PSU Death?

[Spiderz]

Ok think this is the place to put it, if I'm wrong can a mod please put it in the right place.

Long story short, my brother's computer went bang followed by a huge plume of smoke out his top fan vents as everything shut down. Smoke smells heavily of burnt plastic and the PSU is hot to the touch. Are these the signs of a PSU failure.

Following from this, what sort of damage can be expected from a PSU blowout? Could the HDD, GPU, MB and CPU still be ok to use or are they too likely to be dead.

His specs:
ANTEC 900 v2 Case
EZCool 650w PSU
Intel i5 760
NVIDIA GTX460 1GB
8GB RAM
1TB HDD
ASUS MB (not sure the model)

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT/UPDATE: HDD and optical drive are running

 

[looz]

If the PSU went bang every single component is in danger.

 

[jamesriley94]

If the PSU went bang every single component is in danger.

In danger yes...

No way to actually tell on here without testing though

 

[s3ns3]

these tipes of firecrackers have no protections so expect the worse.

 

[Spiderz]

Thanks for the quick replies, HDD and Optical drive have been tested and are fine. No chance to test the MB, GPU and CPU just yet.

 

[dalewakelin]

My system has had 2 blown psu's and nothing has been damaged. I would go as far as to say its a myth that everything breaks. All you need really is a new psu and everything should work fine. As long as you where not rendering, gaming or writing data.

 

[jamesriley94]

Depending on the power supply rail design...if it's single rail, and the HDD and optical drive work fine - everything else *should* be fine too.

If it's multi-rail - only one of the rails may have blown, in which case only components on that rail may be at risk.

Still - only way to know is through testing.

 

[Spiderz]

My system has had 2 blown psu's and nothing has been damaged. I would go as far as to say its a myth that everything breaks. All you need really is a new psu and everything should work fine. As long as you where not rendering, gaming or writing data.

See, he was downloading a game on steam.......hope you are right and that everything is fine though, don't fancy that repair bill on him. Sounds like a god reason to get both of us new PSUs

 

[dalewakelin]

At least you have learnt your lesson never to buy i cheap psu. I sure learnt my lesson

 

[Spiderz]

At least you have learnt your lesson never to buy i cheap psu. I sure learnt my lesson

I was just considering getting myself a seasonic 650W one as well, mine was cheaper than his so that really has me nervous now since I got mine from the same builder a few weeks later (I got a XIGMATEK one though).

Other than Corsair and Seasonic, any other good ones to look at?

 

[dalewakelin]

Any branded one is generally good, stay away from alpine, powercool and ocz though.

 

[Spiderz]

Thanks, time to get a lookin'

 

[AverageNinja]

Take a look at silverstone and BeQuiet mate
Both great brands!
Also the NZXT units seem to be great! Though I'm not entirely sure about those, never seen a real proper review on them.

 

[Spiderz]

Gone with a Corsair cx600m, brother wasn't looking to spend a lot on a PSU but managed to convince him to get one that wasn't dead cheap with loads of watts.

 

[SeekaX]

i know this is a serious issue, but was a it a CIT PSU? lol.
also when your PSU goes bang and literally melts that is not a sign of failure, that is close to a nuclear meltdown.

 

[Jason-CL]

I'm curious as to the brand of PSU as well.

 

[Spiderz]

Well it's dead and just waiting for my brother to hook up his new one.

PSU wasn't a CIT one, sorry to disappoint your crusade on all things vibox and CIT guys XD It was an EZCool one, not 80Plus rated or anything. My computer isn't running the same one.

 

[Timeless]

I had a Seasonic 860W Platinum that blew up with a loud bang last month after only around 10 hours total running time.

I changed the replacement I got with a Corsair 860i as I found an Australian forum where several people had the same problem around 6 months ago. So you see even the big brands can have bad batches.

 

[dalewakelin]

I had a Seasonic 860W Platinum that blew up with a loud bang last month after only around 10 hours total running time.

I changed the replacement I got with a Corsair 860i as I found an Australian forum where several people had the same problem around 6 months ago. So you see even the big brands can have bad batches.

Their warranties should cover it though, cit, ez cool etx dont have any warranties.

 

[iBeInspire]

Same thing that happened to me a while back (Cit PSU) and all my kit was fine
As said, just give it a double check, but you can stop shitting your pants for now, it's unlikely anything else blew up