Power supply exploded

[Sierra3]

Anyone ever have the power supply explode on their home computer? Mine sits about three feet away from me on a custom shelf I built for it. Friday I got off work and was sitting down with coffee to get email and unwind from work. Then a loud boom like a .22 going off right next to me and computer went dead instantly. Scared the hell outta me. hah
Just sat there for a sec and got composure. Then started pulling her apart after unplugging it. It was a 5 year old 700Watt power supply. Bought it back in 2007 when I did my last build up gaming computer.
I've never ever heard of one blowing up. Very weird also because no burnt smell, no smoke, no blown leaking capacitors ect. Just a loud bang and power offline. Was forced to use the dreaded laptop last night that has windows 8 on it I hate. haha. I like Windows 7 PRO a lot better.


Just put a new one in and upgraded the case and power supply to an HX850 W Corsair unit.

 

[chris2523]

holy crap. no, i've not heard of that. certainly not a common occurrence.

 

[billcu]

Did you take it apart to see what blew out? I'm guessing it was the bridge rectifier?

I totally agree about the Windows 8.

 

[steve]

Never had that happened to me but it does happen.

 

[tixer]

Yeah.. I've seen quite a few. Particularly no-name units, or the Antec ones that come bundled with their cases. They tend to be junk, regardless of wattage.

Good choice on the Corsair. It should treat you well. I used to swear by either EnerMax or PC Power and Cooling, but the former isn't what it once was, and the latter was absorbed by someone else a few years back.. (OCZ?)

 

[redn8]

Wow, sorry it happened. I haven't had that problem but mine died on me last night. I was checking email and it just shutdown and I can't get in back up. Well I guess I'm going to have to have it looked at tomorrow.

 

[SCTBIRD1173]

I've actually never had a power supply go bad on me. Funny how yours went poof without any of that nice burnt electronics smell...

 

[Sierra3]

I've actually never had a power supply go bad on me. Funny how yours went poof without any of that nice burnt electronics smell...

True. Not even any black soot dust anywhere or smell. probably is somewhere inside the power supply itself. I didn't have time to tear it apart yet to investigate. Just heard the loud 22 crack and then the whole computer went dead. The old power supply was a Thermaltake 700W unit. I bought it new back in 2007 when I built the gaming computer with dual video PCI cards. This one should serve well enough for what it is now. Got a new updated case for it too with handle. I modded the old Antec tower case with handles a while back before they were available to carry it around. Had 7 fans in that one. Since then things got a lot lighter and faster. Don't need as much case, fans and cooling gear to keep them running as smooth anymore. There a lot more efficient. This is the new one. CM Storm makes it.


Old Antec tower case

 

[tixer]

That looks like a nice little upgrade. I like that the whole front of the case is ventilated..

 

[Sierra3]

Yeah, they got two monster fans in the front sucking in air. Also this one has a cool little slide door up in top front for USB and USB 3.0 slots. Easy plug in for camera dumps ect. This one has the power supply mounted on the bottom and not on the top. Not sure that makes any difference, but heat rises and the power supply I would assume is the hottest part of the system so I was a little leary. Been its been fine no issues whatsoever. Im going to get two more sticks of DDR3 RAM to stuff in the open slots when I upgrade to the I-5 chip. This mobo is only the AMD 3.6 GIG quad core. My chip is what is holding me back now at this point. The one harddrive is 10,000 RPM and the other drive is SSD. I have an external Terrabite Harddrive I take with me. More space than I need currently. ha.

 

[tixer]

Not bad at all.

I'm way overdue for building a new "supercomputer," but just recently retired my old AMD Athlon64 3400 after a /very/ long life.. I just bought a used core2duo for $150 or so on-line, which even came with windows 7. I slapped in some extra ram, a better video card, and a 500g hard drive. It'll do for now, but an SSD is on the "short list" when funding allows.. It runs Railroad Tycoon 3 and Age of Empires 3 like a champ. I'm very curious about Civilization 5 though. I've been hearing lots about it. I just doubt I have the horsepower for anything "modern."

I've recently implemented an updated "home theater" PC that has the real horsepower (and storage) in my house. It's got a core2 quad, (I don't even remember the speed) 4 gig of ram, and a 3 TB RAID Mirror. I have that running XBMC for local video, and a program called PLEX, which serves up video and audio to a multitude of 3rd party networked devices. (game consoles, etc.) in my case, I've got Roku boxes on two televisions on the upper levels of the house, and a projector in the "ghetto home theater" in the basement. The whole system needs some polish, but it runs well..

What are you into on your PC? With that much power, I have to assume you're doing some gaming..

 

[Ford nut]

I have cooked them, but never heard a shot.
I know one thing, nothing depreciates faster then a PC.

Used to run home servers for gaming, those days are long gone.
Outcast was the first server I had.
Jedi academy with JA mod, you could spawn any thing from the game during multiplay.
Soldier of fortune 2 rocmod was also fun, sound packs, skins, CTF clan battles.

The days of running a home server were fun, now its all money.
Can't believe kids buy skins and stuff for gaming, it was all free at one time.

 

[tixer]

I might actually still be running an Urban Terror server on my (Internet facing) Linux server at home... I should see if that thing is still running.

 

[Sierra3]

What are you into on your PC? With that much power, I have to assume you're doing some gaming..[/QUOTE]

Used to play WOW alot, but never had time for it anymore. I also liked the looks of Tycoon RR, but never got it. I used to play City alot (same makers). Now i run 3D imaging programs on it. I use 3Ds Max Design, Solidworks, and AutoCAD. Love having the high end graphics cards for the CAD. I can spin that model as fast as i want to manipulate and the image turns so fast it makes you dizzy. Instant rendering on it. I got a 3D printer and making things with that. I left the govt job and am going back full time to college on the GI bill to finish degree in Mechanical Engineering/Design. It was very scary leaving good contractor money, but I had to do it. I have bigger plans in the future and it was really stressing me out. Im more of a creator/inventor type. Not what i was doing at the time and it was taking its toll on me. So i put my two weeks in and left.