Corsair TX850M went bang

GBB · 5 Sep 2018 at 19:24

Last night my 8 month old Corsair TX850M made a loud pop, tripped the power in my house and is now dead. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to have taken anything else into the afterlife with it.

Ironically, it was the first PSU in over 20 years of building PCs that I've spent more than about £30 on and the first PSU I've ever had die on me!

I've just had a look at the fuse in the plug supplied with it (it's not from OCUK btw) and to my surprise it's a 13A fuse. Is that normal? All PSUs I've had in that past have come with 3A or 5A fused plugs.

Can anyone recommend a good, reliable, replacement in the 750-850W range on a budget of around £100?

PC spec is:
i7 8700K @4.8
16GB 3000MHz DDR4
GTX1080
2x SSD
2x SATA HDDs
1x SATA DVDRW
7 USB devices inc Oculus Rift

Ree · 5 Sep 2018 at 19:43

either one of these will serve you well. they have the same internals just rebadged from what i've read on here.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Seasonic Focus Plus 750W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £104.99
1 x Antec HCG Gold 750W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £102.95

Total: £219.64 (includes shipping: £11.70)

Ree · 5 Sep 2018 at 19:47

did a sneaky edit i mistakenly linked you to the wrong antec one its fixed now.

GBB · 5 Sep 2018 at 20:49

Thanks, would 750W be more than enough or is it worth spending a little more to get the 850W equivalent to give a bit more headroom?

Vapo Reaper · 6 Sep 2018 at 08:55

GBB said:
Thanks, would 750W be more than enough or is it worth spending a little more to get the 850W equivalent to give a bit more headroom?

750w is more than enough for your current setup.

I would tend to agree with you regarding the fuse amperage, 5A would suffice. Normally a 13A fuse is required for equipment that has a DOL starter, such as your washing machine, due to the inrush current when initially started. Also obviously has a higher nominal current than your PC ;0.

netdps · 6 Sep 2018 at 10:52

Orbitwalsh gave me this advice yesterday might be worth considering

"have a look at riotoro, just a rebadged Focus unit with £20+ off"

Thread link
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/new-psu-for-future-build.18830316/

EsaT · 6 Sep 2018 at 12:45

GBB said:
Last night my 8 month old Corsair TX850M made a loud pop, tripped the power in my house and is now dead.

If it took main fuse of phase, instead of fuse for those wall outlets, then it sure had some spectacular short circuit in primary.

Any "autopsy" yet?
If you have camera capable to decent close ups could try to tell what went bang.

That age TX---M has been made by both Chicony and CWT and haven't seen reviews of that Chiconys.
CWT's 750W model certainly has cost downed heatsinks:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=254
Heatsinks won't get any simpler than those plates....

GBB said:
Thanks, would 750W be more than enough or is it worth spending a little more to get the 850W equivalent to give a bit more headroom?

Non-Ti 1080 is very frugal in its power consumption.
Would need some heavy overclocking to put 750W PSU under 50% load during gaming.

pastymuncher · 6 Sep 2018 at 13:45

If it's only 8 months old then it should be the new gold rated version built by Great Wall that launched in early/mid 2017. JonnyGuru gave it 9.5/10 so it's a good psu. It also has a 7 year warranty so don't go taking it apart, RMA it for a replacement.

GBB · 7 Sep 2018 at 12:03

Here's the label if that helps to identify it:

I can't see any obvious signs of damage inside looking in through the grills, although this coil looks a bit loose. It also looks extremely close to the side of the case, it's hard to see in the picture but if it isn't actually touching there's no more than a millimetre between it and the metal side of the case!

It is getting RMA'd for a replacement, which is going straight on ebay because, although it may be a decent PSU in theory and a one-off random failure, I just wouldn't trust it.

Vapo Reaper · 7 Sep 2018 at 16:54

Considering the expense of your build, I would say wise choice ;0

pastymuncher · 7 Sep 2018 at 19:14

That's the new version. Easiest way to tell is that the TX850M on the side is now black lettering over a white background plus it's now gold rated when the old ones were only bronze.

A failure can happen to any psu no matter how much you spend on it. The new TX-M series are very good and Jonnyguru gave it 9.5/10 in his review. He does not give out scores like that unless it's very, very good.