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Why A High-Quality PSU Is Essential
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Redbeard
Official Corsair Rep.
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Keep your eyes open. Perhaps sooner than you think.
sulfur_lad
Weaksauce
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- Jul 1, 2004
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No mud-slinging from me, that's a really funny video. The soundtrack was excellent, and the description on here of running away like a scared school-girl... LOL so funny! Is this going to be Corsair's new marketing tagline? "Guaranteed not to explode." *sigh* the problem with lines like that is that not everyone would get the comedy.
Seriously, marketing can be funny, and we're always going to look at the tests before deciding what's best for our own situations anyways. If a Corsair fits my build, I'll use it. If not, I'll use something else: it's that simple. Cool down kids, the coolermaster shot was unintentional, that's just a busy lab.
Seriously, marketing can be funny, and we're always going to look at the tests before deciding what's best for our own situations anyways. If a Corsair fits my build, I'll use it. If not, I'll use something else: it's that simple. Cool down kids, the coolermaster shot was unintentional, that's just a busy lab.
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Kyle,
I think the hard readers are really asking you to have a "Cheap POS PSU Fireworks Roundup"
I think we have done a couple of those, we just don't film them or TRY to break/blow them up. One reason for this is that our test equipment is very expensive to replace. We are not a multi-million dollar company like Corsair. And us having to spend $5000 on a new SM8800 tester is a big deal, not to mention the down time.
Backslider
n00b
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Very true, test equipment is expensive as hell. Tune in to Mith Busters if you want to see stuff explode.
With that said, thank you for your investment, it has saved us (readers) countless dollars, and time. This is one of few sites that I do not have ad-blocked.
Rahburt-33
Gawd
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was good entertainment, but thats not likely going to happen in real life.
LeviathanZERO
Supreme [H]ardness
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Hey Corsiar, since you guys test your PSU's so well, how about telling me why I went through 2 VX550's for the same reason? Replaced the first with an Antec to test. Perfect. So I RMA and got the 2nd one, and its starting to do the same crap (hard locking/looping audio on everything).
Funny how my $35 Antec has never caused a hitch, but the $100 VX550 cant stay stable....
Quality indeed.
Nice experiment, but nothing is convincing me at this point.
Funny how my $35 Antec has never caused a hitch, but the $100 VX550 cant stay stable....
Quality indeed.
Nice experiment, but nothing is convincing me at this point.
TroubleMagnet
Gawd
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With the cover on and in a case that's all you probably would have heard from these too, assuming they didn't catch anything on fire. If they are UL rated they should be able to fail and not catch anything on fire, even with the nice spark shower we saw.
I've seen enough PSUs die in both my and friends/family's machines to ever get another cheap-ass one. Not worth the time, hassle and potential for damaging other components. My last PSU ended up being a Corsair due to the good review of them here and it having the big slow fan and modular cables I was looking for. It's been running 24/7 for a year and a half now and the machine has been rock solid for me.
Redbeard
Official Corsair Rep.
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I'm not familiar with your specific system, but the return rate on VX550s is extremely low. There are no known issues with the VX550 product line, I'm not familiar how a hard lock or looping audio could be tied to the PSU, but like I said, I don't know your configuration.
If you would like some help, please feel free to contact our support.
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Actually in my years of repairing PSU, having transistors blow out is not all that uncommon in marginal units. Maybe 3rd most common fault after fan and capacitor failures.
Never used a Corsair PSU, but I do use an Antec NEO which has the same quality as Corsair considering their supplier, but I DO have 4x 1gb sticks of Corsair rams as mentioned in my sig. you guys rock. Awesome video too
And some of you guys need to lighten up. It was funny video. Quit taking everything so seriously.
And some of you guys need to lighten up. It was funny video. Quit taking everything so seriously.
I'm willing to bet $20 that your rig in your sig (I'm guessing that's where you used the VX550) was heavily overclocked when you had these issues, and you're whining about the PSU, when you're running your other components much higher than spec/stock, most likely causing the issues.
I have a HX1000W in my main box (see sig) and absolutely love it. It's been rock solid and pretty much necessary for my GTX 280 upgrades... I pulled out the kill-a-watt last night and measured peaks of 750w+ usage while running 3DMark or gaming @ 2560x1600.
2 things : great to see the Corsair guy here (their lifetime warranty helped me on my old XMS sticks)
and
does anyone else think that the cameraman was brave ? I would have shat myself waiting for those PSU's to explode
It does take nerves of steel. I've never had a PSU explode on me, but I did have a PSU power cord blow up on me. I plugged it in, and in a split second it inflated, glowed red, and blew the hell up, while I was still holding the end. Knocked me on my ass, I'll tell you.
Loved the video, and all explosions. Props to ol' Redbeard for braving the elements to bring us this morsel.
I've used Corsair with nary a problem for years, and will continue to do so. Folks like Redbeard and Mike C will only increase my confidence in Corsair.
Also, with respect to 'marketing'... I know to heck that it's true that those things explode, and a production line issue or design defect could sure as the sun is hot cause several of the same PSU to all explode the same way.
I've used Corsair with nary a problem for years, and will continue to do so. Folks like Redbeard and Mike C will only increase my confidence in Corsair.
Also, with respect to 'marketing'... I know to heck that it's true that those things explode, and a production line issue or design defect could sure as the sun is hot cause several of the same PSU to all explode the same way.
BillParrish
Supreme [H]ardness
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wow, first several posts are amazing. I am just dumbfounded at the uninformed comments, it seems obvious these posters have not read any of the reviews of the "inexpensive" supplies either here or on Jonnieguru and some of the "exciting" results.
Learn about power supplies before you post, the ignorance in some of these posts is painful. I cant stand it and all the bullshit here has been discussed/debunked to death in hundreds of posts already. I am outta here- throughly disgusted.
Learn about power supplies before you post, the ignorance in some of these posts is painful. I cant stand it and all the bullshit here has been discussed/debunked to death in hundreds of posts already. I am outta here- throughly disgusted.
Godmachine
[H]F Junkie
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- Apr 7, 2003
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Its funny I'm running a Q6600 OC'd to 3.2ghz solid , 4 gigs of OCZ ram, 1 8800 Ultra (taking power from a thermaltake power express 5.25 bay drive PSU) , 3 SATA drives, Audigy 2 sound card and Koolance external water cooling kit , running off a Enermax 465 PSU thats still going strong. I'm going to make a PSU purchase in the future but I'm not sure what it will be at this point (the PC Power and Cooling 750 Quad looks like a great deal).
Buying a good PSU that outputs power at what it advertises to is as this advertisement for Corsair PSU's shows ..makes a difference.
Buying a good PSU that outputs power at what it advertises to is as this advertisement for Corsair PSU's shows ..makes a difference.
Oklahoma Wolf
PSU Warranty Voider
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- Mar 22, 2005
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+1... it's very common. I have way too much proof of that lying around the lab
Yep, I have seen a bunch also.
One time I was touring a system builder we were considering using and they had just set up 6 systems on the burn in bench.
All 6 of them went pop when powered on and threw sparks out the back from power supply failures.
Every last one of them blew out the primary.
We did not use that system builder needless to say.
The power supply brand started with an R and ended with an X and I didn't use them then and wont now.
To the guy complaining about bad ram I have had out of the box failures with almost every brand of ram out there at one time or another.
(as of 1.5 years ago when I got out of the systems business, there are some new brands since then but they are likely made on the same production lines as the others that failed)
LeviathanZERO
Supreme [H]ardness
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- Dec 20, 2003
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Wrong.
I had switched out every component in my system, during my troubleshooting. Mobo, ram, HDD's, cards, EVERYTHING. Could not fathom the idea that it could be the PSU, but you know, that was the only piece in the system that I DIDNT swap.
Antec 500 Basiq in. Issue solved.
RMA'd the VX550. The replacement has been in for 2 weeks. Last night I caught it exhibiting the same issue.
Thanks for the contact info Corsiar guy, but I already have it.
It seems that anyone can slap their own brand name on a generic low-quality power supply - and many do considering the high profit margins. Names and reputations are worthless for the absolute cheapest power supply brands; most of which are probably using the same exact hardware anyway.
Injection of <3
Gawd
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- Apr 27, 2008
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hilarious vid
hilarious article
great thread, will read from again A+++++++++
working in a computer shop I see lots of these cheap PSUs, most of them don't have enough connectors to reach there rated power output with normal parts plugged in. As an example we sold Apower 450 watt PSUs with a 20 pin mobo connector a 4 pin cpu connector three 4 pin molix connectors and a floppy connector. I can't see any way you could ever draw 450 watts of that PSU with only those connectors without something designed to stress the PSU....and we still got a lot of them back dead.
WTF????? You certainly don't see that happen everyday!
I have a VX550 in my rig right now and I've had no problems with it.
Sorry, dude, but YOU need to STFU. Who cares what exact brand it is? There are shit-tons of cheap-ass PSU's out there. No reason to single any one out when you know your product is good, you just show why someone should consider yours.
This first paragraph goes to the people that think having the cover off made the PSU's fail quicker or whatever:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but my thinking is that by leaving the cover off that would be better cooling, since the heat generated can more easily dissapate into the air, espically with the 2 fans which I assume are working as they should. Leaving the cover on would only act as an enclosure to trap heat.....which is why the fans are there to direct air over the PSU components to get the hot air out of the PSU case. Leaving the cover off, at ROOM TEMP no less, which is of course generally COOLER then IN A COMPUTER CASE this would actually be the better environment giving the PSU's a better chance to succeed, but instead they fail horribly.
I had a PSU blow a resistor a month ago....I heard a big zap noise like a bug zapper going off but much louder, and expected to see flames coming out, but luckily only the PSU died. It was a cheapie but it must of lasted 5+ years. I can easily see give any cheap power supply even a solid 50% load would fry them.
I imagine pick any PSU that sells for under 40 bucks would probably fail like this video showed, especially those cheap junkers that sell for 14.99 for a 400 watt one LOL....it's like those cheap Chinese computer speaker systems that say 600 Watt P.M.P.O, which is Peak Momentary Power Output, as in, lightning will have to strike to achieve those results LOL!
Kudos to Corsair, cool video I would like to see more exploding PSU's, maybe next time get more flames going. and [H] for having informative reviews and a great testing methodology, I swear half my computer knowledge comes from reading this site.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but my thinking is that by leaving the cover off that would be better cooling, since the heat generated can more easily dissapate into the air, espically with the 2 fans which I assume are working as they should. Leaving the cover on would only act as an enclosure to trap heat.....which is why the fans are there to direct air over the PSU components to get the hot air out of the PSU case. Leaving the cover off, at ROOM TEMP no less, which is of course generally COOLER then IN A COMPUTER CASE this would actually be the better environment giving the PSU's a better chance to succeed, but instead they fail horribly.
I had a PSU blow a resistor a month ago....I heard a big zap noise like a bug zapper going off but much louder, and expected to see flames coming out, but luckily only the PSU died. It was a cheapie but it must of lasted 5+ years. I can easily see give any cheap power supply even a solid 50% load would fry them.
I imagine pick any PSU that sells for under 40 bucks would probably fail like this video showed, especially those cheap junkers that sell for 14.99 for a 400 watt one LOL....it's like those cheap Chinese computer speaker systems that say 600 Watt P.M.P.O, which is Peak Momentary Power Output, as in, lightning will have to strike to achieve those results LOL!
Kudos to Corsair, cool video I would like to see more exploding PSU's, maybe next time get more flames going.
and [H] for having informative reviews and a great testing methodology, I swear half my computer knowledge comes from reading this site. No it doesn't happen very often lol. Scared the shit out of me and stank up my house for a few hours. Exploding electronics smells.
PrkChpXprss
Gawd
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2003
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- 837
I loved the music. Video was cool too.