OT: Computer ATX PS near meltdown

Good point, William. I was also of the opinion there is no substantial evidence of short-lived ATX PS's.

IMO, one of the amazing things re. PS failure and MB overheating is the (evident) lack of damage caused to MB components. Incredibly, there seems to be little reported MB damage accountable to failed PS's and fans. This is testimony to the ruggedness and durability of today's IC components. It puts a good spin on the definition of "solid state" that an IC can drastically overheat with no (apparent) damage. I once had a switched-capacitor COMES filter that "latched". There was no damage except slight discoloration of the case . . .and a blistered finger when I found it.

Bob Swinney

may be "good to know", but it's not true, at least not in my experience - I've only seen one ATX power supply failure out of a sample of a few thousand computers - HDs fail but at work we cycle computers on a three year clock, never see a bad desktop PS - but I'm not the repair guy so maybe they happen and I don't know about it - I have had ONE fan seize up on an ATX after about 6 years, and that caused the PS to overheat and fail so we replaced the PS and it was back in business - so I question "average lifetime" - certainly based on my sample, lifetime is much much longer.

Bob sez: "COMES" filter.

Stupid PC - must be overheating - make that "CMOS" filter.

Bob Swinney

IMO, one of the amazing things re. PS failure and MB overheating is the (evident) lack of damage caused to MB components. Incredibly, there seems to be little reported MB damage accountable to failed PS's and fans. This is testimony to the ruggedness and durability of today's IC components. It puts a good spin on the definition of "solid state" that an IC can drastically overheat with no (apparent) damage. I once had a switched-capacitor COMES filter that "latched". There was no damage except slight discoloration of the case . . .and a blistered finger when I found it.

Bob Swinney

may be "good to know", but it's not true, at least not in my experience - I've only seen one ATX power supply failure out of a sample of a few thousand computers - HDs fail but at work we cycle computers on a three year clock, never see a bad desktop PS - but I'm not the repair guy so maybe they happen and I don't know about it - I have had ONE fan seize up on an ATX after about 6 years, and that caused the PS to overheat and fail so we replaced the PS and it was back in business - so I question "average lifetime" - certainly based on my sample, lifetime is much much longer.

Probably because the PC, XT and AT power supplies were not made in China, and did not use capacitors made with counterfieit Chinese electrolyte.

Is true. Been in the PC business over 18 years. Replace ATX power supplies on a very regular basis. Office of 25 computers, about 8 or

I tend to put heavier supplies in as replacements - they may last a bit longer than OEM. Generally replace the computers within 5 years (and some ARE on their third power suppy).

Back in the PC/XT/AT days, hardly ever had power supply failures (and I worked for a manufacturer at that time - so saw the failures within

Sad but pretty much my experience as well.

I'd gladly pay $200/each for bulletproof ATX aftermarket supplies.

I try, these days, to buy only name branded, higher priced, above needed capacity, power supplies with 4-5 stars Newegg ratings.

I have about 50 bad ATX power supplies waiting to be scrapped.