Shuttle SFF power supply quality

[CaptNumbNutz]

I built my parents a Shuttle system in June of 2009 after my father fell in love with their small size.

It was a Shuttle SP45H7 system. The power supply that came with it was a 300w unit, model # PC61. The system was built with 4x2 GB RAM sticks, 1x Nvidia 9500GT, 1x 500GB Hard drive, 1x dvd drive, and an Intel Q8200 95w quad core processor. Fan settings in bios were set to automatic after a few days of monitoring its use since the box never exceeded 60c in normal use. It even had no problem crunching prime95 for first few days to help stability test it and the cpu stayed under 70c when the fan kicked into high gear.

The original power supply burnt out in 6 months. I was positive it was dead since its little fan no longer spun, it no longer posted, cold boot didn't fix it, and plugging in a full size ATX PSU let the box boot right up. The box was almost immaculate, almost no dust accumulation anywhere (including psu) after 6 months since my parents are neat freaks.
Fearing I might have overloaded it and trying to be cautious, I ordered the 500w PC63 unit to replace it. The 500w PC63 was an upgrade unit for my box, and it was the default psu in shuttle's x58 systems and even had 2 pcie plugs for high end video cards. It had more than enough power for my box.

Fast forward to yesterday, and the replacement PSU died also with the exact same symptoms as the first one. No dust accumulation in the box or PSU, canned air blew nothing out of the PSU after it was dead. Right now the box is being powered by a full size corsair 430w PSU with the case's main cover off to allow the wiring to be plugged in until a 2nd replacement shuttle PSU can be ordered.

-Original 300w PC61 psu lasted 6 months.
-Replacement 500w PC63 psu lasted 18 months, ordered from axiontech.com.
-2nd replacement 500w PC63 ordered yesterday from amazon.
Lasting less than 3-5 years IMHO is inexcusable, especially in a box where the most computation it has ever done is an excel spreadsheet and the CPU temps never went over 60c. There is no way this box uses anywhere near 500w even under full load.

What is going on? Are the shuttle psu's shit or am I just extremely unlucky?

 

[CaptNumbNutz]

Anyone know anything about shuttle psu's? Are they shit or am I unlucky?

 

[Quartz-1]

Are you sure there isn't an external cause? I'd rather the PSU go than the rest of the PC. Shuttle PSUs are supposed to be pretty high quality. I've got a SB51G which is still going strong lo these many years. The PSU on my SS31T works just fine too.

 

[CaptNumbNutz]

Are you sure there isn't an external cause? I'd rather the PSU go than the rest of the PC. Shuttle PSUs are supposed to be pretty high quality. I've got a SB51G which is still going strong lo these many years. The PSU on my SS31T works just fine too.

Such as what? A surge or poor AC line quality? That Shuttle is plugged into the same power strip as a Western Digital My Book external hard drive, an HP all-in-one printer, and an ATT 2wire DSL modem/router combo unit. Before that, a Dell Slimline computer and an old HP desktop were plugged into that same surge protector with the same modem and printer plugged in also. The place they live in was built 5 years ago, so the wiring is brand new. NOTHING that has ever been plugged into that surge protector (or any other outlet in the place) has ever burnt out.

I too would rather a PSU go than the rest of the PC, but at $130 a pop once a year, they tend to get expensive.

 

[nightfly]

Such as what? A surge or poor AC line quality? That Shuttle is plugged into the same power strip as a Western Digital My Book external hard drive, an HP all-in-one printer, and an ATT 2wire DSL modem/router combo unit. Before that, a Dell Slimline computer and an old HP desktop were plugged into that same surge protector with the same modem and printer plugged in also. The place they live in was built 5 years ago, so the wiring is brand new. NOTHING that has ever been plugged into that surge protector (or any other outlet in the place) has ever burnt out.

Can't know exactly, but the surge protector only protects from surges outside of it (external surge). If the printer pulls power to start then lets go, you get an 'internal' surge behind the surge protector (or at least that is how it was explained to me way back when I was having power related problems). Most obvious was a laser printer, which I was told draws a whole lot when it initiates coming out of sleep mode, which was my problem. I'd guess the HP all in one gizmo might be doing it to your power supplies. Oh, and surge protectors are only good for one surge; then they are just power strips and the surge protection is gone. Since my bad experience nearly 20 years ago, I run each computer behind it's own UPS. The monitors and printers plug right into the wall (monitors don't seem very susceptible to surge, and the printers all have a brick which converts their power which protects them but not the other devices on the same power line). No more failures of any kind since. If you plug a printer next to a UPS on the same outlet, you can usually notice the UPS chirp when the printer initiates; that's your 'surge'. Good luck.

 

[jeremyshaw]

Asking [H]'s HP Slimline thread, the older models, at least, are crap.

 

[NoxTek]

Every single Shuttle SFF PSU I've seen has been complete and utter crap, dying after several months to a year. But to be honest I haven't touched one since around 2008 or so... but that was because of so many experiences with failed units and getting pissed off enough to never use or recommend them again.

I think it's because they used and continue to use cheapie bargain basement level electrolytic caps.

 

[Quartz-1]

Every single Shuttle SFF PSU I've seen has been complete and utter crap, dying after several months to a year.

They must have cut costs then, because the PSU in my SB 51G is still going strong lo these many years. Likewise the one in my SS31T.