Buying a used PSU. Help!

[Man]

I'm about to buy a used 350W PSU (Seasonic 350GT). Problem is that I've had some REALLY bad experience with used PSUs in the past and I'm kinda scared, to be honest. 

 

What are some of the precautions one could take before purchasing a PSU? Physically, the PSU looks pretty great and every single review of the 350GT is VERY positive. But since the PSU is almost 7 years old, I don't think the reviews are relevent anymore. 

 

In any case, I've a multi-meter and I'm thinking about testing the voltages at no load before making the purchase and will test them again once it's connected with the PC from either the SATA connector (Some SATA connectos have 'bare' contact pins at the top so it's easy to test out all three voltages while the system is under load) and/or the 6-pin GPU cable (12v only).

 

Do you think it'd be sufficient? Any advise would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Thanks in advance. 

[Fasauceome]

you really can't know how good a used PSU is, it either works correctly or doesn't. Rarely does a PSU show signs of aging, when it dies it dies all at once. If you're buying a PSU for a system you care about, don't skimp on the price tag and shoot for something known to be decent.

[seon123]

Really simple. Spend a couple of thousand dollars on a load tester. A Chroma 6213A and some DC load modules should do the trick. 

Then of course you need an oscilloscope and a DMM. Then remember to test all of this in a hot box, not at ambient. 

That should cover the basics. 

 

If you don't have all of this, and you aren't willing to spend the money required to get it, just buy a new PSU, as you don't have a way to test it properly. That will be much cheaper. 

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, Man said:

Buying a used PSU. Help!

Don't.

 

[Dedayog]

24 minutes ago, Man said:

I'm about to buy a used 350W PSU (Seasonic 350GT). Problem is that I've had some REALLY bad experience with used PSUs in the past and I'm kinda scared, to be honest. 

 

What are some of the precautions one could take before purchasing a PSU? Physically, the PSU looks pretty great and every single review of the 350GT is VERY positive. But since the PSU is almost 7 years old, I don't think the reviews are relevent anymore. 

 

In any case, I've a multi-meter and I'm thinking about testing the voltages at no load before making the purchase and will test them again once it's connected with the PC from either the SATA connector (Some SATA connectos have 'bare' contact pins at the top so it's easy to test out all three voltages while the system is under load) and/or the 6-pin GPU cable (12v only).

 

Do you think it'd be sufficient? Any advise would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Thanks in advance. 

Seems like an assload of hassle, inconvenience and anxiety to save a couple bucks.

 

Stop being cheap and buy a new quality PSU.

[Man]

10 hours ago, jstudrawa said:

Seems like an assload of hassle, inconvenience and anxiety to save a couple bucks.

 

Stop being cheap and buy a new quality PSU.

Well, it's going for around $12, and I need it for a system that cost about $65!

Gigabyte GA-H61M. 

Intel Pentium G860. 

4GB x 1 DDR3 1,333MHz. 

320GB + 500GB HDDs. 

Nvidia GT440 1GB.

 

Everything is in used condition, as you can probably imagine. So why not the PSU as well?!

 

10 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

Don't.

 

Are you the 'real' Jonny Guru, by any chance?!

 

10 hours ago, seon123 said:

Really simple. Spend a couple of thousand dollars on a load tester. A Chroma 6213A and some DC load modules should do the trick. 

Then of course you need an oscilloscope and a DMM. Then remember to test all of this in a hot box, not at ambient. 

That should cover the basics. 

All I've on my name is a well calibrated semi-decent multimeter, sadly!

 

 

[Man]

10 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

Rarely does a PSU show signs of aging, when it dies it dies all at once.

Well, the board I have has a quote/unquote "anti-surge protection chip", so things 'should' be fine even if the PSU decides to blow-up, right?

 

Please tell me I'm right...

[Fasauceome]

1 minute ago, Man said:

Well, the board I have has a quote/unquote "anti-surge protection chip", so things 'should' be fine even if the PSU decides to blow-up, right?

 

Please tell me I'm right...

Nope, unfortunately a terrible PSU can't we'll be protected from

[shazammm]

On 10/2/2019 at 7:12 PM, jonnyGURU said:

Don't.

 

what's wrong with it? bough an used corsair rm650x for 55euros with all the cables. works fine no problem in the past 6 months

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, shazammm said:

what's wrong with it? bough an used corsair rm650x for 55euros with all the cables. works fine no problem in the past 6 months

Crap shoot.

 

They're not all going to be bad.  

 

But a PSU isn't like buying a used graphics card, CPU, motherboard, etc.  You can't "benchmark" a used PSU unless you have very, very expensive equipment.

 

[shazammm]

2 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

Crap shoot.

 

They're not all going to be bad.  

 

But a PSU isn't like buying a used graphics card, CPU, motherboard, etc.  You can't "benchmark" a used PSU unless you have very, very expensive equipment.

 

well , the IT shop where i bought it from said it was never opened, gave me 12months warranty . bought a bunch of computer parts, never send anything to rma ,guess i was just lucky 

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, shazammm said:

well , the IT shop where i bought it from said it was never opened, gave me 12months warranty . bought a bunch of computer parts, never send anything to rma ,guess i was just lucky 

Well then that's not used, is it?  Not even opened?  That's not used.

 

[LukeSavenije]

16 hours ago, Man said:

Are you the 'real' Jonny Guru, by any chance?!

(un)fortunately that's the real Jon, can confirm

[Dedayog]

25 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

(un)fortunately that's the real Jon, can confirm

He just did an interview with PC World about PSU's that is good info to have, probably stickyable.

[LukeSavenije]

7 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

He just did an interview with PC World about PSU's that is good info to have, probably stickyable.

oh that,

 

i think i have had it mentioned like 4-5 times to me alone already

[Dedayog]

Just now, LukeSavenije said:

oh that,

 

i think i have had it mentioned like 4-5 times to me alone already

Well damn it, I want to be 6 then!

 

He was disappointingly not near as grumpy in that video as he is here

[FALC0N]

24 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

 

He was disappointingly not near as grumpy in that video as he is here

 

I suspect the video is bit more reflective of his personality.   Text-only communication loses emotional context very easily and can seem a lot harsher than intended.