This is why you don't buy cheap PSU

YeuEmMaiMai

YeuEmMaiMai

Extremely [H]
Joined
Jun 11, 2004
Messages
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I got this out of a friends PC and you can see, it's all corroded on the inside...It has been sitting in my junk pile and I am now in the process of stripping it down for stuff that might come in handy... This was powering a Sandy Bridge I7 with NVidia cards in SLI that was pretty quick

on to the pictures:

manufacturer and power claims

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what it looked like on the inside

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Yes those are exposed corroded cooper wires on the main leads...

I am going to salvage the heat sinks and power regulators along with some other small parts like resistors
 
That was powering a SLI rig? Good job Xion :p

Lots of 3V and 5V wattage on that thing, ha!
 
Copper corrosion is usually green though.....

Most of that looks like hot glue that was gooped on during manufacturing.
The brown stuff almost looks like it's a component of the glue that separated out.

And dust.
 
well of course dust... I was kind of surprised that the glue broke down like that not to mention the exposed mains wires...
 
Just looks like some dirty/oxidized grease. PSU itself looks fine to me.
 
I posted an article about a cheap PSU catching fire a few years ago. That would be a big reason to not buy cheap PSUs.
 
So if I buy a good PSU, I won't have to clean/blow the dust out and it would still be fine and free of corrosion after 5-10 years? Yeah, right.....

That PSU is indeed cheap, CapXon is not a very good brand for capacitors. However, the corrosion and dust WILL happen to ANY PSU without maintenance. Another typical post from YeuEmMaiMai :rolleyes:
 
And people still diss me for not trusting large computer brand's prebuilt PSU's (the most common reason was, and still is, is "because they know better, and I can return it if it breaks".... SIGH)
 
kumquat said:
Just looks like some dirty/oxidized grease. PSU itself looks fine to me.
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It's not, it's dead... and why it is in the scrap heap... it has been there about 3 years and I am just now getting around to it...
 
lol i would have to blow that sit off outside with a blower....cant stand to work on nasty shit like that. Its looks like they glued some of the wires in place rather than soldier them? Or is that just covering the soldier?
 
I had a SeaSonic XP3 (badged as a CoolerMaster Vanguard) 1200w arrive and started smoking on first power, and I'm talking filtered clean power. Googled it and no one else had complained about this model. Got another 3 days later under RMA and running fantastic from what I can tell.

There is still a such thing as Ninjas, they could be anywhere.
 
I dunno if that even looks beefy enough for a 700w... especially something that's not 80plus rated 0.o.

Looks more like a 400-500w design to me.
 
I wouldn't trust a shite PSU in my rig for fear of damaging other components. I`m an audiophile and any PSU with poor filtering and ripple gives a thin brittle sound.
I remember about 10 yrs ago there was a night and day difference in terms of sound quality between a awful generic Enermax and a fantastic German Tagan 400w unit.
I own a AX1200 and its been superb over the past 4 yrs. I expect to get a good 5 yrs more out of it.
 
~ "T"

Learned this the hard way with my first build; bought a 1000w psu from who-knows-where, and they left out the wrong pin. Normally, PSU makers leave one of the pins out of the 24-pin connector on purpose because it's completely unneeded; they apparently didn't know which one and made a guess. Had to wait a week with all of my other parts just sitting there in the boxes.
 
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According to the ratings on the back it's most like a 500W power supply, split over 2 12V rails no less! All those AMPs on the 3.3V and 5V rails aren't helping anything.
 
SsmB_92 said:
I had a SeaSonic XP3 (badged as a CoolerMaster Vanguard) 1200w arrive and started smoking on first power, and I'm talking filtered clean power. Googled it and no one else had complained about this model. Got another 3 days later under RMA and running fantastic from what I can tell.

There is still a such thing as Ninjas, they could be anywhere.
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Even the best manufacturers have the occasional unit slip through QC or get damaged before it gets to the end-user. It's sad seeing someone on a retailers site swearing off that brands PSU's forever because they get a lemon.
 
mrluckypants96 said:
Even the best manufacturers have the occasional unit slip through QC or get damaged before it gets to the end-user. It's sad seeing someone on a retailers site swearing off that brands PSU's forever because they get a lemon.
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Yeah I agree, being a SS PSU I was actually shocked. 3 day RMA is testament to their quality of service, keeping in mind I posted it at the end of the 1st day. Some brands on the other hand, deserve the abuse (I'm looking at you Thermaltake)
 
SsmB_92 said:
Yeah I agree, being a SS PSU I was actually shocked. 3 day RMA is testament to their quality of service, keeping in mind I posted it at the end of the 1st day. Some brands on the other hand, deserve the abuse (I'm looking at you Thermaltake)
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Yeah, their most popular line, the TR2's, are a mix of mediocre and utterly crap units. Their Toughpower units, however, are generally good, if unremarkable.
 
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