Halp!

[saQwad]

Ok, I'm getting fed up I've had to buy 3 new power supplies in the past year.  They keep shorting out and dying, am I doing something wrong here? Anyone got any ideas?

[Stinger]

Laptop or PC?

Either way, if three different power supplies all burnt out under the same circumstances, I'd say you're looking at a symptom instead of the problem itself. The problem could be your computer, or it could actually be the circuitry of your building. Sometimes faulty electric can make power supplies die young.

About as in-depth as one can go on just that information.

[QB3RT]

what kind of hardware are you running?  I would think its the building but motherboard and hardware could be the issue.

[Zeradul]

I assume it's a desktop.  Laptop power adapters aren't usually called power supplies.

What brand are you using?  There are a lot of crap brands out there.  Also are you running something out of the ordinary?  Like dual quad cores or multiple video cards?

[saQwad]

Well my first two were Antec, and the current one I have now is a Dynex one,  I had to go from a 650w to a 500w one because that's all they had at the store and I didn't feel like driving around looking for a bigger one.  My computer is pretty standard, nothing out of the ordinary like dual quad core or two video cards either.

AMD Athlon(tm) 7850 Dual-Core Processor (2 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
4 gig RAM
ASUS EAH4870 series video card.

[Zeradul]

Your CPU uses 95 Watts @ peak, which is about average, but your video card is a hog @ 225 Watts peak, which is about three times the average video card.  (Many performance video cards however are over 150 watt - you can tell by how monstrous the heatsink on them is!  Heh.  No Joke!

Anyways, that still only adds up to just over 300 watts.  Your other components are going to be minor, the biggest is probably your motherboard, and since you do not use onboard video, your motherboard will probably use 40 watts at peak.  Hard Drives are 10 Watts peak, and cd-roms are less.

That said, Antec power supplies are usually rock solid (the BMW's of the industry) and I wouldn't have expected any problems there, however, Antec has been accused of producing batches of power supplies that aren't up to their normal quality.  I'm not a fan of Dynex, but if it's working, great.

Going to a bigger PSU was probably a good idea after your first one died.

If you are asking if things can be "hooked up wrong to destroy a psu" the answer is no, not without cutting wires to intentionally damage the PSU.  I assume you got refunds on PSu #1 and PSu #2 ?

Also, you aren't overclocking, right?  OC = More power consumed

[saQwad]

Nope not overclocking, unfortunately they burnt out with enough time after I bought them so I couldn't return them.
Also you mis-read me I had to go from a 650w antec to a 500w dynex, because that's all the store had. (I could've got a 1000w one but I think that's a bit much)

[servo]

Hmm Dynex sounds like the CompUSA brand, I think I've had trouble with them before. And I remember having an Antec blow out on me before. I actually went with a RoseWill for this system I built roughly 2 yrs ago and have never had a problem.

[Zeradul]

Weird about the 650 Watt Antecs.... I would have thought that was significant overkill.  My only hunch is that maybe you just had extremely bad luck and got two from a "bad batch".

Good Luck... man PSu problems can be one of the most frustrating kinds because they are so hard to correctly diagnose, as PSu problems can cause quite literally ever other PC problem in the book.  I mean all of them... crashes, freezes, data corruption, ram problems, video problems, etc, etc, etc, and on top of that PSu problems are often extremely hard to recreate, and a computer can go weeks between PSu induced problems.

[servo]

Really look into the RoseWill's from NewEgg. They are cheap, guaranteed, and haven't given me a problem yet. I always try to keep an extra PSU around the house that is compatible with every system I've got. I remember someone telling me the one I got wouldn't be the best bet for my system cause of how large it turned out to be, but 2yrs running and not a problem. My buddy who built a similar system had his Antec blow out after 24hrs, he replaced it with another Antec to have the same problem within a month, then bought one of those Dynex's from CompUsa that lasted like 3-4 months. Finally I made him get a RoseWill and I ain't heard his bitchass complain since!

[Zeradul]

I know others have had problems with Antec, but my four computers all with Antec power supplies, the oldest ran 24/7 from 2001 to 2008, and now is my parents back up computer.  My other three have all run 24 /7 since 2002, 2003, and 2005 respectively with literally zero down time and no problems what so ever.  They are all powering significantly newer hardware than was available when the PSu's themselves were new, and I have not had any problems what so ever.

I do like Rosewill, haven't used their PSu's but everything else I've gotten from them has been very impressive quality, and very impressive price.  I still don't trust their ram though.  Ram is so sensitive of a thing that I never buy cheap brands of ram.  Crucial, Mushkin, Buffalo, Corsair.  The only four things I never skimp on are motherboards, ram, hard drives, and PSus.

[Garr]

I had an enermax a couple of years ago which was a POS. I have a corsair now and it's been running strong. What is the computer hooked up to? Surge protector or UPS unit?

[servo]

Yes Zera, RoseWill makes some cool stuff, like their mini card readers and such i had to put into a few older systems, and actually one onto this system which added usb ports to the front of my old tower and what not. I wouldn't trust their ram either, I used to love Crucial but ever since they tried to get fancy with the led lights and such their products have become unreliable despite their guarantees they just got annoying replacing so often. I went with G.Skill, very cheap, somewhat unknown Asian company who guarantees their products for life and I've never had a problem with their product.

[zipfruder]

I had a antec PS die after 6 months, then the I replaced it with is still going after 6 years.

I'd pay attention to the power load of the circuit your computer is on.