Unlucky with power supplies? 3 dead in 5 years.

[MusenMouse]

Hello all,

So as the title says I have been pretty unlucky with my power supplies. In the last 5 years since I built my first computer I have gone through 3 PSU's. Am I unlucky or do other people have similar experiences? I'll detail each model and how it died below.

 

Seasonic G Series SSR-650RM ATX12V: My first power supply. Looking back, problems started very early with this power supply with every few months my computer refusing to turn on. Flipping the power switch on the back of the PSU a few times eventually got my computer to start and I would be good from there. As time went on the situation got worse and the refusals to turn on would become more frequent and flipping the power switch became more inconsistent as a fix, although it would still work in the end. About 2 and a half years into its life the power supply refused to turn on at all and I had to RMA the unit.

 

Seasonic Focus GX-850: This is the second power supply. I bought this when making a new Ryzen system. It died much faster. After I started up a Windows 10 install and left for school, the power supply died sometime between then and when I came back home. Luckily it was still under Newegg's return policy and I shipped it back.

 

EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G3: I bought this PSU when the Seasonic G had to be RMA'd because I wasn't sure on the turnaround time of the RMA. Plus after two Seasonic PSU's going out I wanted to try a different brand of PSU. This PSU only recently started having issues. About 6 months ago my computer would turn off when playing more intensive games. If I let the computer cool off it would eventually let me play the game again and I would be on my way. Eventually the PSU degraded to the point where a couple of weeks ago I could replicate the shutoffs by opening a game and standing in a certain area and waving the camera around. The PSU also developed this low whine that was uncomfortable and at one point it heightened in volume till I thought it was going to blow. The EVGA PSU never did blow up or die completely. If I just watched Youtube or played less intensive games the PSU worked as normal. I eventually bit the bullet and RMA'd the unit and am getting a EVGA SuperNOVA G5 in return.

 

Just for reference I'm not mad about my PSU's dying. I've been pretty lucky with other PC components so I've accepted that PSU's may be my unlucky component. Thanks for reading.

 

 

[Trinopoty]

I'd check your house's power circuit. It could be causing voltage fluctuations or other issues that the PSUs are correcting for constantly, leading to reduces life.

Either that or you are the most unlucky person I've seen.

[seon123]

11 minutes ago, MusenMouse said:

I eventually bit the bullet and RMA'd the unit and am getting a EVGA SuperNOVA G5 in return.

Uh... That's a downgrade from the G3, and you should definitely not have accepted that as a replacement unit. 

12 minutes ago, MusenMouse said:

The PSU also developed this low whine that was uncomfortable and at one point it heightened in volume till I thought it was going to blow

Coil whine is not dangerous or indicative or something being wrong with the PSU. 

[Kilrah]

Yup, check power supply quality, and possibly get a surge protector. 

 

I used to live in a place that would kill power supplies in a couple of years because of massive spikes anytime a light switch was flipped. Busted both my PC and my TV's PSUs.

[MusenMouse]

2 hours ago, seon123 said:

Uh... That's a downgrade from the G3, and you should definitely not have accepted that as a replacement unit. 

Coil whine is not dangerous or indicative or something being wrong with the PSU. 

I didn't get a choice in the replacement. Maybe I'll ask EVGA if they would be willing to ship me a G3.

 

I know coil whine is not indicative of an issue with the PSU, but the whine was not originally noticeable and became louder as the PSU deteriorated. At its loudest, my computer would reset itself as soon as the BIOS screen flashed.

[Slayerking92]

Buy a UPS to clean the power going to your computer.

[MusenMouse]

1 hour ago, Kilrah said:

Yup, check power supply quality, and possibly get a surge protector. 

 

I used to live in a place that would kill power supplies in a couple of years because of massive spikes anytime a light switch was flipped. Busted both my PC and my TV's PSUs.

I already have a surge protector so I might have to look to buy a UPS as another person suggested. The power on my block does go out on a somewhat regular basis. No idea why but it's an annual thing that my family and I expect. So far no other appliance has died, but I am on my PC for quite a bit so it could be the length of use.

[Iszack]

Get a UPS back up power source , I had an old apartment, built in 1960 and the power was so dirty it was causing all kings of issues. Get a 1000+ VA back up. If power goes out, you have about 2-5 min to shutdown your PC. I went through 2, corsair CX750w PSU in 1 year. Corair replaced them but told me they would not honor a 3rd replacement unless it's over 6 months and recommended me to get a PSU backup power source. it worked, PSU is 6 years old and still kicking in a old media center I3-4 series. 

[Guest]

15 hours ago, MusenMouse said:

Seasonic G Series SSR-650RM ATX12V: My first power supply. Looking back, problems started very early with this power supply with every few months my computer refusing to turn on. Flipping the power switch on the back of the PSU a few times eventually got my computer to start and I would be good from there. As time went on the situation got worse and the refusals to turn on would become more frequent and flipping the power switch became more inconsistent as a fix, although it would still work in the end. About 2 and a half years into its life the power supply refused to turn on at all and I had to RMA the unit.

Motherboard issue.

 

15 hours ago, MusenMouse said:

Seasonic Focus GX-850: This is the second power supply. I bought this when making a new Ryzen system. It died much faster. After I started up a Windows 10 install and left for school, the power supply died sometime between then and when I came back home. Luckily it was still under Newegg's return policy and I shipped it back.

We know for sure the PSU died?

 

15 hours ago, MusenMouse said:

EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G3: I bought this PSU when the Seasonic G had to be RMA'd because I wasn't sure on the turnaround time of the RMA. Plus after two Seasonic PSU's going out I wanted to try a different brand of PSU. This PSU only recently started having issues. About 6 months ago my computer would turn off when playing more intensive games. If I let the computer cool off it would eventually let me play the game again and I would be on my way. Eventually the PSU degraded to the point where a couple of weeks ago I could replicate the shutoffs by opening a game and standing in a certain area and waving the camera around.

Was the fan working?  

 

15 hours ago, MusenMouse said:

The PSU also developed this low whine that was uncomfortable and at one point it heightened in volume till I thought it was going to blow.

Yeah.  Sometimes PSUs make noise. They have very large magnetics (compared to the rest of your PC) and therefore larger surface area for electromagnetically induced acoustic noise.

 

15 hours ago, MusenMouse said:

I eventually bit the bullet and RMA'd the unit and am getting a EVGA SuperNOVA G5 in return.

That's a downgrade, FYI.

 

What country are you in?   Are your mains bad?  Do you have other electronics in the home dying?

 

[Juular]

1 hour ago, jonnyGURU said:

That's a downgrade, FYI.

Well, any currently available EVGA PSU would be downgrade over G2 ... Unless they would be able to offer them G3 if it's still on shelves somewhere.

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, Juular said:

Well, any currently available EVGA PSU would be downgrade over G2 ... Unless they would be able to offer them G3 if it's still on shelves somewhere.

There are G3's being sold on Newegg, but I'm skeptical.  I ordered one just to make sure it was still Superflower if it was just something else in the G3 housing.

 

[BillNyeThecommieSpy]

1 hour ago, Juular said:

Well, any currently available EVGA PSU would be downgrade over G2 ... Unless they would be able to offer them G3 if it's still on shelves somewhere.

I'm fairly certain that there exist G3 units, on amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYGFRL6?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1 

Not a very convincing price, though

[Juular]

54 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

There are G3's being sold on Newegg, but I'm skeptical.  I ordered one just to make sure it was still Superflower if it was just something else in the G3 housing.

I'm really curious what your take on Super Flower, have Corsair considering employing them, especially since they're now free of EVGA ?

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Juular said:

I'm really curious what your take on Super Flower, have Corsair considering employing them, especially since they're now free of EVGA ?

They're nice guys.  I like their ideas.  But their factory would probably never pass our audit.  Or.... we help bring their factory up to snuff and someone else sweeps in and takes over all of their capacity (*cough*Andyson*cough*)

[Intergalacticbits]

On 7/29/2020 at 11:45 AM, MusenMouse said:

I already have a surge protector so I might have to look to buy a UPS as another person suggested. The power on my block does go out on a somewhat regular basis. No idea why but it's an annual thing that my family and I expect. So far no other appliance has died, but I am on my PC for quite a bit so it could be the length of use.

 

Have you ever considered a whole house surge protector installed at the main breaker box?

I have had similar problems in the past with surges, surges when the power comes back on after an outage and what seemed like rough power. If you know what I'm trying to say.

 

Anyway I put in a whole house surge protector along with using at the point of use surge protectors and it made a big difference for me. I used to have problems with all kinds of products having shortened life spans.

Now things are much better.

 

I just thought I'd mention it.

  

[MusenMouse]

Thanks for everyone replying. Sorry for not getting back sooner.

On 7/29/2020 at 9:45 PM, jonnyGURU said:

Motherboard issue.

I had no idea that was possible. The Seasonic 650 and EVGA 750 G3 both died in the same Intel build. Maybe its time to retire that system

On 7/29/2020 at 9:45 PM, jonnyGURU said:

Was the fan working?  

The fan was still working on the EVGA 750 G3. I could hear it ramp up as I started a game. Not sure if it matters, but after I tried flipping the ECO mode on for a boot then back off, the issues seemed to worsen for a while. That's when the PSU became its loudest and restarted the whole computer at the boot screen.

 

On 7/29/2020 at 9:45 PM, jonnyGURU said:

We know for sure the PSU died?

Yeah the Seasonic 850 was dead as a door knob. I tried turning it on with a paper clip and no dice (not that I knew what I was doing), and then I used my original Seasonic 650 to turn on the new computer with no issues.

 

On 7/29/2020 at 9:45 PM, jonnyGURU said:

That's a downgrade, FYI.

 

What country are you in?   Are your mains bad?  Do you have other electronics in the home dying?

 

So I've heard it is a downgrade. I don't think I plan to ask EVGA for a swap because it'll probably involve me paying for shipping again.

 

I live in the United States with no other electronics dying in the house. So far the Ryzen system that I built has had no issues and I built a system for my brother in the same house with another EVGA G3 PSU and it has not had any issues. They are much newer systems though. It sounds like my older Intel system may be the linking issue here with the Seasonic 850W being an outlier.

 

Not sure if this is relevant to killing the PSU's, but when I built the Intel system I didn't realize that I had lost a screw behind the motherboard tray and it was in there for the most of the life of the Seasonic 650, but removed before the EVGA 750 G3 was installed. Could that screw have done something to the motherboard that is causing it to damage the PSU's?