Will a Powersupply explosion be potentially dangerous?

[Smartazz]

I just told my brother to watch what happens when you use a cheap powersupply with a high end system, I told them they blow up, but he can care less. Should I just let him blow it up, or could this result in personal injury?

 

[Budman]

hey you tried to warm him but he didnt listen,you did your part.

Now sit back and watch the sparks fly then do your best simpson nelson muntz impression. HA-HA!!!

 

[Maximilian]

Its a possibility, hella slim possibility but its there. Maybe if hes standing around the back of the rig with his hand near the PSU when it blows.... but apart from that he should be fine.

 

[Smartazz]

What's the reason for a powersupply blowing up? What happens?

 

[acyf]

Personal injury? Whoa, not that I know of.

Sit back and watch all the high end stuff gone for hell.

 

[d2arcturus]

I highly doubt you can get injured from a power supply explosion, other than possibly inner ear damage if you like to put your head next to it for whatever asinine reason. (Edit: possibly burns as well if you like to do the head thing.) When someone says power supply "explosion" they are referring to the sound it makes, not an explosive shockwave propelled from the back of your computer case.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: Smartazz
What's the reason for a powersupply blowing up? What happens?

Too much load could blow it up. Caps failing may cause the same result, may simply cause it to just not work anymore.

When a PSU blows it makes a really loud bang, theres also a white flash, somtimes a burnt smell, although when i blew up my antec truepower 430 it didnt smell. The bang is loud enough to leave ringing in your ears for a good 5-10 minutes. Makes you appreciate electricity too and reading the manual to learn it shouldve been set on 240v and not 150 :frown:

 

[jonnyGURU]

Odds are, if he has a cheap PSU and is overloading it, either his PC will become unstable or the PSU is just going to die.

It may not blow up, and it's not likely that if it does blow up, it's going to kill other components. Possible? Yes. Likely? No.

Typically, when I overload a PSU on the load tester, it just goes "click" and ceases to work. No fireworks.

 

[Tiamat]

why care if he has the ability to care less? That's like saying that he is indifferent.

Perhaps you meant that he could not care less. That would imply that he doesn't give two 5hits about the power supply upgrade.

 

[corkyg]

Failure is more likely to result in a burn up rather than an explosion. You can always tell when a power supply goes - the smell lingers for days.

 

[soydios]

If the circuitry in the power supply works as it's supposed to, it'll shut down when it either overheats or detects an overload. I don't think you'll hear more than a pop from the PSU. It might take expensive components with it, or it might not.

 

[iamaelephant]

Explosions? Come on now, sounds like bollocks to me. I've never heard of a PSU exploding.

 

[fire400]

a few sparks will make him cry.

it will render his system useless in the long run.

let him do what he wants. people learn differently.

but.. my brother bought several cheap PSU's for an 820 system with a 7800GT and tried to convince himself it was going to work. not really, he bought the cheapest dual 12v rails PSU, it worked. I still recommended him a better PSU, but he wouldn't listen. so it depends on their attitude towards things.

 

[aatf510]

Originally posted by: Soviet
Too much load could blow it up. Caps failing may cause the same result, may simply cause it to just not work anymore.

When a PSU blows it makes a really loud bang, theres also a white flash, somtimes a burnt smell, although when i blew up my antec truepower 430 it didnt smell. The bang is loud enough to leave ringing in your ears for a good 5-10 minutes. Makes you appreciate electricity too and reading the manual to learn it shouldve been set on 240v and not 150 :frown:

Overloading a PSU is not exactly the same as putting 240v through a 110v circult. I think if you did the same thing (pluging some 110v equipment into 240v socket) with same more powerful equipment you can actually get injured.

 

[jose]

If it does catch fire, make sure to take pics.

 

[dwcal]

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU
Odds are, if he has a cheap PSU and is overloading it, either his PC will become unstable or the PSU is just going to die.

It may not blow up, and it's not likely that if it does blow up, it's going to kill other components. Possible? Yes. Likely? No.

Typically, when I overload a PSU on the load tester, it just goes "click" and ceases to work. No fireworks.

I'm with jonnyGURU. It'll probably be unstable and freeze when you're running a 3D game. A high end video card is the big power draw. Full CPU load like a Prime95 test might be stable too.

 

[Jeff7]

Exploding power supply? The worst that ever happened to me was a firecracker-like snap from a resistor that blew out. Hardly what I'd call an explosion though.

 

[fire400]

could cause a fire? small sparks go a long way. it will go as far also, at making you buy a new motherboard if you're unlucky.