Did my PSU take out my system?

Dark Light · 17 Oct 2017 at 20:20

I was not by my PC and I heard a loud pop and at the exact same time the breaker switch and the electricity went off. I went to my PC and could smell burning and the system wouldn't turn on, so I automatically thought my PSU had gone, so I changed it to another one I had. But the system still wouldn't turn on, however if I use a different power cable the motherboard power button light turns on and off, although the system still doesn't turn on.

So was it the PSU that went? And did it take out the motherboard? I do have another motherboard that I could try, but I just wanted to see what everyone thought first.

wedrum · 17 Oct 2017 at 20:23

which psu is it ?

Dark Light · 17 Oct 2017 at 20:29

wedrum said:
which psu is it ?

it was a cheapish PSU that I have been using in an old system because my motherboard died in my old system. It was an 9 year old EZCool 550W the other replacement PSU I tried was an AX860.

pastymuncher · 17 Oct 2017 at 20:57

EZcool psu's are among the worst psu's that you could buy and are well known for taking other components out when they fail. Never, ever skimp on the psu.

hornetstinger · 17 Oct 2017 at 20:59

pastymuncher said:
EZcool psu's are among the worst psu's that you could buy and are well known for taking other components out when they fail. Never, ever skimp on the psu.

What about q-tec gold?

Dark Light · 17 Oct 2017 at 21:07

pastymuncher said:
EZcool psu's are among the worst psu's that you could buy and are well known for taking other components out when they fail. Never, ever skimp on the psu.

it was an old temp system that I was using because my motherboard died. I knew the PSU wasn't that great so I hadn't been using my SSDs, guess I was proven right.

agnes · 17 Oct 2017 at 21:50

pastymuncher said:
EZcool psu's are among the worst psu's that you could buy and are well known for taking other components out when they fail. Never, ever skimp on the psu.

Agreed, it's scary how often people buy $$$'s worth of components yet spend double digits on a **** poor PSU.

spoffle · 18 Oct 2017 at 09:20

Try jump starting the PSU while it's connected to the board by bridging the green wire on the 24 pin cable to any black wire on the same 24 pin cable.

I had a really annoying motherboard that wouldn't start up unless I did this. Once it was on, it was fine though.

spoffle · 18 Oct 2017 at 09:20

agnes said:
Agreed, it's scary how often people buy $$$'s worth of components yet spend double digits on a **** poor PSU.

You can get a very good PSU for £99 or less.

pastymuncher · 18 Oct 2017 at 09:21

hornetstinger said:
What about q-tec gold?

Even worse. They have a reputation of exploding and catching fire. Skimping on the psu is just ridiculous and will likely cost you greatly in the end after it fails and kills your other components. These garbage psu's that you can buy are only fit for the bin. Do people really think they are getting 600w or 700w psu's for £20? If they do they are deluded. These units won't have the neccessary protections in place which is why they kill other components, are horribly innefficient and if you are very lucky may have a third of their stated power on the 12v rail where it's actually needed.

I keep saying on here over and over not to skimp on the psu yet we still have threads where people have spent £600+ on a gpu, £350+ on a cpu and then are asking for recommendations for a psu under £50. It's not going to happen. There is nothing on here that costs less than £50 that I would recommend as I never recommend something that I wouldn't be completely happy to use myself.

pastymuncher · 18 Oct 2017 at 09:25

spoffle said:
You can get a very good PSU for £99 or less.

Nobody is saying that you can't but a lot of people just don't want to spend on the psu. They see it as a place to save money. The psu that has gone in this thread was £17 judging by the quick search I just did.

spoffle · 18 Oct 2017 at 09:58

pastymuncher said:
Nobody is saying that you can't but a lot of people just don't want to spend on the psu. They see it as a place to save money. The psu that has gone in this thread was £17 judging by the quick search I just did.

My point was that "double digits" isn't enough for a PSU. It's such a vague and broad statement.

pastymuncher · 18 Oct 2017 at 10:13

Sorry I missed that bit of his post. I agree with you completely. You can get some very good psu's at £75 and over. The Seasonic Focus Plus Gold series in particular are excellent units and Antec will shortly be releasing their Earthwatts Gold Pro series that are based on them.

Dark Light · 18 Oct 2017 at 11:03

That PSU I was using wasn't from my system, I was only using it because my motherboard died, my PSU is an AX860.

IvanDobskey · 18 Oct 2017 at 13:16

hornetstinger said:
What about q-tec gold?

Or a Hiper

IvanDobskey · 18 Oct 2017 at 13:19

I would guess a cheapo PSU going pop is likely to have caused damage to other components. Unfortunately it's difficult to know which ones without swapped them all out one by one.

Never ever skimp on the PSU, it's the most important part of a pc.

agnes · 18 Oct 2017 at 16:46

spoffle said:
You can get a very good PSU for £99 or less.

pastymuncher said:
Sorry I missed that bit of his post. I agree with you completely. You can get some very good psu's at £75 and over. The Seasonic Focus Plus Gold series in particular are excellent units and Antec will shortly be releasing their Earthwatts Gold Pro series that are based on them.

You're both right, I was being dramatic with the triple digits. Most Corsairs are under triple digits.

As Pastymuncher (hehe) says, people see it as a whole to save that extra £50 or so quid to spend on other parts. But ultimately pay the price in the end.