October, 2017 I built an AMD Ryzen System with all new components. It’s been great. I’ve upgraded it with a second SSD and a second larger HD for video game captures.
Today, the power supply blew.
As you can see, the top blew out of the main large Electrolytic Capacitor. There was even an embossed X where the blowout was supposed to occur if pressure built up. Well at least, it didn’t blow sideways all over the place.
Power Supply History and New One
This is the one I bought originally, out of stock of course after over 2 years, and the new one I bought with 1 day delivery. A little more capacity can’t hurt I’m sure.
I learned that FULLY MODULAR is a really nice thing. if you are going to have a blow out. It’s very much easier to pull out all the cables from the power supply and pull it out, than to worry all those cables loose, especially the one to the mother-board connector. I tied those down with lots of straps to tidy them up. Don’t you?
Warranty?
Yes, for a couple of minutes, I considered dealing with a warranty. But decided that it’s too much trouble. The warranty stuff on the Newegg website differs markedly from the Seasonic website. NewEgg says 1 year, and Seasonic says 10 years for my Focus GX power supply. Of course when I opened it to see the damage, I voided that warranty. So, I would have had to try to get warranty service without knowing what was wrong, but the pop and smoke from the power supply might have been a clue. Anyway.
I certainly wouldn’t want to wait on Warranty service to replace the power supply, and I’m not sure I would want a replacement new 850W power supply. If this were a $1000 item, that decision would have different, but for a $200 item, I’ll just get a better one and move on.
I don’t think I was pushing the system near the top of it’s capacity, but a new 1000W power supply with a 1 [eh hem – 2] day shipping gets me going much quicker than dealing with warranty issues. In decades of dealing with computers, both bought and built, I’ve only seen two power supply deaths, and the other one was for a cheap 10 year old system – at the time. This system was built in October 2017, and a failure that soon is very unusual.
Alienware Aurora R2 Back in Service
Fortunately, I have other computers. I was wondering why I have so many until now.
Here’s the one I’ve moved in temporarily until I get the new PS installed.
This is the rebuild of an Alien Aurora case I did a while ago to upgrade the lighting. Older Core i7-4770 processor, but it has 16GB of memory and an SSD. This system has had its share of issues. I bought it used, and found that I didn’t have the Win 10 license because it was an OEM system. So, finally, in August of 2013 I rebuilt it with a new motherboard with a modern CPU, at the time.
I just checked the Aurora R2 with a KillaWatt on the input power – before the UPS. The power was a steady 200 watts while running FFXIV and running around. So, not sure I was ever pushing the 850W power supply very hard. This i7-4770 is listed as 84W TDP and the AMD Ryzen 1800 is listed as 95W, so add 10-20W for the system that failed. So maybe 250W on the outside. No biggie for a 850W power supply. Remember Aurora R2 system also has a RTX 2060 just like the AMD 1800x that failed.
This system has been holding the RTX 2060 Graphics card that will go to my daughter when I build her system in a few months. She’ll be getting a shiny new AMD Ryzen 3 system to replace her old Alienware Aurora R2, and I’ll have yet another Alienware Case to rebuild the lighting. But that’s a story for another day. At this point I’m trying to recover so I can play FFXIV until my PS arrives in a couple of days.
FFXIV Configuration is a Pain in the Neck
The configuration of the characters in FFXIV is stored locally. Not in the database on the server. So, the hot bars, UI layout, and most importantly Gear Sets are saved locally. There is a “Manual” button on the character screen to store this data on the servers. Manual. Never did that. It’s a pain. I knew it would be out of date. It takes about half an hour to an hour to set up a character from scratch. You have to set it all up and if you have jobs and lost your “Gear Sets” that means you have to manually equip the weapon / soul stones for each job, then get the right gear from the armory and save the gear set. All over again. Guess I’ll only set up the character so I can play with my daughter on Friday. Should have my new Power Supply and my computer back on line shortly after that. Sigh…
May you walk in the light of the Crystal.
:ww
Windy Weather 