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Vantec Stealth 520W has crap caps...

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    #1

    Vantec Stealth 520W has crap caps...

    I opened up my aging Vantec Stealth 520W supply today during a cleaning of my main PC, and was horrified to find it was full of Fuhjyyu (or Fuhjiiyu?) caps. Amazingly none of them are bulging yet after 5 or 6 years of daily use. Probably because it has 3 fans and my case is well cooled also.

    But it hurts when you think your power supply is so great, and you find out it has crap caps. Nonetheless, it's the most solid, reliable supply I've ever used (Knock on wood).

    I put enough hours on this computer that the Windows start bar is burned into my screen , and I turn it off when I'm not using it! Am I just lucky that my PSU is still going?

    I added pics in the PSU build quality pictorial thread as well.
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    #2
    Re: Vantec Stealth 520W has crap caps...

    It may well be that Vantec was just that little bit more careful in how they used the FUs and in how well the parts were cooled that they have been reliable in your application. And maybe you sized your P/S conservatively, which would also help. Or maybe you got parts from the random batch of decently made FUs.
    PeteS in CA

    Power Supplies should be boring: No loud noises, no bright flashes, and no bad smells.
    ****************************
    To kill personal responsibility, initiative or success, punish it by taxing it. To encourage irresponsibility, improvidence, dependence and failure, reward it by subsidizing it.
    ****************************

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      #3
      Re: Vantec Stealth 520W has crap caps...

      After looking at the pics, that P/S has substance - heavy metal (heatsinks), nice, big, main transformer and O/P inductor, two fans. I don't know about 520W, but I could easily believe 400W-450W. And maybe 520W is credible, depending on the speed of the fans and how well they handle resistance to airflow.
      PeteS in CA

      Power Supplies should be boring: No loud noises, no bright flashes, and no bad smells.
      ****************************
      To kill personal responsibility, initiative or success, punish it by taxing it. To encourage irresponsibility, improvidence, dependence and failure, reward it by subsidizing it.
      ****************************

      Comment

        #4
        Re: Vantec Stealth 520W has crap caps...

        It does seem well built. I think I paid about $150 or so when I bought it. It was the first supply I'd ever seen with a 24 pin ATX plug. I don't care for the adapter though, I would much rather it had a 20+4 plug instead of the 24-20 adapter cord.

        All 3 fans (third fan is in top cover) are ball bearing, made by Globe Fan and seem to still be in perfect condition. There is also lots of filtering on the primary side, and the whole thing is pretty heavy despite having an aluminum case. The wires are also decent guage.

        Overall it's a well made supply aside from cheap caps. When I recap it someday I'm planning on using Chemicon LXY/LXZ throughout. I just hope the cheap caps don't kill my PC. But I have 4 hard drives, 2 DVD drives, and a bunch of other stuff on this Athon 64 3700+ S939 system, and it's been holding up well with the load. I think the +12v is rated at 28A and the +5v is 42A.

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          #5
          Re: Vantec Stealth 520W has crap caps...

          As has been mentioned before, the circuit design plays an important role. It is possible to design conservatively, with multiple caps in parallel for current sharing on each rail, and the PSU as a whole will still be durable even with marginal caps. Since this was a server-class 24-pin ATX supply, it's likely that it was engineered more conservatively, and therefore survived even after the bean-counters squeezed out the pennies.

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