What are mining PSU? Are they worth it and most importantly, is it dangerous?

[Shir0u]

So I found this really cheap mining PSU on a local 2nd hand market. It is this one:

https://www.gearbest.com/power-supply/pp_1297986.html

I have never seen PSUs made specifically for mining, but my new rig is missing a PSU and 40 USD approx for a 1500w is quite compelling. That said, the chance of me buying this is slim, it looks sketchy, but I want to know if anyone had any experience using these, and if they have any problems with it. Thank you.

[raceboy5512]

ive never used one personally but they are known in the mining community for melting mining rigs. If you wanted a good cheap psu for mining get a used server psu a breakout board and a pico unit for the mobo/cpu

[Electronics Wizardy]

Don't get a cheap psu, a 1500w for 40usd is gonna be crap, and not a good buy.

 

 

Looking at the specs, its 200-240v only, do you have those voltages?

 

The specs seems wrong in a lot of areas, like no 3v3 and -5v rail, but have a 24pin.

 

Really stay away.

[Kanna]

3 minutes ago, Shir0u said:

So I found this really cheap mining PSU on a local 2nd hand market. It is this one:

https://www.gearbest.com/power-supply/pp_1297986.html

I have never seen PSUs made specifically for mining, but my new rig is missing a PSU and 40 USD approx for a 1500w is quite compelling. That said, the chance of me buying this is slim, it looks sketchy, but I want to know if anyone had any experience using these, and if they have any problems with it. Thank you.

Well I think they are made to run 24/7 with multiple gpus might be missing important stuff for a normal PC sata for example (not sure tho I would not do it)

[Lurick]

You would be better off taking your money and setting it on fire than buying that PSU. A lot of those "mining" PSUs came around a couple years ago when mining Etherium and other coins with GPUs was a huge hit. Most are put together poorly/cheaply and I wouldn't trust them to power anything of value.

[jaslion]

4 minutes ago, Shir0u said:

So I found this really cheap mining PSU on a local 2nd hand market. It is this one:

https://www.gearbest.com/power-supply/pp_1297986.html

I have never seen PSUs made specifically for mining, but my new rig is missing a PSU and 40 USD approx for a 1500w is quite compelling. That said, the chance of me buying this is slim, it looks sketchy, but I want to know if anyone had any experience using these, and if they have any problems with it. Thank you.

40 usd for a 1300w gold rated psu just sounds extremely sketchy. This thing has to be a fake.

[aisle9]

3 minutes ago, Shir0u said:

40 USD approx for a 1500w

[raceboy5512]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

Don't get a cheap psu, a 1500w for 40usd is gonna be crap, and not a good buy.

 

 

Looking at the specs, its 200-240v only, do you have those voltages?

 

The specs seems wrong in a lot of areas, like no 3v3 and -5v rail, but have a 24pin.

 

Really stay away.

mining psus usually dont have a 3v or 5v rail since it isnt needed

[Shir0u]

To the people who replied this, thank you for the great laugh and I shall take your advice XD

[Spotty]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Looking at the specs, its 200-240v only, do you have those voltages?

 

The specs seems wrong in a lot of areas, like no 3v3 and -5v rail, but have a 24pin.

Where are you seeing that??? That's not what the label shows.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Spotty said:

Where are you seeing that??? That's not what the label shows.

I look in the description, not the pictures. Thats normally a bad sign anyways when there different.

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Shir0u said:

I have never seen PSUs made specifically for mining, but my new rig is missing a PSU and 40 USD approx for a 1500w is quite compelling. That said, the chance of me buying this is slim, it looks sketchy, but I want to know if anyone had any experience using these, and if they have any problems with it. Thank you.

Basically, they're made to output a lot of power cheaply.

 

Ripple spec?  Nope.  Voltage regulation?  Eh... maybe.  Fan?  Full speed ahead!

[Moonzy]

my mind:

 

 

if i had to guess, the output voltage is gonna be crap, and close to no safety features

[mariushm]

Well, they're not fake, and they actually are capable of outputting close to the advertised value , let's say over 1000 watts, provided the input voltage is within that range of 200-240v

I wouldn't use them for more than 800 watts at 110v input if they even support it.

 

They're based on older designs, with fairly low efficiency, around 80-85%, so they'll produce quite a bit of heat. The voltage will not be very stable, let's say you'll see 11.5v... 12.5v depending on load, and the small voltages 3.3v and 5v are regulated based on how much output you have on 12v.

Basically, the 5v and 3.3v outputs will vary depending on how much you have on 12v ... let's say at 100w on 12v, you may have 3.6v and 5.5v  and at 1000w you may have 3v and 4.7v or something like that... you'll get close to 3.3v and 5v somewhere around 300-600w

 

They were around 80-100$ in the mining days, around 2-3 years ago? Around november - january 2018 when ethereum and bitcoin peaked. Nowadays, most serious miners moved to ASICs and no longer use video cards, or use higher efficiency modded server psus  (you can get gold/titanium efficiency 850w..1050w+ psus from de-comissioned servers for 40-60$)

 

So 40-50$ for these used power supplies is not surprising.... but i still wouldn't buy them. If they were used for mining for a significant time, the cheap electrolytic capacitors in them are probably already somewhat degraded. You just don't know how much life is still left in it ... and 40$ is a gamble.

[Lord Bloobus]

That thing is straight Chinesium, holy cow do not buy that.