A warning about new PSUs

honey the codewitch

If you buy a new power supply, it may come with an "eco switch". This switch regrettably ships in the on position. I spent about $200 and a day and a half of labor trying to find an overheating issue before I turned that switch off and solved all of my problems. Here's what it does - it turns the PSU fan off. That's it. Ostensibly it's supposed to kick in when it needs it. Clearly they don't. My machine was hard turning off after a time under moderate to heavy GPU load. I had to flip the power switch on the PSU in the back off and back on again before the power switch on the front of the chassis would work. That should have been my clue that it was either the mobo or the PSU. And previously (without the GPU) the mobo worked fine. The PSU was new with the GPU out of necessity. Anyway, I wanted to let you all know about this in case you build a system these days. That eco mode switch may actually damage your equipment. Turn it off.

To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.

englebart

We have a bunch of 2 year old desktops at work. Occasionally they get “stuck” and you have to unplug them for at least 30 seconds to reset them. I may pop a case and look for a setting like that on the power switch.

honey the codewitch

On mine it was a smaller switch right next to the regular power switch.

To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.

den2k88

Thank you, grazie, danke schon, mercì, gracias, domo arigato.

GCS d--(d-) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

den2k88

Now I have this crazy idea to pilot the switch based on some parameters (i.e. CPU load, GPU load, some named process running). Do you know if that button is also ACPI / BIOS / something driven? Could even be useful. In my el-cheapo ITEK case I have a manual dial to set the power of a bundle of fans. I don't know if the dial or both fans went legs up though since it's a while they're not working.

GCS d--(d-) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

honey the codewitch

It's already supposed to be controlled by heat, which makes the most sense to me, but the trouble is it doesn't seem to work, at least on my unit. Edit: No you can't control it with software. It's just a standard PSU.

To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.

den2k88

Aw f* em. It's probably due to some EnergyStar requirement anyway, those are stupid squared.

GCS d--(d-) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

ElectronProgrammer

Corsair and some other manufacturers have (very expensive) software controlled PSUs. I have a Corsair HX1200 in my computer, it has no switch for eco mode but has, what they call, "zero rpm fan" which, I suppose, is basically the same thing. The software controlled version of my PSU is the Corsair HX1200i (notice the "i" in the end). It is controlled by a software named "iCUE", which seems to be just a driver and a "cute" (read flashy) interface. It only works in Windows and Mac. And they do not seem to update the software (I mean, they update it but seems the new versions do not support previous PSUs). I bought the version not controlled by software because I only use Linux and I do not like the idea of a, possibly buggy and easily hackable, driver to be able to control such a potentially catastrophic piece of equipment. So far I had no problem with my PSU but, according to a power meter I have on the outlet, I never went above 500W (of the 1200W the PSU supports).