Remember the Hiper 'Explosive' 580W PSUs? Why did they blow up?

Akagi · 3 Aug 2023 at 15:55

Does anyone recall what the point of failure was?

I just picked one up in a lot of retro gear, and was going to use it until I remembered vaguely that they had a bit of a reputation...

Looking at the power outputs, is it possible people were just exceeding the 360W at the 12V?

Was it just one revision or all of them? This is a Type M V2

Kurgen · 4 Aug 2023 at 12:51

I Posted on here about mine, and then binned it... I wouldnt bother with it myself just lob it out

hiper type R 580w psu

i have this psu in the cupboard, was it one of those to be avoided that burst into flames.. just putting an old pc together out of bits .. socket 775 quad core

forums.overclockers.co.uk

Akagi · 4 Aug 2023 at 22:38

Righto. A shame cos it's a decent looking PSU.

I was mainly just curious what part caused them to fail lol.

jklc · 12 Aug 2023 at 10:32

Just checking my old emails about my old one and apparently I RMA'd it in 2009 because of a burning smell. I bought something else in place of it and sold whatever I got back on ebay.. to a guy in Denmark?

tamzzy · 12 Aug 2023 at 10:42

this is a 10 on the **** around/find out graph lol

Jim99 · 12 Aug 2023 at 11:30

I don't remember what went on them. I do recall that it destroyed my motherboard, CPU and RAM. Came in a really handy box though that I used for another 15 years. So a mixed experience overall.

Brizzles · 12 Aug 2023 at 13:43

It was the Type R ( the Modular one ) that got the bad rep.

16 years ago, how time flies

The " Hiper-Active " Club

Welcome to The " Hiper-Active" Club (Founded by mrdbristol and The Laughing Ma ) ============================================ Following this thread ; http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17694264 and the constant slating of the " highly explosive " Hiper Type R...

forums.overclockers.co.uk

Grimley · 12 Aug 2023 at 17:24

I owned a Hiper PSU in the early 000's, bought it off the Auction site back then about the time of the exploding models. It wasn't the 580 watter. I bought it thinking it would be quiet as it had a 120/135mm fan. Errr. no. the fan kept ramping up and the noise drove me mad. It got sold. I think I replaced it with a Thermaltake 430 watter and that was much quieter.

Akagi · 12 Aug 2023 at 18:19

Brizzles said:
It was the Type R ( the Modular one ) that got the bad rep.

16 years ago, how time flies

The " Hiper-Active " Club

Welcome to The " Hiper-Active" Club (Founded by mrdbristol and The Laughing Ma ) ============================================ Following this thread ; http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17694264 and the constant slating of the " highly explosive " Hiper Type R...

forums.overclockers.co.uk

I had assumed (perhaps wrongly) that both were the same internally?

tamzzy said:
this is a 10 on the **** around/find out graph lol

I do enjoy me some unnecessary risk taking...

But I have opted to use one of my other more modern PSUs for this project... I chickened out.

Still curious though.

Brizzles · 12 Aug 2023 at 20:11

Acme said:
I had assumed (perhaps wrongly) that both were the same internally?

I'm sure the same very high quality parts were used in both

[HB]Rugrat · 3 Sep 2023 at 07:03

I totally missed the exploding issue and happily used my type r for years. I still use the cool toolbox it came in.

jellybeard999 · 3 Sep 2023 at 12:15

[HB]Rugrat said:
I totally missed the exploding issue and happily used my type r for years. I still use the cool toolbox it came in.

I gave my dad the box and he still uses it in his garage

I'm unsure whether the internals, are the same in the TypeM and TypeR but I wouldn't risk it.

IIRC the TypeR replaced a Tagan, but the Tagan outlasted it and provided many years service in another PC.

GodMac · 3 Sep 2023 at 17:11

I still remember the day it whnt bang! Took the main fuse RDC out as well as my Mobo. Bigest bang I've hear from an exploding PSU and taught me a great lesson. Don't beleieve the Hipe-..r.

I still have the box in the garage though. Its got my Warhammer chamberlain's in. Must go an dig that out. Thanks for the post and the reminder

Emlyn_Dewar · 4 Sep 2023 at 04:48

In fairness to mine (type r), it ran for a couple of years in my PC and then many more in a mates desktop. It was only replaced because of it's reputation and him buying new parts.
I guess it was down to it not really running mega overclocks, and I want to say a 6800GT at most...

It did look great though, even the box was cool (at the time).

Rroff · 4 Sep 2023 at 05:27

I don't think there was a single point of failure, they just had such little margins in terms of thermal stability, regulation, safety features and component quality it didn't take much to push them over the edge.

Something to be wary of in general with PSUs of that era is the so called "capacitor plague" which could affect many of them in the longer run.

One of the worst for me was q-tec - they didn't fail as such but devices powered by them would start to exhibit weird failings/malfunctions over time and be permanently damaged, I'm guessing due to poor voltage regulation.

Emlyn_Dewar · 4 Sep 2023 at 05:52

Qtec... Now there's a name I've not heard in some time!
They were a meme on here back in the day. A free surprise house fire with every one.

Mike_J_Smith · 4 Sep 2023 at 16:07

[HB]Rugrat said:
I totally missed the exploding issue and happily used my type r for years. I still use the cool toolbox it came in.

Ah man, I remember that toolbox. Used mine for years although it eventually broke. Unlike the PSU which I never had any issues with.

Bobmunkhouse · 10 Sep 2023 at 08:20

Yep I'm still using the tool box....the actual PSU did blow up....

Dsteviedee · 13 Sep 2023 at 10:44

Still got the toolbox also.
PSU was still going strong also until replaced for new build.

Blackjack Davy · 16 Sep 2023 at 19:25

Rroff said:
I don't think there was a single point of failure, they just had such little margins in terms of thermal stability, regulation, safety features and component quality it didn't take much to push them over the edge.

Something to be wary of in general with PSUs of that era is the so called "capacitor plague" which could affect many of them in the longer run.

One of the worst for me was q-tec - they didn't fail as such but devices powered by them would start to exhibit weird failings/malfunctions over time and be permanently damaged, I'm guessing due to poor voltage regulation.

I had a Zalman that did that basically went senile in its old age I think it killed at least three HDD's. One of the first no-name PSU's I ever had blew up in a huge blue flash and a shower of sparks - its left me paranoid about PSU's and don't like to keep them too long "just in case"