Blown First EVER psu

[arnzzz]

Today i had the biggest shock.

I was running prime95 as im trying different thermal pastes,

everything seemed fine for 20 minutes when i heard a pop, and could see small

flashes of light from behind my rig. I was kinda shocked into not doing anything

for about 10 seconds before i jumped down and pulled the power cord out!!!

At this point i had no idea what had gone wrong as im new to this game, i had this

terrible feeling it maybe serious. I thought if it is just the PSU what if that violent

moment it had did some serious damage elsewhere as im sure can happen.

so i ripped my rig to peices and put it together on my desk, i could smell burning from

the psu a little relieved that hopefully it was just that.

I visually checked all other components until i was happy to stick another psu on

and try booting. Luckily it seems to be ok.

so the morale of this story, NEVER BUY A CHEAP PSU!!!!!!!!!

this thing cost me £15 for a 700w psu. i thought i was saving some money on the

overall build but **** me, i was wrong. It could of just cost me a new motherboard

or cpu or both!!!!!

SOrry for this rant, just hope anyone thinking of saving a few quid on a PSU when

doing their first rig reads this and thinks "nah, better get a good one".

 

[yassarikhan786]

You should have really known better. It is said so many times to never skimp on the PSU. i.e. the heart of the system. If the heart is weak the body will not function properly and that is the case with computers.

 

[WillSK]

15 quid for a psu.. shoulda really known better as Yass said. That said my first PSU for my latest system blew and it was a decent NZXT Hale90. Gone with a corsair HX750 as a replacement

 

[Rastalovich]

Oh, but get back to the smell... need more details

(been ages since I've smelt a burning circuit

)

For £15, just take it as an experience tbh.

 

[arnzzz]

TOTALLY agree i should never have done it.....i drop my head in shame

skint at the mo so ive had to put another old psu i had lying around in the rig, wont be running any more

prime95 till i get a decent power supply for sure

Just bought Crysis Maximum Edition, hopefully that wont put to much pressure on the system.

 

[PetrolHead247]

A lesson well learnt i'd say. Good job the rest of your components are fine, normally when these cheap POS PSU's go bang they take the rest of the PC with it, but luckily your system was fine. When i buy a PSU i always make sure it's a quality brand, the unit it self is rated at 80 Plus or 80 Plus Bronze at least and i make sure it has enough oomph for my rig too (but the last one is an obvious one)

 

[arnzzz]

im thinking maybe ill spend £60-70 on a 650-700watt psu. i mean obviously id like to spent £300 on

a nice killer modular Enermax 1.25Kw unit but thats just not gonna happen not in this life anyway lol

anyways, thanks for your input peeps, and long live your power supplies

 

[Rastalovich]

Have to be honest. There are uses for these £15 psus, and I don't mean as props for YouTube experimental explosion tests

They do have their place, but I'd never stick them in what I'd consider a quality build or something I'd expect 700w out of if that's what the label stated. A simple 500w episode (for a branded 700w psu), almost oem build, with no oc, no messing about, only office-esq stuff, and they do work "well".

Quality of the components for the job in hand is what it's all about, always.

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

Price has nothing to do with quality. I got my AX850 NEW for $30.

 

[Rastalovich]

Very nice.

 

[Jason-CL]

It's funny, but most people don't think of a PSU as being the most important part of their rig. They really should. I would NEVER, EVER buy a cheap PSU. A PSU can literally make or break your system. A good friend of mine had a Thermaltake PSU take out his 3 HDD's, Mobo/cpu/ram a little over a month ago. No power surge/spike or anything. Just fried everything while he was watching a youtube video (though I'm sure he wasn't watching youtube :b )

Go with a PSU that has good Reviews. Corsair/Seasonic, OCZ, NZXT to name a few. And go modular. Chicks dig modular PSU's.

 

[MaXiMiZe]

£15 for a 700w !!! I'm shocked to say the least. Fortunately your other components are in working order and you've learnt something

 

[arnzzz]

Price has nothing to do with quality. I got my AX850 NEW for $30.

WOW!!! that is really impressive, you must have some mad negotiating skills

I most certainly have learned something from this experience.

@XNine, i was one of those people who saw the PSU as something i could save money on as i didn't think it was that

important lol. I just went for a cheap one with high wattage

false economy i now know.

But I have some good news, my seriously awesome, amazing, best ever ever ever girlfriend in the whole wide world has taken it

upon herself to order me a Corsair TX650 v2

which if you look at my components is probably going to be a perfect match

I'm soooooo happy, finally joining the ranks of those with decent guts in the rig

lots of smilies in this post sorry haha, i'm just happy this has turned out ok that's all

, very easily could have been a sad tale, not

a learning experience with a happy ending