PSU Issue or Wrong Configuration

[losh177]

Hi, I put a computer together about a year ago, and I've gone through 4 PSU. Each PSU lasted longer than the previous with the last one lasting about 5 month. Could this be because of the different parts I have put together or just my bad luck of getting bad PSUs?...this is making me doubt about been able to see the small print to connect the case to the mobo

Here is what I have inside:Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128394
CPU - AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103702
RAM - OCZ Blade Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227419
PSU - COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS-550-PCAR-E3 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171038
OS - Win X SP3

Thanks

[rubberman]

Try one with better specs for the -5 and -12 V feeds. Yours are -5V@0.8A, -12V@0.8A, which isn't much.

[losh177]

Thanks, I'll do that....any specific value that you would recommend?

[rubberman]

Stuff that requires the negative voltage levels usually is pretty low power, so 1.5 to 2 Amps should be fine. I'm trying to remember what that stuff is, but I haven't run into the problem for quite awhile. However, I have seen it occur, and it either results in fried components or PSU failure due to voltage drop and associated current increase (v x A == power) when the PSU tries to supply the power drawn. I had to replace the PSU on one of my systems some years ago with a better -5/-12V spec for this very reason.

[losh177]

Great, I just went down to a 500W psu with -12V@0.5A and +5VSP@2.5A....I haven't found any psu with more than 0.8A for the -12V, any model that you would recommend?

[rubberman]

Let me look at what I have in my workstation. The form factor you can use depends upon the enclosure you have. My workstation is a large, under-desk model that uses a full-sized motherboard (Intel S5000XVN) and 1000VA power supply.

[rubberman]

Actually, it is a 750W PSU. Here is a link to it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153036

The main thing are the power ratings: +3.3@30A,+5V@28A,+12V1@18A,+12V2@18A,+12V3@18A,+12V4@18A,-12V@0.8A,+5VSB@3A

Note that the -12V is rated 0.8A, and the +5VSB is rated 3A. It may be that 0.8A is as good as you will find for -12V. In any case, always get a bigger supply than you will probably need. This is definitely a case where more is really better.

[losh177]

Thanks for that....I guess I just got some bad luck with the previous psu. I'm only running anything really intensive, a phenom quadcore, 4GB ram and 500GB HDD, no video card as the mobo has a decent onboard video chip for basic stuff, no gaming....anyway hopefully this one works better thanks for the help

[losh177]

Well the new psu blow up in a few days...so I'm gonna go with the grate layout of the electric circuit in the building...anyway...I also came along some forums saying that this could be because the presence of electric equipment that require lots of electricity which when they are turn off results on higher spikes along the electric circuit...it kind of makes sense after 4 psu that happen to blow up/die in this shop and during working hours