that PSU once since this old PSU ony had ONE 12V rail and was not even supposed to work on dfi NF4 lanpart.....and one day i even shorted it out bad with a DMM, making the DMM wires literally melt to liquid. PSU on again, and it still works so did the PC i am sitting right now! And the new Corsair explodes by running an extensive 3d test? 😉



 
I always wonder why people react so quickly to a product failing. ALL products can and will fail...sometimes you will get unlucky even with the best quality parts around. Also it's strange to void a warranty on a product with a high quality 5 year warranty instead of just rmaing the product and getting replacement. I'd consider the warranty on the corsair psu worth the weight in gold, it's a guarantee that even if you do get a bum psu, you can get it replaced. It boggles the mind how many people get a bad psu and don't warranty.

Mind you that's very different from the Ultra "lifetime warranty" low end psus. We know those have terrible power protections, parts, low efficiency, etc. It's obvious this is a quality product and therefore a failure is just a random occurance to be fixed via replacement.
 
In the past couple months I've encountered a bum PSU from antec, a bum motherboard from Foxconn, AND a bum WD Raptor. All bought from Newegg and RMA'd without issue and the replacements are rock-solid and work fine.

Sometimes you just hit a bad part.
 
Originally posted by: nerp
In the past couple months I've encountered a bum PSU from antec, a bum motherboard from Foxconn, AND a bum WD Raptor. All bought from Newegg and RMA'd without issue and the replacements are rock-solid and work fine.

Sometimes you just hit a bad part.
Click to expand...

Exactly my point 🙂 I mean hell, foxconn makes ALL three game consoles out there. And you notice that only the xbox 360 is failing a lot. A company itself cannot be held responsible for all failures unless they're negligent....which some are :disgust:
 
i am aware of the "1 in 100000"-issue. In fact just two weeks ago i posted a raving customer review about the 520HX on some major hardware site - and i was shouting at someone who argued the PSU was cr*p because "DH shipped it all dented in"....or at people saying its a bad PSU because the "1 in 1000000" odd accident happened to them.
Well, to be honest, if it happens to oneself its a different story then. Be it legitimate to think like this, or not.

Main purpose of the thread is actually to check whether other 520HX owners experienced something similar.

i was debating whether to get the corsair 620W as replacement....but...the fact that the other one blew up and the attractive price of the toughpower as well as higher wattage of the TP made me get this then instead.
 
Originally posted by: flexy
well i have a overclocked 8800 GTS 512MB, quad q6600 running at 3540 1.45 vcore, 2x2gb ocz ram overclocked running at 2.21V, FSB,VTT also all notch higher, on a dfi x38. One sata, one optical, approx 5 USB devices.
4 120mm fans, 1 80mm, all drawing right off PSU, not motherboard. And i had one fan using the 7V Molex Mod (as mentioned in the other forum).

Config run fine for 1-2months, but yesterday i did this furmark test, giving me +4 degree more on the card than running crysis benchmark. i also reapplied thermal paste one the GTS (hell, did i just void another warranty? Yes 🙂 ) and i was measuring temps of the card (which were allright btw.) compared to stock cooling with AS5 on the GTS.

All in all not too much hardware, but the one i have i overclocked but in a range which is safe considered i am using air cooling. its not that i throw 1.5+ V on the CPU or something stupid 🙂

also.."stress testing" the gpu should NOT blow it up.

On my old build (the one i am right now) i used this old Enermax 420W, i even modded that PSU once since this old PSU ony had ONE 12V rail and was not even supposed to work on dfi NF4 lanpart.....and one day i even shorted it out bad with a DMM, making the DMM wires literally melt to liquid. PSU on again, and it still works so did the PC i am sitting right now! And the new Corsair explodes by running an extensive 3d test? 😉
Click to expand...
I run a similar setup except I have 3 SATA HD and few more external HD and I am on the Antec TP480...and I run FM together with Prime with GFX and CPU oc to similar level....

And my PSU is a few years old...so I am very surprised your 520W blew on you....I only buy Antec these days....not saying other brands are inadequate.
 
Originally posted by: flexy
i am aware of the "1 in 100000"-issue.
Click to expand...

It's more like 1 in 100, or more realistically 1 in 50 or 30. The "odds" of getting a bad part aren't that astronomical. It happens all of the time. Trust me, I used to do RMA for TCWO and ASI.

Originally posted by: flexy
Main purpose of the thread is actually to check whether other 520HX owners experienced something similar.
Click to expand...

Then you went about it all wrong. The title of your post is more of a trolling than a call for opinion.
 
Originally posted by: flexy
Because many people claimed that the 520HX is a very good PSU i got me this PSU for my current build.

According to the PSU wattage calculator at http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp my sytem should draw a max 460-480. (Overclocked quad core, Geforce 8800GTS 512) so i thought the 520 should be plenty.

Before i got this i remember some people mention something on occasion about this PSU blowing up - but i didnt care.

Anyway i am writing this on a spare PC right now since the Corsair 520HX blew up yesterday while i did a graphics card stress test using "Furmark". Furmark heats up your card even more than Crysis benchmark.

PC shut down all of a sudden, then PSU tried to power-ip the PC a few times in very quick series...but failed. 5 Seconds later a spark flew from the back of the PC across the room.

I did an emergeny repair assuming it might only be the fuse. Too bad it was soldered on the PSU, anyway i replaced it. But the next power-up the PSU blew again.

I now express-ordered a Thermaltake Toughpower 750, i dont trust Corsair (which are actually Seasonic) anymore despites what people say. This PSU should not have had a problem with my build, i am not even running SLI!

G.
Click to expand...

No PSU or hardware is perfect,its impossible for any manufacturer to guarantee you'll get a working PSU or won't have any issues(even with high quality brands/parts etc..),I have had my fair share of hardware failures from quality brands ie AMD,Crucial etc... do I blame them for the failures?..nope because there will always be somebody getting a failure or issue with hardware regardless of the brand or quality in question.

Bottomline if you work or use PC hardware ,expect a hardware failure or fault to get around to you sooner or later.
 
i RMA-ed quite a bunch of stuff already, mem sticks, graphics cards. Anyway new TP PSU is installed and comp is up again. I feel a litttle safer with the higher wattage, always good for overclocking 🙂 Btw. its modular, as was the HX, too bad plugs are not comaptible....and it has a 8 (!) pin pcie connector hard-wired to it. Since right now 99% of pcie cards are still 6 pin i need to plug in an extra modular 6pin pcie-x connector (its included) or use the included adapter. Kind of defies the purpose if its MODULAR, but then still one hard-wired cable coming out of the PSU now hanging there unused.
 
Originally posted by: flexy
Anyway new TP PSU is installed and comp is up again. I feel a litttle safer with the higher wattage
Click to expand...

Having a higher wattage doesn't mean a damn, when a product fails it will fail no matter the wattage. What really matters is the protection the PSU's components offer, the fact the Corsair didn't take any part of your system with it is testament alone to quality.
 
duwelon:

480W assumed that ALL components are at MAX running, this already including overclock and higher vcore taken into consideration.
Since 480W is lower than 520...this should answer your question? 🙂 Besides, i heard many good things about the corsair and didnt think it would be a problem especially in a single-GPU environment.

I heard people running this same PSU with TWO GTS. Thats why i got it.

I am still amazed that looking at the busted PSU i dont see any burn-marks, busted parts or smell. I am not THAT technically equipped to find out what was going on...besides i still have respect of that thing respective the fact that the cap might still hold some voltage. So i dont really touch it 🙂

I have to be with jonny there, the new Toughpower is actually pretty ugly compared to the corsairs.

 
I guess i would have gone with something a littler higher for more buffer, but i see your point. Bummer on the bad PSU.
 
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