• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

a-power power supplies

I

its4thecolony

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 27, 2010
Messages
118
hey does anyone know if the a-power power supplies are any good. i want to get the 900 watt one and im getting an i7 is that bad or what?
 
900W for $60? Thats a huge red flag. Especially considering that it's a generic brand.

Don't buy it.
 
well i had a generic 600 watt power supply, it lasted almost 3 years what could be the downside of it? could it wreck my pc
 
As Zero82z said, yes your entire PC can be taken out/killed by a shitty 600W PSU.

So be smart and get a new PSU if you're planning on getting that i7. There are plenty of affordable and quality PSUs out there for almost every budget and system.
 
its4thecolony said:
how could it wreck my pc? just out of curiosity
Click to expand...

Cheap power supplies have poor voltage regulation, suffer from excessive noise and too much ripple. They often operate outside of ATX specifications and do not operate as advertised. Not only can their terrible performance damage your PC over time, but they can take out your hardware when they fail.

Here is my rule of thumb on power supplies: If it wasn't reviewed here or at JonnyGURU and had favorable reviews, it shouldn't be trusted. Those two sources have the BEST testing methodology out there bar none.
 
Dan_D said:
Here is my rule of thumb on power supplies: If it wasn't reviewed here or at JonnyGURU and had favorable reviews, it shouldn't be trusted. Those two sources have the BEST testing methodology out there bar none.
Click to expand...
Not bar none. There are several other websites that perform proper PSU reviews, such as Benchmark Reviews, Overclock3D, and X-bit labs.
 
In 15 years I have never once seen or heard of an actual incident where a bad PSU destroyed a system.

This argument remains FUD to me for now.
 
NoForgiveness said:
Um, I think the key difference here is proof, LOL.
Click to expand...
There is proof, whether or not you choose to accept it. You are simply refusing to believe something because you have not seen it yourself. However, that does not mean it is incorrect.
 
Zero82z said:
There is proof, whether or not you choose to accept it. You are simply refusing to believe something because you have not seen it yourself. However, that does not mean it is incorrect.
Click to expand...

It's just that in 15 years of being a tech, getting my A+, playing with tons of hardware, etc, I have never once seen a solid reputable source state that a bad PSU can damage system components. I think techs misdiagnose a gnarly power surge or even user error as a power supply destroying a computer. I have done a few Google searches and I still can't find a single popular/reputable/knowledgeable source that ever states that a PSU going bad can damage the system. The only time I ever hear about a PSU damaging a system is anecdotal forum FUD.
 
NoForgiveness said:
It's just that in 15 years of being a tech, getting my A+, playing with tons of hardware, etc, I have never once seen a solid reputable source state that a bad PSU can damage system components.
Click to expand...

Here you go. Ripple 25 times higher than the ATX specification. Piss poor efficiency. Don't try to say that's not going to damage components.
 
eddieck said:
Here you go. Ripple 25 times higher than the ATX specification. Piss poor efficiency. Don't try to say that's not going to damage components.
Click to expand...

It's gonna take a lot more than one review where someone loaded the hell out of a crap PSU and DIDN'T blow up any computer equipment to convince me.
 
Zero82z said:
Not bar none. There are several other websites that perform proper PSU reviews, such as Benchmark Reviews, Overclock3D, and X-bit labs.
Click to expand...

I hadn't checked out there reviews. When did they start using similar testing methodology?
 
NoForgiveness said:
It's just that in 15 years of being a tech, getting my A+, playing with tons of hardware, etc, I have never once seen a solid reputable source state that a bad PSU can damage system components. I think techs misdiagnose a gnarly power surge or even user error as a power supply destroying a computer. I have done a few Google searches and I still can't find a single popular/reputable/knowledgeable source that ever states that a PSU going bad can damage the system. The only time I ever hear about a PSU damaging a system is anecdotal forum FUD.
Click to expand...

I had one destroy a 5k load tester, would you care for me to send you the invoice?

And as an IT professional I have tested and replaced a number of older CWT units (and others) that had the secondary caps fail and destroy hard drives. This little bastard:

100_3749.jpg


Took out several hard drives when the caps failed.

So here is your "popular/reputable/knowledgeable source that ever states that a PSU going bad can damage the system"...they can and do.

Unrelated (but since I have pics so no shens) I also had one puke on the primary side and eat a Variac as well when the power draw spiked and it blew out:

100_5504.jpg
 
Last edited:
NoForgiveness said:
..... I have done a few Google searches and I still can't find a single popular/reputable/knowledgeable source that ever states that a PSU going bad can damage the system. The only time I ever hear about a PSU damaging a system is anecdotal forum FUD.
Click to expand...

Look, this guy is asking for advice and your saying this cheapo piece of crap PSU has almost no chance of hurting his computer. If you really believe this why dont you pull the Corsair 750 TX in your rig and stick in a hec XPOWER780 ! Its 30 more watts and only cost 50 bucks shipped. Let us know how things work out for the next year. You have the opportunity to prove just about everybody on this forum wrong.
 
RE: Paul_Johnson

Thanks man. Finally someone brings some actual evidence to the table.

Sad to hear those are CWTs. Hope mine doesn't turn out to be a little bastard.
 
Last edited:
NoForgiveness said:
RE: Paul_Johnson

Thanks man. Finally someone brings some actual evidence to the table.

Sad to hear those are CWTs. Hope mine doesn't turn out to be a little bastard.
Click to expand...

Well he was referring to the older CWT units. Some of the newer ones, or new'ish ones like the Thermaltake ToughPower 1200 watt unit are DAMNED good power supplies. That's what I run in my machine.

Zero82z said:
A while ago.
Click to expand...

Well I've only typically read JonnyGURU and Paul's work on the subject. I guess I never felt the need to go elsewhere. Sometime I'll check those other sites out and see what they have to offer on the subject. One can never know too much about power supplies.

NoForgiveness said:
It's just that in 15 years of being a tech, getting my A+, playing with tons of hardware, etc, I have never once seen a solid reputable source state that a bad PSU can damage system components. I think techs misdiagnose a gnarly power surge or even user error as a power supply destroying a computer. I have done a few Google searches and I still can't find a single popular/reputable/knowledgeable source that ever states that a PSU going bad can damage the system. The only time I ever hear about a PSU damaging a system is anecdotal forum FUD.
Click to expand...

I've been in the business at least that long. I've literally services thousands of systems. I've worked in the IT industry servicing thousands of machines in varying capacities. I know a shitty power supply can take out other hardware because I have seen it happen on more than one occasion. Hell I've seen good power supplies fail unexpectedly and still take stuff out. I've seen systems functioning, then simply die right before my very eyes. I've seen smoke come out of the PSU and then after replacing it with a known good PSU pulled from a working system (for test purposes) with no problems, the system still wouldn't work. I've then had to swap motherboards. I had a power supply fry in one of my own machines, (an Antec NeoHE 550 to be exact) and it fried two Raptor drives. The leads going to the drives were hot and there were scorch marks on the PCB's of both drives.

I'm reasonably certain that two such incidents weren't due to surges from another source as they were both on UPSes.

An interesting anecdote on the subject:

Back in the late 1990's Compaq used to recommend replacing motherboards whenever a power supply went bad. They would approve a part order for a motherboard with any PSU replacement without question. Why would they have such a guideline if they didn't have reason to believe the motherboards would be damaged by bad power supplies? Believe me I've seen systems come in with baked power supplies and scorch marks on motherboards. I've even seen a processor or two get taken out with the occasional odd RAM chip. In fact I've seen damned near everything blown up here or there due to failing shitty power supplies.

Now some of these you can pass off as being due to surges outside of the PSU transfering into the rest of the hardware. However I've seen it happen on systems running commercial and high end APC UPSes in rack mounts. I've seen it at home on machines running off of quality UPSes. So while the UPS could have failed to prevent the surge from happening, this can't account for all cases.

I didn't have the foresight to take pictures, but the one where my Antec Neo HE 550 took out my Raptors was a good one. Charred the inside of the PSU nicely and melted the power leads going to the drives in a fairly spectacular way. The scorching on the drive PCB's was impressive as well.
 
Definitely second what the guys here that are regulars to the PSU section have said. Seen a few myself taken out by the infamous Bestec 250-12E units.

On another note, we actually stock these A-Power units at my workplace as replacements (need to have a talk about that with my boss) and while we haven't had a toasted one come back yet, it's only a matter of time. You can be sure I will be there to take it apart to see the carnage when it happens. :D
 
I'm laughing so hard right now! This guy is looking for advice & he gets it & doesn't like what he is advised! Its4thcolony....Brother Zero & Danny monitor these boards & they know thier stuff..Trust me! I have learned plenty just by reading!

Do your own thing! Crappy PSU's spells trouble IMHO! Why not buy this Sunbeam 680 watt PSU from NG for $29.99 AR!!!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817709025

Purchase what you want...But please don't ask for advice & not take it!

Geez...Dan D...I own a Antec Neo-550HE PSU & I hope I don't get burned! It's been a winner so far & super quiet for anly one 80mm rear fan!
 
Last edited:
Well I actually had two of those Neo HE550's. The second one is a newer revision of it and I gave it to a friend who needed one. He's had no trouble with it and it is still running fine after several years of service.
 
Well like I said it was an older version of the PSU. The two I had weren't purchased at the same time. The first one, the older one took a dump on me one day and toasted both Raptors in that system's drive array. As you can imagine I wasn't happy, but I've never had a problem with any other Antec PSU I've used. Hell I had an Antec True Blue 480 on my test bench forever. I've also got the Neo Link 1200 setup powering my girlfriend's gaming machine. So far so good and I've had that for two years at least.
 
The NeoHE is an excellent PSU. However, like any piece of equipment, it can still fail randomly. Pick even the best PSUs out there and you'll find cases of DOA or prematurely-failed units.
 
Zero82z said:
The NeoHE is an excellent PSU. However, like any piece of equipment, it can still fail randomly. Pick even the best PSUs out there and you'll find cases of DOA or prematurely-failed units.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I was just using the one I had that blew up on me as an example of what a power supply can do when it fails. I didn't mean to imply they were terrible or anything.
 
Zero82z said:
The NeoHE is an excellent PSU. However, like any piece of equipment, it can still fail randomly. Pick even the best PSUs out there and you'll find cases of DOA or prematurely-failed units.
Click to expand...

Truer words have never been spoken! Why should a person buy a high quality PSU? I can think of two major ones right off the bat:
1. Even though any brand of PSU can blow, a major brand does it a whole lot less than a generic cheaper brand.
2. The customer service of the major brands will be superior over a lesser brand.

When you take take in account that the PSU can and does effect every other piece of equipment in a PC, the prudent move is to stick with quality over cost.
 
Power supply and motherboard are two areas where I never advise cutting costs. That isn't to say you have to spend a lot on either, but you should spend enough to get quality components.
 
NoForgiveness said:
It's just that in 15 years of being a tech, getting my A+, playing with tons of hardware, etc, I have never once seen a solid reputable source state that a bad PSU can damage system components. I think techs misdiagnose a gnarly power surge or even user error as a power supply destroying a computer. I have done a few Google searches and I still can't find a single popular/reputable/knowledgeable source that ever states that a PSU going bad can damage the system. The only time I ever hear about a PSU damaging a system is anecdotal forum FUD.
Click to expand...
What if the transformer saturates, causes a dip in voltage, and then the regulator overcompensates and makes the output voltage overshoot, just long enough before the overvoltage protection can shut down everything? There's an old thread at Oveclockers Australia about this.
 
NoForgiveness said:
In 15 years I have never once seen or heard of an actual incident where a bad PSU destroyed a system.
Click to expand...

Actually, even though a bad PSU doesn't necessarily destroy an entire computer system, it can cause irreparable damage to some of the major components of a computer system - the ones which a system cannot operate at all without. This is because the voltages can fluctuate severely, and often go way out of spec.
 
E4g1e said:
Actually, even though a bad PSU doesn't necessarily destroy an entire computer system, it can cause irreparable damage to some of the major components of a computer system - the ones which a system cannot operate at all without. This is because the voltages can fluctuate severely, and often go way out of spec.
Click to expand...

I get it, but I still had never heard of such a thing actually happening until the last handful of years. Anecdotal evidence without any facts or proof had me skeptical this whole time. A post earlier in this thread semi-proves that a PSU can blow up and take out equipment with it... and I say semi-proves, because how can a tech diagnose with 100% certainty that equipment failure was not the PSU's fault but rather something else in the path of current or another equipment failure? I say that there is still no 100% sure clear without a doubt proof that a bad PSU will be solely responsible for toasting equipment that it is connected to.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top