OC3D PSU tester claims its first victim!

[JN]

In an act of boredom this morning I decided to grab the nearest PSU to me and see how far above its rated output it would go before OCP kicked in and safely switched the PSU off. The nearest PSU happened to be a 350w Silverstone Strider...so not a budget pile of trash (apparently).

350w was soon reached, PSU was ticking along happily with real good voltage and ripple results.

450w was a doddle too. The PSU held up just fine even with 30a load on the +12v rails.

500w arrived and still the PSU was humming along happily. I was totally shocked and ready to make a post on the forum at just how good this PSU was.

But surely over current protection should have kicked in by now? Unless of course the PSU was simply a rebranded 500w unit.

515w was the next step...and the PSU had a nervous breakdown. +12v rail was running at 10v, ripple was up to 250mV (from 20mV) and the PSU started emmiting a high pitched squeal that would have had nearby dogs howling.

520w....and everythng cuts out. Could this be OCP kicking in....erm nope, the PSU is officially DEAD. Disconnecting power, leaving it 20 minutes and trying to power on with 0 load using jump start method just makes a zapping sound inside the PSU, with no other signs of life.

(un)fortunately there was no flames or massive explosions, but it just goes to show that you need to keep an eye on how much power your drawing from your PSU. OCP doesn't always work and all it takes is a measly 20w to send a PSU over the edge, deliveryign some nasty outputs to your precious components.

 

[mrapoc]

aww no flames/explosion

ah well

just goes to show that even well branded products aren't trustworthy =/

 

[tinytomlogan]

*now wonders if its that killing ram @ DL rig*

 

[Mul.]

aww no flames/explosion

ah well

just goes to show that even well branded products aren't trustworthy =/

On the contrary, surely the highlighted results have shown that well branded products are trustworthy? Naturally, any PSU will fail when pushed above it's specification. The question however with PSU's are whether the rated power outputs are too optimistic to start off with or whether they were well within reasonable boundaries.

In the context of the PSU that Jim tortured, not only did it manage to run at it's max rated power output with solid voltage rails but it managed to run successfully at over 40% above what's expected of it! Silverstone have clearly left a fair margin of headroom when rating their power supplies and that is very reassuring. Cheaper brands could well have tried to sell the same PSU as a 600W product.

 

[FarFarAway]

Agreed with Mul. Goes to show, that's a damn bargain of a PSU and anyone on a real budget would do well buying one

 

[Diablo]

Agreed, 500w from a 350w is pretty good. Shame there was not explosion, and that OCP didn't kick in, but this is 140% of load

 

[Rastalovich]

Agreed, and although we do tend to look at the equipment used for builds, and tend to throw hissy fits when stuff breaks or fails on occasion - strictly speaking when building even the simplest of pcs - we are the oem. As the oem u/we should be taking into consideration what the power requirements are for the system being built and taking an educated lean on what sort of psu u use.

We should, although I can guess a high % of home builders don't, look at all the components, rate the power, add an overhead % (especially for OCing and headroom), and using a psu accordingly.

Putting a quality 350w psu in a system ur questioning might need 400w is forgivable, as ur relying on the manufacturer being that-good with their build. The Silverstone depicted went up to 500w b4 losing it's marbles.

BUT if u think it needs 400w (including the headroom), u should ~strictly speaking~ go with a 400/450/500w badged psu.

To be honest, there are dangers in building pcs at home, but they're hardly ever spoken about.

Even so, as Jim was w8ing for the unit to cut-off, so would I tbh. A system designed for 350 can escalate it's power requirements from other faulty components - hence u do need the cutt-off there as a safety matter. Harddrives are notorious power hogs when faulty. Multiply that if a whole raid goes when ur out of the house.

Jim could add this in the testing of all the psu he gets, the manufacturer would ofc need to be aware he's going to do this - and at the same time, builders will need to be aware that this is testing the safety concerns and DEFINITELY not saying "this 350w can be used as a 500w, but not over".

I'd contact Silverstone for comment if it were a legit review/test in this case. (obviously Jim was looking for flames and smoke in this case )

It should act as a wake-up call to those who don't seriously consider the power reqs of their build - ur duty bound to do so, particularly if building for other people. People using those psu(s) that run damn close to their requirements almost certainly know that they're doing it and shouldn't be used as a common method of psu use.

 

[mrapoc]

On the contrary, surely the highlighted results have shown that well branded products are trustworthy? Naturally, any PSU will fail when pushed above it's specification. The question however with PSU's are whether the rated power outputs are too optimistic to start off with or whether they were well within reasonable boundaries.

In the context of the PSU that Jim tortured, not only did it manage to run at it's max rated power output with solid voltage rails but it managed to run successfully at over 40% above what's expected of it! Silverstone have clearly left a fair margin of headroom when rating their power supplies and that is very reassuring. Cheaper brands could well have tried to sell the same PSU as a 600W product.

I did think of it that way but I meant in a safety aspect - it should have cut out before that point

 

[lasher]

Just waiting for Jim's lass to read this post and start wondering if the flooring needs to be flame proof, thats after she checks the house insurance policy for fire damage!

 

[Rastalovich]

*hopes Jim does infact have the correct type of fire-extinguisher in the room*

 

[monkey7]

He had that 5kg co2 extinguisher remember

Indeed a quality PSU being able to sustain 140%, but the OCP not kicking in is just sloppy in my opinion. If OCP kicked in at 450W (safety margin of 50W) the components would probably still live. With the voltages it gave at 510 / 520W you would probably lose your harddisk, graphics card and most probably motherboard + CPU + RAM too.

 

[Mul.]

I did think of it that way but I meant in a safety aspect - it should have cut out before that point

He had that 5kg co2 extinguisher remember

Indeed a quality PSU being able to sustain 140%, but the OCP not kicking in is just sloppy in my opinion. If OCP kicked in at 450W (safety margin of 50W) the components would probably still live. With the voltages it gave at 510 / 520W you would probably lose your harddisk, graphics card and most probably motherboard + CPU + RAM too.

Very fair points about safety and OCP. Certainly would've been nice to see it carry out a safe shut down before the 520W mark.

 

[JN]

Jim could add this in the testing of all the psu he gets, the manufacturer would ofc need to be aware he's going to do this - and at the same time, builders will need to be aware that this is testing the safety concerns and DEFINITELY not saying "this 350w can be used as a 500w, but not over".

This is something I've thought about including in reviews a number of times but have been put off about doing for that exact reason. I dont want people to read the review and then start telling people on other forums "buy the 350w - it runs at up to 500w". On the other hand a 'max load' test could help differentiate a 'good' PSU from a 'great' PSU.

I'd contact Silverstone for comment if it were a legit review/test in this case. (obviously Jim was looking for flames and smoke in this case )

Yeah I'm definitely going to be asking for some feedback from Silverstone on this (and will post reply in forum). This PSU was going to be used as part of a 350w round-up review I'm starting work on next week....but obviously not now (ooops).

It should act as a wake-up call to those who don't seriously consider the power reqs of their build - ur duty bound to do so, particularly if building for other people. People using those psu(s) that run damn close to their requirements almost certainly know that they're doing it and shouldn't be used as a common method of psu use.

Exactly. It does get quite worrying sometimes when people spec the power requirements of their system using an online calculator and then purchase a PSU with only 50-100w more power. While it may get them by for their current system, all it takes is the spur of the moment graphics card upgrade to send the PSU into the red and leave them with a dead PC.

 

[diogojrv91]

Very nice machine