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I've been through 3 PSUs in 2 years and I'm starting to wonder if it's just me. I always buy cheap PSUs (2 of them were free after rebate), but my friend who dropped more than $100 on his PSU had it die last month.

I've never had a manufactured computer (Dell, Apple, etc.) have a PSU failure, so why is it that it seems like PSUs that I buy crap out so much.

On a side note, I need a new PSU, anyone have any <$50 recommendations.

I had a few fail on me a while ago but it ended up being caused by incoming power issues frying them. Putting my PSU behind backups has helped with PSU life time length.

Also I would recommend getting a 80+ efficiency unit, the amount of money I will save on the 79.99 FSP PSU vs the one I had which died will pay for itself in a little under 2 years of 24 hours a day running.

I've never personally had a PSU fail, but then again I don't buy PSUs that cost <$50. The PSU in my old P3 file server box is something like ten years old and it's been on almost 24/7 in that span.

I have seen cheap PSUs die from bad/unconditioned power. Is it possible you and your friend have both been experiencing prolonged low voltages or spikes?

I've only had cheap PSU's fail. If you get a good one, keep it clean and you should have no problem.

had around 3 die on me.
The most notable was the one that came with my case, (raidmax?) and an expensive seasonic.

I believe the seasonic died because it was severely overrated.
While it was called a 600, it was probably only capable of 300.
Have to watch since some play number games.

Now I'm more careful when I buy PSU's and make sure they can actually put out the power I need.

I had one die on me spectacularly in 2003 and my father in law's just died about two months ago. Both were exceedingly cheap PSUs. I've never seen a decent one die, haven't seen any Antecs die. I've seen some Dell computers run for months and months 24/7 with nonfunctional PSU fans. T'other day a Coolermaster PSU fan failed on a person's computer while I was working on it (actually just a loose wire, not the fan itself), and the computer only shut down under heavy load, but I got the fan working again any way.

It is worth spending between $50-$75 on a PSU, but I wouldn't spend more, and usually find what I need for less. Coolermaster, Antec, FSP, Seasonic, Thermaltake are the brands I've used.

Why do people spend money on a computer only to put it in the hands of a cheap component? Seriously, the PSU is the heart of your computer. The cheapst PSU I bought was a 450W Sunbeam two years back now, it was their only decent model and I wouldn't recommend them otherwise, they stopped the NUUO line for cheap crap units, to bad. Anyway, I'm currently using a Silverstone Element ST60EF. That's a 600W unit that's 80+ Bronze certified and it's 100% modular. I bought it on sale for $69 and it's up to $89 now on Newegg but it still offers the best value in that price range.

I've only had 1 fail on me, but it wasn't a complete catastrophic failure. I had a 430w Enermax that the fan wasn't working properly. It had active PFC and the fan didn't work no matter what the setting was. I got it RMA'd after over 2 years of service. (hurray for 3 year manufacturer warranties ) The new one has been running in my wife's system for over a year now without any problems.

I've worked with a lot of computers of home made, and out of the box nature, and I've never had a decent power supply fail me. I've had a lot of el cheapo supplies fail. There is a bunch of Compaq computers in various offices I've been to, I've had a couple of Dells, a Daewoo, an Acer each fail because of the PSU (the Daewoo blew a cap while I was sitting there which is the most spectacular fail). Premade computers are not immune, but I've seen budget built computers fail as well. I learned my lesson about Deer power supplies through throwing one in a cheap build I've made. Most often te PSU units I've seen fail are no name Units. I've seen one or two lower end reputable brand PSUs fail in my time, but it's pretty rare. The one that comes in mind was an Antec... basiq I think. It was starting to fail under load. Caused be insufficient air flow I believe....dust, probably not the Power supplies fault in the end.

I've never had a decent or even a moderately priced PSU die on me.

But the one I paid $30 for a tower, mouse, keyboard and PSU didn't last to long. Shocking really. I guess I should consider myself lucky it didn't take anything with it. My Dell PSU died on me too, judging by the weight I'd say it was also a really cheap PSU.

I had a home theater system that had five power supplies die within 2 years (these were all quality expensive PSUs). I had a few other issues with the system and eventually got tired of repairing of it so I gave it to friend and figured I would start from scratch later.

Being the packrat I am I saved all of the dead PSUs. I had a friend who was building a new system and he was eyeing one of the PSUs I had in my junk box and he wanted to see if he could get it working in his new rig. I gave it to him and it worked perfect. So we tested all 5 PSUs and they all worked great however when they were in my home theater system they wouldn't do anything. No fan spin, no power, no nuthin.

It was very odd. I wished I had kept the theater system to do some more testing on. I still cannot come up with a reason why a PSU would work for 2 or 3 months in that system then "die" but work great in another one.

The odds of it being the PSU would have been too high for me to believe after the second or third unit at the most. Probably the mobo or a grounding issue in the case.

I've seen a lot of PSUs fail. They're the most often failed component of all of the computers I have ever built. Hard drives come in second.

SpotTheCat wrote:

I've seen a lot of PSUs fail. They're the most often failed component of all of the computers I have ever built. Hard drives come in second.

I've had more graphics cards die on me than anything else. Yep, graphics cards Let's see, there was the 9800 pro, the x300 se, the GF 6800 128, and finally the GF 7600 gt. The 7600 gt was totally my fault, but all the rest died on their own.

TurtlePerson2 wrote:

On a side note, I need a new PSU, anyone have any <$50 recommendations.

I would not spend that little on a PSU unless it is after rebates and/or sale price.

This Antec Neo Power 430W is about the only one I would buy due to a sale. $70 should give you a bit more choices in the 400W-500W range.

my buddy has had two psu die because they were case power supply made by raidmax BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*thumbsdown*

Unless you catch a good sale, there are very few <$50 PSUs worth looking at. I'm running my system on a 400w Sparkle I paid $29 for, but it's a no frills unit with ambiguous >70% efficiency. There aren't many solid 80+% efficiency 400-500w power supplies available for less than $50.

Here ya go:
PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS370X 370W ATX12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail $35 AR FS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817703018

What crazybus said.

If you want something that's going to have a lesser chance of failing your gonna have to spend somewhere in the range of $75-$150 for a good unit. It's not worth the risk of the PSU crapping out on you and taking any number of components with it. Why take the chance of cheaping out on a $50 PSU and have it take out your motherboard ($100), video card ($100+), HDD($150 + plus your data), or anything else that's gonna cost you more money in the long run. Besides my Enermax that I described above I haven't had any problems with either my OCZ or PCP&C units. IMHO you need to be more worried about your choice of PSU before any other component.

2_tyma wrote:

my buddy has had two psu die because they were case power supply made by raidmax BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*thumbsdown*

I've also had a Raidmax PSU "go" on me two years ago. It only died part way though. Flash of light, smoke smell and the computer went off. Still powered up again though, but I didn't want to take any chances and immediately went out to buy a new Antec.

Ive had a few fail on me. I had an Antec 330W unit go bad on me. I got one once that was DOA. I think I have had two Enermax's go bad on me over the years. My current PSU is a PC Power and Cooling unit and it's been flawless so far.

i have had a few die on me untill i got a UPS with AVR (automatic voltage regulation) for both spikes and brownouts. the power in my house is very dirty and fluctuates a whole bunch. you could also try a line conditioner in conjuction with a UPS...

I mainly (but not only) use Antec PSUs, and I've only had one fail, at least ten years ago. Of course I use a UPS these days, too.