well this blows...
 

The power supply in my desktop died... I think it literally blew a part (a cap, maybe?) inside.

After I bought my Fit in June, I decided to build myself a new desktop. I was getting tired of using a laptop (for the past 2 years) and I missed having a full blown "gaming" system.

So, I built myself a nice, decently powerful system... and man, I spent a LOT on money on some of those parts... $289 for a 1.2kW power supply. TWO FREAKING EIGHTY-NINE!!!! It was my second most expensive part of the computer ($480 for the video card).

I don't intend on swapping parts out often and I figured that the PSU would be good "future proofing" for when I decided to add another video card (or two). The sad part is... after looking at other sites that give you ideas on estimating the PSU needed... with the parts I have and NO future-proofing, I would need at least 800 watts (also meaning the 1.2kW might not be enough for three video cards, wtf?!?).

In any case, onto why this thread exists.

I was watching the latest episode of "Chuck" (after watching "House")... when suddenly, the computer shut down. I thought my circuit popped, but everything else was still on. Then it booted up after a few seconds on its own. I wasn't feeling like thinking too much about it, and just thought it was a "hiccup." I let it boot up, logged in and clicked on the video file to continue watching "Chuck"...

And that, was the end of my computer.:eek:

Now, it won't boot up at all. After some testing, I have confirmed its the power supply. Its strange that it'll provide some power to the motherboard (some LEDs light up), but won't power on. I hear a clicking when I try to power the system, so it seems that something in the PSU failed.

I dugged out my laptop (well, it wasn't actually put away, just sitting off to the side of my room) and here I am.

This laptop isn't exactly stable either... I might have fried part of the GPU... it will crash if I try to play any games. :(

Oh, if anyone is curious... here are the specs.

Laptop: ASUS G50vt-A2 (kicked ass when it came out, now is more blah)
2.53 GHz Core2Duo
4 GB ram
nvidia 9800m GS
15.6" screen (trying use this screen after using the 24" monitor)
2x 320 GB HDD
combo blu-ray player, DVD burner

Desktop: Custom
2.8 GHz i7-930 (got this puppy for $220, good sale)
6 GB ram G.skill
evga GTX480 (not superclocked)
24" Samsung monitor w/HDTV
1 TB Seagate HDD
blu-ray burner Lite-on (hum, no brand name on front, strange. had to look up my purchase order)
and a whole lot of fans

Compared to the Fit, the computer is a bit of a splurge for me. I like my "power" in computers where there are no artificial speed limits...

What brand & model PSU? Is it still under warranty? I personally recommend Corsair, but there are several great PSU companies out there. While the formulas for calculating PSU Wattage needs are helpful, just remember they tend to make things sound worse than they really are. Here's guru3d.com's build for their GTX580 SLI test rig:

• Core i7 965 overclocked @ 3750 MHz
• Motherboard -- Intel X58 eVGA Classified 3-way SLI compatible
• Memory -- Corsair Dominator 6144 MB (3x 2048 MB) DDR3 Corsair @ 1600 MHz CAS 7
• 2x 128GB SSD (dual boot - one OS for ATI cards / one OS for NVIDIA cards)
• 1200 Watt Power Supply
• Corsair Obsidian 800D Chassis
• Two GeForce GTX 580 video cards

I'm sure they also had optical drive(s) in that system, they just didn't list them. Unless you're driving multiple monitors at 2560x1600 you wouldn't ever need more GPU power, so I think you'll be good with your 1200W PSU.

I'm almost done building a replacement PC because my current PC was rescued from my smoke & water damaged apartment over a year ago - I'm worried about the smoke residue eventually causing overheating, but no problems yet.

My current specs:

Gateway FX6800-01e Mid-Tower Chassis & MB
Intel i7-920 CPU
6GB Corsair 1333Mhz DDR3 RAM
BFG GTX 295 Video Card
750 GB HDD
Sony Blu-Ray Combo Drive
2nd DVD-burner
Corsair 1000HX PSU
Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
23.5" Samsung 2333HD (w/HDTV)
Creative Labs T40 Series II Speakers
Logitech G9 Mouse
Logitech Illuminated Keyboard

New PC Specs:

CoolerMaster Storm Scout Chassis
EVGA X58 SLI-LE MB
new Intel i7-920 CPU w/CoolerMaster V8 CPU Cooler
6GB Corsair Dominator 1666MHZ DDR3
BFG GTX 295 (will be reused until nVidia comes out with a dual-GPU GTX 5-series)
2 x 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Black HDD
120GB Corsair Force SSD (bootdrive)
Samsung Blu-Ray Combo Drive
2nd Samsung DVD Burner
Creative Labs Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Sound Card
new Corsair 1000HX Power Supply
Western Digital 2 TB MyBook Essential External HDD
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
(reuse Samsung Monitor)
KRK Rokit Powered 6 Gen 2 Studio Monitors (100W each, bi-amped)
Behringer Xenyx502 Mixer (used for connecting audio ins-and-outs)
Logitech G9x Mouse
(reuse Logitech Keyboard)

Yeah, PSU is a Corsair AX1200.

With my setup as-is, the 1200 is overkill. But, I had originally planned on getting two additional HDDs (120 gb SSD & a 2 TB drive), along with the future plan of adding another video card. But after realizing how much I was paying out of my nose, I trimmed down the drives, about the only thing I could do without "compromising" too much.

I only just bought the part in August, so it's under warranty. In fact I started the RMA, now I have to send it in.

Aside from possible faulty parts, my best guess is it overheated (maybe). If only it was using the H70 all-in-one water cooling I have on the CPU (incidentially, also made by Corsair).

I wonder if I should put my video card on a water loop (that thing gets way too hot).... Know of any all-in-ones for GPUs? I'm not inclined to do the custom water loop, between the work and the risk invloved.

Not much help, here... I'm not at the level of using water-cooling, although I like the Corsair CPU coolers. Wait, found one - but it ain't cheap:

Omni A.L.C.

Yeah, I saw a link to that from another forum I was browsing... it is definitely expensive.

yeah... my Compaq AMD Sempron 3200 1.4GB mem laptop is feeling.... well... a little bit inadequate.

I'm on a 1.54" LCD here... (3) 19" 1280x1024 screens however at work. (Plus a 2nd machine with a 19" and my work laptop.) coming home is a little disappointing...

... so is reading this

~SB

Sorry, I forgot to put an update...

It took a little bit, but I got the replacement PSU. I shipped just the PSU and left all the cables here, but they shipped back a brand new retail box, meaning I now have 2x the cables! KEWLS, I guess that makes up for the $30 I had to pay to ship the PSU to them (UPS + insurance = not cheap).

And of course, my desktop is up and running! I played a game the other day... and man, oh man... that video card fan is LOUD!!!! It instantly overcame everything else in my room.

Oh... I had bought a 2nd monitor... guess what? I have to RMA that too. UN-FREAKING BELIEVABLE!!!! And of course, I'll have to pay more since it weighs more than the PSU... and here, I thought I was done splurging.

all this computer talk makes me want to build another rig. but i haven't been up on the 'scene' in over 7 years. last i remember, AMD athlon XP processors were the ish and a geforce 4 video card was the best thing out there lol.

What kind of PSU did you end up replacing the busted one with?

I got it RMA'd by the manufacture (it was a $289 part!). And they shipped a brand new one (same AX1200).

If this had been less than $100, I probably would've just ordered the same thing or something similar from Amazon.