Seasonic SS-350BS

[electromaster84]

Just got this 350w power supply off ebay for a Athlon 64 x2 build I was planning, and was wondering what you guys thought. I don't know much about power supply's, but I do know it's full of su'scon crap caps and one lone ost. The heatsinks seem a little wimpy as well. Although I installed it in a Pentium 4 3.06ghz machine and ran prime95 for 3 hours, and it didn't heat up much at all. I thought Seasonic were supposed to make good psu's? Just wasn't expecting to see such bad capacitors in there. Here are some pics i took of it let me know what you think. Thanks in advance

[mariushm]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

It's an OEM power supply, meant to be sold in premade computers.

The su'scon and ost are naturally not excellent capacitors but the power supply is well cooled and there's a lot of space around the essential capacitors for airflow. You can replace them if you want with panasonic or nichicon or united chemi con, I personally would't.

The heatsinks are adequate and you said it yourself that it didn't heat much so the capacitors won't be under lots of heat stress.

[electromaster84]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

Thanks mariushm for taking the time to reply. Do you think it will do the rated wattage? The reason I ask is the system it's going into will probably pull around 220w full load. Will those caps last under those conditions, or would I be better off recapping it?

[mariushm]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

Yes, it will do the rated wattage. 220w will not be 24/7 so for a few hours a day while you're gaming it should still be fine.
If you want to be absolutely sure, I'd suggest replacing the capacitors with Panasonic FR or United Chemi Con KZE, these are two series of capacitors that are reliable and with good lifetime rating.

[electromaster84]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

No 220w will not be 24/7 and most likely it will be used for web browsing most of the time. Maybe a few light gaming sessions a week. I think I'll leave it as is and do a 6-12 month check on the psu to make sure no problems arise. Thanks again you have been very helpful.

[Pentium4]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

To be 80 plus certified, the unit must be able to do full power, so no worries there. The heatsinks are smaller due to the units high efficiency. Like mariushm said there is room for airflow and this is a good design. It doesn't help that the caps are pushing 6 years old though. I have seen ost fail in this platform, usually on the 5vsb. So i would definitely periodically check those caps.

[electromaster84]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

I'll keep a close eye on it after installation, and if I notice any strange crashes or behavior I will recap it ASAP. A good physical inspection three months after install then a 6-12 month routine check should suffice I think or no?

[Pentium4]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

Sounds good. What else is it powering besides the athlon 64 x2? I usually get paranoid and recap the entire PSU, but I understand not everyone has an iron and suitable caps on hand.

Yeah, you mainly just have to watch the ones on the 5vsb and 12v. I'd let the machine run 24/7 to help keep the 5vsb caps cool. Computers in off or standby mode wear out those caps faster.

[electromaster84]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

The system specs are

Cpu: Amd Athlon 64 x2 5600+
Motherboard: Asus M3A76-CM
Storage: 1 7200 rpm ide hard drive
Optical: 1 dvd cd combo drive
Ram: 2x1gb ddr2 800
Gpu: I don't know yet maybe onboard or a Ati x1950 Pro I have lying around

I'm not sure this psu can handle that gpu or not.

[Pentium4]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

That's not that power hungry. It can absolutely support that video card, but it probably doesn't have a PCIe connector? I'd be a little bit more worried about airflow for the GPU since you've probably got a small chassis

[electromaster84]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

I've got a bunch of those molex to PCIe adapters, but I never use them because I don't trust them. Maybe I'll give one of those a try, and see how well it works. I don't think airflow will be a problem. I have front and rear 120mm fans plus a side panel 80mm.

[stj]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

I'd let the machine run 24/7 to help keep the 5vsb caps cool. Computers in off or standby mode wear out those caps faster.

you could use a couple of diodes to keep the fan running slowly in standby if your that concerned.

[electromaster84]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

I only use standby on my main system, and even then it hardly ever actually idles to standby because of all the home network traffic. This machine will be basically a computer for the rest of my family to browse the web and do some light gaming. I'm only building it because I got tired of hearing "Can I use your computer?"

[Per Hansson]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

That's not that power hungry. It can absolutely support that video card, but it probably doesn't have a PCIe connector? I'd be a little bit more worried about airflow for the GPU since you've probably got a small chassis

Seems it does

1 x PCIe x16 
1 x PCIe x1 
2 x PCI
Support PCIe 2.0 / 1.0 Architecture

[electromaster84]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

Thanks to everybody who posted. I think I'll give it a shot when my cpu gets here, and I'll let you know if I start any small electrical fires. Seriously I will give a update if anything goes wrong or I end up having to recap it. Again a big thanks all around!

[electromaster84]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

Corrections:

Motherboard is Asus M4A785-M not M3A76-CM as originally stated, and memory is 2x1gb ddr2 533. I just looked at the box the motherboard came in and assumed that's what it was.

Also got confused about Pentium4's question about the PCIe connector.

That's not that power hungry. It can absolutely support that video card, but it probably doesn't have a PCIe connector? I'd be a little bit more worried about airflow for the GPU since you've probably got a small chassis

So let me clear that up. Motherboard does have a PCIe x16 2.0 slot, but the power supply does not have a PCIe power connector. Okay hope that makes things clearer.

Also if anyone would be interested I could do a periodical update on how the psu and overall system is doing. Take the psu apart and post pics of problems if they happen. That is if such things are allowed anyway.

[stj]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

when i use the term "standby" i mean off - but plugged in.

[electromaster84]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

Oh, thanks for that clarification stj. So basically the power supply is in standby waiting for the motherboard to send the power on signal? If the power supply has a switch in back would turning that off keep the psu from being in standby?

[stj]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

that would work, but a lot of psu's dont even have a switch anymore!

[electromaster84]

Re: Seasonic SS-350BS

This unit does have a switch in back, so I think I'll just switch it off when powered down.