ECN Forum Forums Safety Discussion and News Safety News and Product Recalls Dangerous PC PSUs

It used to be all but fool proof, but the newer high efficiency designs are proving difficult to measure by mass alone. Sometimes it is necessary to peer through the vents. I now looks for some distinguishing features of a good PSU:

Decent finish and thickness of the enclosure but overly flashy may be a sign of trouble.
Fan type (ball bearing, magnetic or hydrodynamic are best)
Wire size (no 20AWG wires except for sensor or control leads)
Board material, better PSUs use fiberglass PCBs, cheap ones use phenolic.
Component brand choices, especially on capacitors!
Heatsink size is not a huge factor with some modern designs with efficiency ratings over 80%, small can sometimes be OK.
The last tell tale sign: warranty

Wit that said, even a quality modern 80+ efficiency model will still have some beef to compared to the cheap crap.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=71

Here's a review of some bottom of the barrel power supplies that promise the moon for little or no money. The results are as entertaining as the violation photos section!

I say no money because these pieces of junk are often supplied with a PC case, and said case is $20 while the minimum market price for a case happens to be about $20, with or without the crappy PSU. Oh yeah, 20 dollars does not get you a decent case either! Good cases start around $40.... without a PSU. Bad cases tend to be so flimsy that the motherboard flexes when cards, memory modules or in some cases, cables are attached. They are also too flimsy to keep vibrations damped, they tend to be quite noisy.

Don't know how I missed this thread, but don't get me started on consumer electronics! It's all the same cheap crap anymore; in a world where marketing trumps all and salesmen know they can take advantage of people who think more expensive = better, price doesn't seem to matter squat. How many times can you open up a $100 box and a $500 box and find the exact same stuff underneath? Oh, for an economy ruled by the engineer, when you can actually make an informed decision base on price, features and quality, and you actually get what you paid for!

I've had so many hard drives and PSUs die on me, I've become quite jaded. After having a 300W Deere die on me, I was determined not to make that mistake again- but the 3 400W+ Antecs that followed it didn't last any longer. I have another expensive 400W+ PSU in my present PC, but cost really doesn't mean anything anymore. It was highly rated on Newegg and is about 3 years old right now, so that's good, I suppose...

You all not only regularly back-up your critical files, but keep an extra copy offsite somewhere else so that you don't lose all your digital photos, tax records, etc, in a fire right? My parents get a freshly updated DVD-R with all our photos every time I see them, and I've got another DVD at work with everything else. People think I'm paranoid when I meantion off-site backup for my personal files, but it's not like it's all that difficult, and I know I'm covered in case of catastrophe.