Popping PSU...

THEpiGUY

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I know my psu isn't great by any means, especially since it came with my case and RAIDMAX isn't really famous for good power supplies. But anyways, it's been a pretty decent psu, until yesterday... Here's the story... hope you don't mind all the detail.

I was in bed asleep, my computer off, but still plugged in with the psu on. I awoke (very luckily) to a strange popping noise roughly every 1 & 1/3 seconds. I looked around, then a blue glow coming from inside my psu caught my eye... The popping wasn't really all that loud; I guess I just wasn't in a really deep sleep. So I rush over to the psu to turn it off, then I unplugged the power, just as a secondary safety action. The popping ceased. Today, I took it out of my case and plugged it into a wall in my house. I turned it on, and for a solid 10 minutes or so, which seemed like an hour, I hadn't heard any pops or seen any sparks or anything. So does this mean it's safe to bring it back into my computer, or is there a possibility that it will fry most, if not all, my components upon plugging it in? I was wondering if it was not popping due to there being no output; nothing at all was plugged into it besides the major power cord. Just for the record, the only time when I tampered with the voltages was when I overvoltaged my processor in the BIOS: 1.5V. I didn't tweak ANY voltage settings besides that; so I don't see how that could have screwed it up.

I noticed 2 days ago that my psu was smelling kinda funny through the exhaust fan, but it started to die down to where I could hardly smell it. There is some dust in it, and I haven't bought any canned air to clean it out. If this is what's causing the popping, would it be harmless to my components? And should I buy some canned air and attempt to clean it out?

I'm more than willing to buy a new psu sometime, because I need one for SLI anyway, though I probably won't be doing SLI with my 7800GT considering they're nearly impossible to find outside eBay and I could get an X1900XTX for pretty close to the same price. I was considering getting the OCZ PowerStream 520W; it looks really cool and looks to be a good psu. If anyone knows if it's good, or has another suggestion, that would be great. I know nothing about dual/single rail and what the advantages are of each, so I just picked out a single rail one @ 33 amps on the 12V rail; for the X1900XT(X) on Newegg, it said "30 Amps on 12 volt rail recommended." I'd rather not buy one right away; $100ish is kinda a lot for me right now...I want to see if it is possible to keep the one I've got now.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read all this, and any help will greatly be appreciated. I underlined all the questions in here :p just so you all know what all I need answered...It's just sometimes people read over my questions or forget about them because I ask so many. Again, I apologize for the long post/story.
 
I would def not even think about putting it back in. It might have already killed some of your hardware.
 
Get rid of it ASAP and buy a new one. That OCZ PowerStream is a quality PSU.
 
THEpiGUY said:
I noticed 2 days ago that my psu was smelling kinda funny through the exhaust fan, but it started to die down to where I could hardly smell it.

That is reason enough to get a new power supply, especially if it's a burnign smell. Does it still work with your PC? I would get a new one regardless. It will just die eventually.
 
Yes, it was a burning smell, and I haven't tried putting it back yet, I'm very afraid that it will fry all of my hardware. The PSU is really the one piece of hardware that I don't know hardly anything about in computers; the OCZ PowerStream 520W should be a good/decent PSU, right? Because I don't want to buy one that just dies after half a year (though I really should have done some research before buying the Raidmax one :p). Sorry, Jamxx, I know you already said it was quality. It's not that I don't trust you, I just really like reassurance, especially about something I know next to nothing about and is a major component. No disrespect.
 
I haven't tried any other PSU in to see if some of the hardware is fried...if it is, I think we've got insurance covers it w/$500 down, but not really sure :p . It covers if lightning strikes it... Anyway, I probably would stick an alternate one in, but I don't have any that have enough power output, I don't think. I got my brother's old dell, which is either a 350 or a 300W one, somewhere in that area; then got an ancient computer (Pentium 200 MHz) that's probably even less than that. I really don't want to open that up because it hasn't been used in the past 4 or 5 years and is sure to be really dusty; I'd be sneezing for weeks. So not much I can do until I get the new one.

One more thing (really sorry to keep bumping this), MonarchComputer is a good site, right? because Newegg's rebate is over, and it has it for $25 less at Monarch. http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...ore_Code=M&Product_Code=100346&AFFIL=FRG&NR=1
That is without the rebate, right? Because I know it's already over.

Thank you all for the help and advice.
 
THEpiGUY said:
I haven't tried any other PSU in to see if some of the hardware is fried...if it is, I think we've got insurance covers it w/$500 down, but not really sure :p . It covers if lightning strikes it... Anyway, I probably would stick an alternate one in, but I don't have any that have enough power output, I don't think. I got my brother's old dell, which is either a 350 or a 300W one, somewhere in that area; then got an ancient computer (Pentium 200 MHz) that's probably even less than that. I really don't want to open that up because it hasn't been used in the past 4 or 5 years and is sure to be really dusty; I'd be sneezing for weeks. So not much I can do until I get the new one.

One more thing (really sorry to keep bumping this), MonarchComputer is a good site, right? because Newegg's rebate is over, and it has it for $25 less at Monarch. http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...ore_Code=M&Product_Code=100346&AFFIL=FRG&NR=1
That is without the rebate, right? Because I know it's already over.

Thank you all for the help and advice.

Im not sure, check around there site, and see how there RMA service is.
 
The OCZ PSU isn't really that good.

For your system, I would recommend a Seasonic S12-500 if you can afford it, or if you can't get an Akasa PaxPower PSU.

Both are excellent PSUs :)
 
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