Power Supply

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ryan
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Ryan

Anyone know the average life span on a power supply? Or preferably, anyone
have any stories to relate of a power supply going out due to new hardware
changes?

Thanks.
 
A decent, branded, current protected power supply should last th
lifetime of the PC - years. A cheap, generic type (usually found i
cheaper cases) may last anything from 1 day to a couple of years. Whe
the cheaper type blow, because of the lack of current protection, the
can send a pulse through the system which can take other component
with it - for some reason it's usually the hard drive. Also, cheape
PSUs, are rarely capable of handling the full power at which they ar
rated. I have 200w power supplies which supply higher current ratings
especially on the 12v line, than cheap 350w power supplies, hence i
you do add hardware to the latter then it's quite often the reason fo
total failure.
*Anyone know the average life span on a power supply? Or preferably
anyone
have any stories to relate of a power supply going out due to ne
hardware
changes?

Thanks.
Click to expand...


-
tallyma
 
A quality power supply will last forever unless damaged by a
lightning strike and it is properly sized to handle the
load. All power supplies have a duty-cycle rating, the
number of Watts (amps) that can be delivered at all times,
and how long they can deliver an over-load, such as might be
encountered while starting up the motors. A quality power
supply should be protected by fuses and or circuit breakers
to prevent fires, this won't protect the computer from a
voltage spike, just designed to prevent fire.

A good practice is to buy a power supply that is rated large
enough so that with all the loads in the computer considered
(CPU, RAM, hard drives, optical drives, PCI and AGP slots
filled, cooling fans, USB and Firewire) the total loads is
NOT MORE than 85% of rated capacity. That allows a margin
for cooling.

Cheap power supplies are not as robust and the ratings given
are sometimes not really obtainable.
If your power supply is small, some companies ship budget
computers with power supplies that are too small (the HP
6465 I bought 5 or 6 years ago had only a 115 W PS) you will
have trouble when you add more RAM and extra drives even
though the mobo and case have room for them. With the 6465
I replaced the PS by buying a new Antec case with a 250 W PS
and moved all the components from the HP case. Solved the
problem of slow booting and unreliable CD burning. It also
gave me a bigger case with more room for access to the mobo
and better cooling.

An over-sized Wattage rating does not actually use more
power, but it will deliver the power you need and run cooler
and therefore longer than a too small PS that is working too
hard.

If you look at makers websites you can find service life
specs, such as MTBF (mean time between failures) and
duty-cycle ratings.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


| Anyone know the average life span on a power supply? Or
preferably, anyone
| have any stories to relate of a power supply going out due
to new hardware
| changes?
|
| Thanks.
|
|
 
Jim said:
A quality power supply will last forever unless damaged by a
lightning strike and it is properly sized to handle the
load. All power supplies have a duty-cycle rating, the
number of Watts (amps) that can be delivered at all times,
and how long they can deliver an over-load, such as might be
encountered while starting up the motors. A quality power
supply should be protected by fuses and or circuit breakers
to prevent fires, this won't protect the computer from a
voltage spike, just designed to prevent fire.

A good practice is to buy a power supply that is rated large
enough so that with all the loads in the computer considered
(CPU, RAM, hard drives, optical drives, PCI and AGP slots
filled, cooling fans, USB and Firewire) the total loads is
NOT MORE than 85% of rated capacity. That allows a margin
for cooling.

Cheap power supplies are not as robust and the ratings given
are sometimes not really obtainable.
If your power supply is small, some companies ship budget
computers with power supplies that are too small (the HP
6465 I bought 5 or 6 years ago had only a 115 W PS) you will
have trouble when you add more RAM and extra drives even
though the mobo and case have room for them. With the 6465
I replaced the PS by buying a new Antec case with a 250 W PS
and moved all the components from the HP case. Solved the
problem of slow booting and unreliable CD burning. It also
gave me a bigger case with more room for access to the mobo
and better cooling.

An over-sized Wattage rating does not actually use more
power, but it will deliver the power you need and run cooler
and therefore longer than a too small PS that is working too
hard.

If you look at makers websites you can find service life
specs, such as MTBF (mean time between failures) and
duty-cycle ratings.
Click to expand...

All true, Jim, but a word of warning to the naive seems in order -
MTBF numbers are not lies, but they should be treated skeptically,
since MTBFs are usually calculated based on conditions that are
different from the typical home. Kinda like EPA car mileage ratings.
 
That is true, mean means average, so a high rated device can
still fail early, but that would likely be under warranty.

Do you mean to say that EPA numbers are not reliable (tongue
firmly in check)? Often ratings are only useful as related
to order and not magnitude. And as the old saying goes,
"Figures don't lie, but liars can figure."

BTW, when I said "forever" I should say that is relative to
the life of the computer. Age, ozone and dirt may cause
failure of the PS insulation and the fan bearings, but that
should be years of service.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


message | Jim Macklin wrote:
|
| > A quality power supply will last forever unless damaged
by a
| > lightning strike and it is properly sized to handle the
| > load. All power supplies have a duty-cycle rating, the
| > number of Watts (amps) that can be delivered at all
times,
| > and how long they can deliver an over-load, such as
might be
| > encountered while starting up the motors. A quality
power
| > supply should be protected by fuses and or circuit
breakers
| > to prevent fires, this won't protect the computer from a
| > voltage spike, just designed to prevent fire.
| >
| > A good practice is to buy a power supply that is rated
large
| > enough so that with all the loads in the computer
considered
| > (CPU, RAM, hard drives, optical drives, PCI and AGP
slots
| > filled, cooling fans, USB and Firewire) the total loads
is
| > NOT MORE than 85% of rated capacity. That allows a
margin
| > for cooling.
| >
| > Cheap power supplies are not as robust and the ratings
given
| > are sometimes not really obtainable.
| > If your power supply is small, some companies ship
budget
| > computers with power supplies that are too small (the HP
| > 6465 I bought 5 or 6 years ago had only a 115 W PS) you
will
| > have trouble when you add more RAM and extra drives even
| > though the mobo and case have room for them. With the
6465
| > I replaced the PS by buying a new Antec case with a 250
W PS
| > and moved all the components from the HP case. Solved
the
| > problem of slow booting and unreliable CD burning. It
also
| > gave me a bigger case with more room for access to the
mobo
| > and better cooling.
| >
| > An over-sized Wattage rating does not actually use more
| > power, but it will deliver the power you need and run
cooler
| > and therefore longer than a too small PS that is working
too
| > hard.
| >
| > If you look at makers websites you can find service life
| > specs, such as MTBF (mean time between failures) and
| > duty-cycle ratings.
| >
| >
|
| All true, Jim, but a word of warning to the naive seems in
order -
| MTBF numbers are not lies, but they should be treated
skeptically,
| since MTBFs are usually calculated based on conditions
that are
| different from the typical home. Kinda like EPA car
mileage ratings.
| --
| Cheers, Bob
 
Yes 400 watts of load on a 350watts PS will result in a replaced power
supply. Old PS and a wooffin' new MB/CPU with latest video card won't
last long.
 
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