PSU Failures... Why?

[jae]

Im trying to figure out why my machine and PSUs just dont get along. Im on my 2nd PSU and it just died! It hasnt even been whole year yet. My first PSU was an MGE 400W Vigor that i bought from LegendKiller. That died after about year and half - two years, day before I left for college. Then i bought the PSU that just died, MadDog 430W from Circuit City.

I woke up and noticed my computer was off and monitor was blinking. I go to turn it on and no post, no beep, drives dont light up, vid card fan is spinning but no video to monitor, cpu fan spins as well. Im thinking not this again..

What will cause PSUs to die so soon? I dont overclock, my machine isnt powerful/energy hungry.

 

[MegaVovaN]

You buy crappy PSUs.

 

[Operandi]

Stop buying junk, and you'll stop having failures. I've built probably 20+ systems for home, work, friends powered with FSP units, some going on six years of running 24/7 not a single unit has failed.

There's only about 500,000 threads dedicated to PSUs in the hardware forum, try the search function.

 

[Sdiver2489]

Originally posted by: Operandi
Stop buying junk, and you'll stop having failures. I've built probably 20+ systems for home, work, friends powered with FSP units, some going on six years of running 24/7 not a single unit has failed.

There's only about 500,000 threads dedicated to PSUs in the hardware forum, try the search function.

Legendkiller and Maddog...how can those awesome names be junk!?!?!

 

[dfnkt]

FSP is good, I genenerally tend to go with SPIs (Sparkle) when I replace the unit in someones hp/compaq/emachines for my business, good price, and they have been very reliable... But yes, go with something good, antecs, sparkle, seasonic, you want quality.

 

[Shadow Conception]

^haha. @sdiver

Do yourself a favor and buy brand-name PSUs like OCZ, SeaSonic, FSP Group/Fortron-Source, etc.

 

[jae]

I didnt have time to order something over the internet and wait a week for it to get to me. I needed it right then and it looked like it would be sufficient. I was told TOPOWER who makes them for MadDog has solid line of PSUs.

Is there something I dont know about LegendKiller?

 

[Puffnstuff]

Listen to the voice of experience here at AT and be enlightened. There are actually two things that you need to do and they are:
1. Buy a battery backup with line voltage regulation so your ps is fed clean power.
2. Buy a known high quality ps like enermax, fortron source, seasonic etc.. as was previously stated. Make sure that the amperage on the rails is high enough to meet the demands of your system today and tomorrow.

These two things will lead to ps happiness for all of your pc days.

 

[pradeep1]

Another thing you may want to check is the power strip or surge supressor that your computer connects to. If it is old or not properly working, it can screw up your PSU. This happened to my father. His computer got fried, so I rebuilt it, he plugs it in, and the computer has problems again. I replaced the PSU for a third time and on the last build, similar problems. I was using good quality Fortron Source (FSP) PSUs. Well it turns out that his old surge supressor from 1991 was shorting out or something and basically causing his PSUs to overload and burn out quickly.

Check that as well.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Puffnstuff
Listen to the voice of experience here at AT and be enlightened. There are actually two things that you need to do and they are:
1. Buy a battery backup with line voltage regulation so your ps is fed clean power.
2. Buy a known high quality ps like enermax, fortron source, seasonic etc.. as was previously stated. Make sure that the amperage on the rails is high enough to meet the demands of your system today and tomorrow.

These two things will lead to ps happiness for all of your pc days.

:thumbsup::laugh:

Option 1 = Buy a good UPS and quality PS... Costs more, but less time spent posting "Help me" threads.
Option 2 = Buy another "awesome name" PS for cheap... Costs less $$ but more time posting "Help me" threads.

Hmmmm... I wonder what the OP will do? :laugh:

 

[stevty2889]

As the others have already said, quit buying junk PSU's, you are lucky they aren't taking other compenents with them. The PSU is a very important part of the PC..it powers everything inside..your CPU, your video card, your hard drives..you risk damage to the rest of the computer by skimping out on the component that feeds them all..

 

[bobbyz]

I just got my first FSP PS. It is DOA. Now I need to RMA to newegg.