RM650x failure & temporary replacement

fillasophy · August 1, 2020

So I shut down my less than 2-month-old build before going to bed, and about 7 hours later it wouldn't turn back on. RGB elements in the mobo were lighting, though, so I figured it might be something wrong with the power button. To cut to the chase, I ended up pulling the CPU (a Corsair RM650x), did the paperclip test and psu fan wouldn't start, so probably dead. To verify I pulled the PSU from my old build, a Seasonic S12II 620W (non-modular), and computer seems to be running fine. Switched back to the Corsair and nothing, so yea, PSU is definitely toast.

I just submitted an RMA to (hopefully) get a replacement, but in the meantime I would like to use the computer... so I have some questions for you all...

1) Would my old PSU be able to support the power needs of my new build? (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gJ2Jcq This includes the Seasonic as the psu. Also, sorry this is a link instead of in-line... I'm trying to make this work on my phone...) The Seasonic is over 6 years old (I wanna say 8 or 9 by now), so I'm just worried if power consumption spikes during a game session or whatever that the agedness of the psu might fry more of the computer, but in theory the 620W should still cover needs...

2) How/Why on earth does a psu just give out like that? Is it possible it's something that could have been prevented? While I have a lot of tabs open I tend to use sleep more than shutdown, so it hadnt been restarted in a week or two, but I've never had that be an issue before...?

3) It occurs to me that the mobo needs a small amount of power at all times to check for the power button being depressed, so was that power what caused the rgb elements to stay on (they actually stay on at all times on this mobo, but luckily they're not very bright). My original thought was that the psu wasnt able to supply power to specifically the cpu since the rgb was on, but is that even possible? Now that I think about it, power wasnt passing through to other usb devices, either, so what does that say?

Thanks in advance for the info.

svmlegacy · August 2, 2020

28 minutes ago, fillasophy said:

Would my old PSU be able to support the power needs of my new build?

This is fine for the temporary time until your RMA unit comes in.

28 minutes ago, fillasophy said:

How/Why on earth does a psu just give out like that?

Components are most likely to either crib-die (first couple months) or live out a very long life (unless abused). Obviously this unit had a factory defect of some sort. This is the reason I don't have issues with used components 99% of the time, heck, someone stressed tested it for me already.

31 minutes ago, fillasophy said:

was that power what caused the rgb elements to stay on

No, most RGB elements AFAIK run on 12V. the standby power is +5V from the PSU. It likely had turned itself on somehow, which supplied the +12V while the motherboard was still off.