Power Supplies

In my experience at work, ATX power supplies from "Deer Computer" are absolute crap. This includes other private-label supplies OEM'ed by them. They'll work for a while, then one day you'll turn on the machine and the power supply lets out its magic smoke. One machine that I saw even wound up with a fried hard drive.

It seems to me like it's a capacitor problem like those that have plagued some motherboards.

2 of the computers in my house constantly reboot out of nowhere… I was thinking it's either because of a bad PSU or because I have an (old) ATI Radeon / Radeon Pro chip in the computers. I'm wondering whether to invest in a new video card or PSU… then I can truthfully answer the survey question :P

Thanks,

-Eric

This is the one part of my computers ( I build one for myself about every 6 mothns, then sell the one i got ) that I pretty much always skimp on.. I'll get the proper wattage, but I never test it for proper voltage regulation, or even the real max wattage. These never fail in my presence, but tend to give out within 18 months of me selling it. I think this next time I'll actually do some research and by a QUALITY, although be it a bit pricey, power supply.

I've only ever had one power supply fail, but it was the coolest power supply failure ever. It was right after winter break during my junior year of college and I was setting up my router in the dorm room after arriving back on campus. I switched the thing on and this rinky dink little 200W power supply actually exploded. A ball of blue flame came out the back of the case. It's unfortunate that I had to go get a new power supply, but that was freaking awesome.

When I visited my brother-in-law when he still lived in England (and was just getting engaged to my sister), he took an old crapped-out power supply, flipped the switch to 120V, and plugged it into the wall socket (240V over there).

POP! :lol:

Coming from an electronic (Ham radio, home-built synthesizers, etc.) background, I have been amazed at the junk that powers most computers. PC Power and Cooling http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com easily make the best power supplies I have seen. OK, so they are not cheap, but neither are 3 junky ones !

Antec has been good to me thus far. Have used about 30 in the last 2 years with no problems. They are also available for a suitable price.

The only PS that I have had burn out on me was one that came with a factory built Dell.

Just so some of you know, I got a buddy who works at bestbuy's repair center ( I dont repair Dells under warranty myself ). He told me Dell went ahead, used the standard ATX power connector on the MB, but switched the wire placement.. You can easily fry a motherboard just by using a newer dell PS on a non dell mb, or vice versa.