Burnt out memory sticks with 120mm fan PSU

[bobbarker]

OK, I read here:
http://www.wikihow.com/Buy-a-Power-Supply
that PSUs with 120mm fans don't have enough space for large capacitors so they should be used with a UPS.

Well, I've had power outages in my region during storms that burnt out memory sticks 3 times. I finally got a battery backup (fanless Tripplite). So, that problem of losing memory sticks is gone.

However, since I used a Seasonic S-12 500w and Forton Blue Storm II 500w while I had those problems I'm starting to wonder whether it was the fact they have 120mm fans that caused the problem. (BTW, my Corsair HX520W has a slightly audible high-pitched whine and I don't like it.)

Is it possible the PC Power & Cooling power supplies are more reliable in that way? Does anyone know off the top of their head which brands make single rail PSUs with an 80mm fan?

WTF? I love these smileys.

[Quiksilver]

I would take a guess at the chance of that article holding any validity in that statement being less than 1%.

Also any high-pitch whine (be is fan or psu) from the HX520 should be RMA'd for replacement. Unless of course the whine is being caused by the UPS battery backup and it not using true <insert waveform here> waves.

[jonnyGURU]

That is a horrible article. How could you bring yourself to a WikiHow article for advice and not a site that actually knows about power supplies like jonnyguru.com or HardOCP?

What it says about 120MM+ fans and multiple +12V rails is complete bullshit.

120MM+ fans do not restrict the size of capacitors that can be used. Even if it did, it would have nothing to do with any components frying because the caps they're talking about are on the primary side and your components are on the DC side of the power supply and those caps are less than 1" tall.

Wild input voltages can harm a power supply, especially when it doesn't have APFC. But an APFC power supply can accept a wide range of input voltages and can handle brown outs typically as low as 100V. Both of your units had APFC.

REGARDLESS of how good a PSU is though, you should ALWAYS have a UPS or at least a voltage regulator. Now that you have that problem figured out, you shouldn't have to worry about the brown outs, but I would still be worried about the DC to DC voltage regulators on your motherboard as far as the dying RAM goes. I would blame the motherboard for killing the RAM before blaming the power supply.

[Spectre]

Low Quality (based upon RMA rate and intended application of value-line computers): A-TOP, Aerocool, APEX, Aspire, Asus, ATADC, Athena Power, ATRIX, BFG, Broadway, Coolmax, Deer, Delta, Diablotek, Dynapower, EagleTech, Enhance, Enlight, E-Power, FOXCONN, Futurepower, I-Star, InWin, JPAC, Just PC, Kingwin, Linkworld, Lite-On, Logisys, Masscool, MGE, MSI, NMEDIAPC, Norwood Micro, NorthQ, Powmax, Q-Tec, Raidmax, Rosewill, SFC, Sintek, Shuttle, Skyhawk, Spire, Star Micro, STARTECH, Sunbeam, TOPOWER, TTGI, Wintech, XClio, XION, YoungYear, Zebronics.

Certainly there are some more units on that list that have had mixed histories...but LOL!

[HOOfan_1]

MMMMmmm wikihow articles "Helping blind idiots lead around other blind idiots since 2005"

[Smirnoff]

Well, at least they tell people not to listen to PCP&C fud. Though they have plenty of fud to go around themselves. ;P

[bobbarker]

Originally Posted by Quiksilver

I would take a guess at the chance of that article holding any validity in that statement being less than 1%.

Also any high-pitch whine (be is fan or psu) from the HX520 should be RMA'd for replacement. Unless of course the whine is being caused by the UPS battery backup and it not using true <insert waveform here> waves.

You mean like a line conditioner? Is that what is used to "clean up" your electrical waves?

Originally Posted by jonnyGURU

That is a horrible article. How could you bring yourself to a WikiHow article for advice and not a site that actually knows about power supplies like jonnyguru.com or HardOCP?

What it says about 120MM+ fans and multiple +12V rails is complete bullshit.

Via a random Google search?

jonnyGURU, thanks for answering my question. But, if the motherboard could be to blame, are there some power supplies that have some sort of safety mechanism that would protect your hardware during a power outage? I hope that doesn't sound like a silly question if it doesn't exist.

[Super Nade]

Rubbish. The article implies that manufacturers are skimping on the primary side because of form factor limitations? In units where there have been form factor limitations like the 3Y double decker design, the primary is well provided for with several cans in parallel. Hell Hitachi, UCC make cans that will fit almost any form factor.

[jonnyGURU]

Originally Posted by bobbarker

jonnyGURU, thanks for answering my question. But, if the motherboard could be to blame, are there some power supplies that have some sort of safety mechanism that would protect your hardware during a power outage? I hope that doesn't sound like a silly question if it doesn't exist.

I think a good start is to look at "how a power supply works": http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3265

So your PSU is "two halves". You have the primary half, which brings in AC, and the secondary half, that regulates the DC output.

The big caps that are "of limited height due to 120MM+ fans" are actually used to filter incoming voltage along with a number of smaller MOV's, coils, etc.

Anything that's going to happen due to bad input voltage is almost always going to affect what's here. In other words, really bad input voltage is going to blow up your PSU, not what the PSU is plugged into. In fact, the main transformer can even act as a fuse that prevents anything damaging from going from the primary to secondary side. That's not to say an exploding PSU can't take out computer parts. That DOES happen during catastrophic failure. But a PSU that continues to function during poor AC input is far from catastrophic.

Let's look at how your RAM gets power. The PSU outputs +3.3V or +5V for your RAM depending on the motherboard. This voltage is dropped even more by regulators on the motherboard that are essentially DC to DC power supplies in themselves. The tolerance of these guys are about ~10% so DC input has to be pretty fuxored to screw up the DC output to the point where RAM is frying... unless of course those regulators are screwed up to begin with.

That's why I think you have a motherboard problem... NOT a PSU problem.

[Bbq]

Top Quality (based upon electrical capabilities): PC Power & Cooling, Seasonic, Zippy, Silverstone, Enermax, Antec, Acbel, Akasa, AMS, Channel, Corsair, Etasis, FSP, Hiper, Mushkin, OCZ, NZXT, Scythe, tagan, Thermaltake, Zalman.

I know they're respectable brands but TOP quality?!