Which new power supply??

JoLLyRoGer

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2000
4,153
4
81
Sorry for not posting in Power Supply's but I need a very quick answer on this one so I know if I should cancel an order I've already placed before it's too late! (Mods please don't relocate me!! Thx...)

Getting straight to the point:
Should I cancel my order for a CM RS-850-EMBA REAL POWER PRO for $129.00 + Shipping ($142.52 total) and buy the Corsair 620HX for $119.00 shipped?

(Because a modular PS would be sweet AND after all, it's a Corsair).


Background Info for those interested
The Rig:
ABIT IP35 Pro
Q6600
ZALMAN CNPS9700 (HSF)
4GB XMS2 PC6400 (Corsair)
Nvidia GeForce 7900GS
3x WD1600YS Caviar 7200RPM/160GB/Sata 3.0
Lite-On CD/DVD-RW
On Board Sound
Antec 900 (4x 120mm Fans / 1x 200mm Fan)

Cliffs:
1. Built a new rig and though I would at least attempt to get away with an el-cheapo PS that came w/ a different case order last year.

2. PS was rated at 560w (Single 12v rail @20A)

3. PS smoked within 10 seconds of initial power on (In retrospect, I'm not all that surprised/hope I didn't damage anything else!! :shocked:)

4. Ordered CM RS-850-EMBA REAL POWER PRO from CVS last night under the impression that I would get it for about $70.00 but did not pay attention to detail and realized this morning that the $60.00 rebate expired on Dec 31 - Final selling price: $129.99 + S&H ($142.52 total) but I'm OK with it, the CM 850/1000-EMBA series are getting very good reviews.

5. Checked Hot Deals this morning and found Corsair 620HX for $119.00 shipped @ Buy.com Keep the CM order or dump it for the Corsair??



Info pertaining to cause of failure: (copied from below)

I was pretty careful durring the build taking my time to make sure all connections were properly seated and cables were properly dressed.

The only grey area I has was connecting the power/reset/HDD-Led headers:

The book that came with the case did not indicate which color wire going to the switches was positive although the header on the mobo did. I took my best guess that the three white wires were all positive and the black (for power)/navy (for reset)/and plum (for HDD-Led) were the negatives.

Although I don't think this matters because you can effectively emulate the power/reset switches by momentarily shorting the respective header with a screwdriver and if the LED was backwards it just wouldn't light up.

All other connections were correct. The only other thing that could have possibly caused a short would be some of the Artic Silver somehow getting down into the CPU socket or one of the fans.


Here is the actual behaviour I experienced:

Initial power up:

- Powered on PSU, MOBO diagnostic read 01.

- Powered up computer

- Everything fired up, Fans, leds, etc. and died after about 8 seconds.

- The POST code from the motherboard froze at 8.2. (as indicated by the IP35 Pro's LED diagnostic) which is defined as "Enable ATX Power".

- Hard Powerd down PSU and cleared CMOS

- 2nd attempt at power up netted the same result only sooner and the 200mm case fan barely started to spin up.

- Did another hard power down

- Disconnected all case fans except 1 and attempted a 3rd powerup

- Powered on PSU and MOBO read Diagnostic code 01 again

- Powered up computer

- Led's came on but the single case fan and CPU fan would not even start

- Got POST code 8.2. again after less than 2 seconds and smelled charred components.

- Did a sniff test and visual inspection of the mobo and components - seems OK

- Sniff test of PSU reaked

- Removed and disassymbled PSU and did visual inspection / nothing remarkable - but it stinks to high heaven.

- I'm hoping this is just a PSU problem and not something else

 

happy medium

Lifer
Jun 8, 2003
14,387
480
126
18 more amps on the 12v rail, 85% efficiency,200 more watts for 22$ more......Keep it!:thumbsup:
 

DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
4,902
0
71
Neither, since you don't need nearly that much power. Corsair's 520HX is more than enough, if you want to go that route.
 

JoLLyRoGer

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2000
4,153
4
81
Originally posted by: DSF
Neither, since you don't need nearly that much power. Corsair's 520HX is more than enough, if you want to go that route.

Probably true, but since I just got through torching a 560w PS (albeit an extremely shitty one), I'd like just a little more headroom than the 520HX.

And...

I'll definately concede that if we were to approach this with logic and reason, Corsair's 520HX product is more than up to the task and that a bottom line wattage rating doesn't necessarily mean jack when comparing "top-o-the-line apples" to "chinese-sweat-shop oranges"

But...

In this case it's just a peace of mind thing - kinda like feeling good about buying more GHz even though that's a farce too ;).

Basically, I want to feel good knowing that I can OC this thing to the moon and install the next generation GeForce ASDF-99000000-JKL; GTXOCWTFBBQ with no worries.
 

JackMDS

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 25, 1999
29,516
408
126
I would check very carefully the system.

Your PSU did not "die" because of lack of power.

Either it was a "Bad" unit, or there is a short in the system that caused it.
 

happy medium

Lifer
Jun 8, 2003
14,387
480
126
Originally posted by: DSF
Neither, since you don't need nearly that much power. Corsair's 520HX is more than enough, if you want to go that route.


With a quad cpu (someday overclocked),3 hard drives,5 case fans, and a 8850gx2 or 8900gtx (someday?), I don't see a reason to skimp on his psu.
 

JoLLyRoGer

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2000
4,153
4
81
I also realize that the 850 from CoolerMaster is waaaayy overkill too but I was originally purchasing it under the guise that I would be getting a $60.00 MIR. But since I'll be paying full price this is not the deal it used to be which is why I'm considering canceling the order.

As far as the Corsairs go the price difference between the 520 and 620 is $90.00 shipped vs. $120.00 shipped. So is it worth it?? I'm not really sure... I just want something that is high quality, will support a healthy overclock and continue to deliver enough clean power while remaining relatively cool and quiet.
 

JoLLyRoGer

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2000
4,153
4
81
Originally posted by: JackMDS
I would check very carefully the system.

Your PSU did not "die" because of lack of power.

Either it was a "Bad" unit, or there is a short in the system that caused it.

I was pretty careful durring the build taking my time to make sure all connections were properly seated and cables were properly dressed.

The only grey area I has was connecting the power/reset/HDD-Led headers:

The book that came with the case did not indicate which color wire going to the switches was positive although the header on the mobo did. I took my best guess that the three white wires were all positive and the black (for power)/navy (for reset)/and plum (for HDD-Led) were the negatives.

Although I don't think this matters because you can effectively emulate the power/reset switches by momentarily shorting the respective header with a screwdriver and if the LED was backwards it just wouldn't light up.

All other connections were correct. The only other thing that could have possibly caused a short would be some of the Artic Silver somehow getting down into the CPU socket or one of the fans.


Here is the actual behaviour I experienced:

Initial power up:

- Powered on PSU, MOBO diagnostic read 01.

- Powered up computer

- Everything fired up, Fans, leds, etc. and died after about 8 seconds.

- The POST code from the motherboard froze at 8.2. (as indicated by the IP35 Pro's LED diagnostic) which is defined as "Enable ATX Power".

- Hard Powerd down PSU and cleared CMOS

- 2nd attempt at power up netted the same result only sooner and the 200mm case fan barely started to spin up.

- Did another hard power down

- Disconnected all case fans except 1 and attempted a 3rd powerup

- Powered on PSU and MOBO read Diagnostic code 01 again

- Powered up computer

- Led's came on but the single case fan and CPU fan would not even start

- Got POST code 8.2. again after less than 2 seconds and smelled charred components.

- Did a sniff test and visual inspection of the mobo and components - seems OK

- Sniff test of PSU reaked

- Removed and disassymbled PSU and did visual inspection / nothing remarkable - but it stinks to high heaven.

- I'm hoping this is just a PSU problem and not something else



 

DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
4,902
0
71
Originally posted by: happy medium
Originally posted by: DSF
Neither, since you don't need nearly that much power. Corsair's 520HX is more than enough, if you want to go that route.


With a quad cpu (someday overclocked),3 hard drives,5 case fans, and a 8850gx2 or 8900gtx (someday?), I don't see a reason to skimp on his psu.

The Corsair 520, or a similar unit from Seasonic, PCP&C, etc. isn't skimping. Even with what you listed, the 520 would be enough, and it wouldn't be cutting it close. A modern computer with an 8800GT and a Core2Duo draws something like 200W from the wall at full load.
 

JoLLyRoGer

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2000
4,153
4
81
Originally posted by: DSF
Originally posted by: happy medium
Originally posted by: DSF
Neither, since you don't need nearly that much power. Corsair's 520HX is more than enough, if you want to go that route.


With a quad cpu (someday overclocked),3 hard drives,5 case fans, and a 8850gx2 or 8900gtx (someday?), I don't see a reason to skimp on his psu.

The Corsair 520, or a similar unit from Seasonic, PCP&C, etc. isn't skimping. Even with what you listed, the 520 would be enough, and it wouldn't be cutting it close. A modern computer with an 8800GT and a Core2Duo draws something like 200W from the wall at full load.

I just canceled my order on the CM 850 and settled on a Corsair VX550 from Buy.com for $68 AMIR - $10.00 w/ Google checkout.

The VX550 is a different OEM (Channelwell) then the HX520 (Seasonic) and it's not modular either, but the price seemed right. Also hardocp compared both of these and they're pretty evenly matched so here's hoping this will fix things...

When I reassemble w/ the new Corsair PSU, I'm going to strip everything out and start with just the MOBO, CPU, GPU, and 1 stick of RAM and work everything else in from there.
 

Skott

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2005
5,730
1
76
I dont consider the Corsair HX620w overkill but it is at the top end of what you'll ever need for single card setups for the forseable future. So if I was to suggest something other than the HX620w then it would be the HX520w model. Corsair is a better product all around compared to CM but thats just my own personal opinion.