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Is it "acceptable" to most reputable PSU companies to run a PSU at 50% load 24/7? 75% load 24/7? 100% load 24/7?

I doubt they would honor their 5 year warranty if you kept blowing through PSUs every year or two, no?

5 year warranty is 5 year warranty, what you do with it, they wont be able to tell or most likely care, youll get your 2 exchanges, but is it worth it? 2 periods of downtime...

My PSU broke once before mining and they have sent me new now, now it broke again while I was mining and PSU was at about 110% of load :D I didn't have kill-a-watt before and I expected my rig to take a little less power ^^ still waiting to see if they will send me new PSU

edit: suprisingly PSU was able to work for about 2-3 days on 110% load - it was OCZ PSU

There are very few good psu makers and Ocz isnt among them. Pushing these means really challenging your luck, you could loose your entire computer  >:(

Actually it was tagan, I was wrong because my new PSU is ocz, sry for my mistake.

Thanks guys.

So in general they will replace it no matter what, up to a maximum or 2 replacements?

I'm still waiting for answer if they replace my PSU 2nd time, but as soon as they send answer I will let you know.

Yea, but is it worth the hassle? Takes at least a week to get the replacement out to you, and unless you have a spare you're completely out of business... I'd say buy a big enough PSU to start out with

IF the retailers realy honour their warranties, why not just buy 2 cheap PSU:s at the same time? It's often cheaper to buy two cheap ones than one really good. When the first of the two gives up, the switch will only take an hour since you already have the replacement in hand. And it doesn't really matter if it takes a week or two to get the faulty PSU replaced.

it's a nice "idea" but keep in mind that it "can" do a blow back and knock out other parts of a pc when a PSU dies. Or even worse it can give sub par power/w to the machine, causing them to fail much faster... :P thus why it's worth it to get a nice solid one IMO.

I can definetely say that they will replace your PSU at least 2 times in short time - because I have my PSU replaced 2nd time in about 3 months. It also looks like there is no limit of how many damaged PSU's they will replace if they can't find evidence that it was your fault damaging it.

Most decent PSU have safety margins designed in. If you are able to get your hands on those with a detailed specifications, you'll see there is usually at least a 10% margin. But as you discovered, just cause it can handle that much for a while doesn't mean it will last :D

They can't tell nor care unless it's obviously user abused i.e. stuff are missing, it's being opened or there are burnt marks or there's water dripping from it when they got it :D

Most physical changes/damages/etc. are warranty voiding. But unless you are doing something horrible to a PSU, it is very unlikely that it will die before the warranty expires. Unless you buy a piece of crap PSU, which probably comes from a crap manufacturer, in which case they'll probably stiff you on the warranty anyway.

Quality PSUs are worth the investment.

Period.   ;D

On the phone overclockers sales even told me not to buy one of their  own PSU's lolz.

Dude said get a xfx when I told him what I was buying it all for.

They can inspect the power supply and determine if it was overloaded (or damaged.) If so, they probably will not honor the warranty, particularly if you are frequently replacing power supplies (with 10 machines it is one a month instead of one a year)

The other trick manufactures will pull is the five year warranty starts from the original purchase, and replacement units don't restart the warranty. So, after five years you have to buy a new PSU anyway.

Funny story, my mother bought a car battery from a national retailer (Sears if memory serves) with a lifetime warranty (as long as you own the car.) Every couple years the battery would die, and my mom would drive her 1969 Ford LTD down and get a new battery installed. After 30+ years the retailer gave her a new battery, refunded her original purchase price and told her the warranty wouldn't be honored anymore. It always pays to keep the receipts :)

They don't care.  They will replace.

If you are worried, read the terms of the warranty.  They do what it says. if not, file a complaint on BBB.

You should have an ample PSU to begin with.

End of story.

If its under warranty they will replace it unless it was damaged due to neglect.
Which is:
full of dust (you job to make sure its in a clean environment)
damaged wires (such as sitting on hot parts or being cut to change plugs)
Overheated (its your job to make sure parts don't over heat)
Parts burnt out due to being over maximum rating,

NEVER, I REPEAT NEVER! go cheap on your PSU ... especially for what we use them for! You want to get a very nice PSU because often times in the PSU world "You get what you pay for" applies very well.

I would recommend reading reviews of PSU's where they actually put load on the PSU, measure the voltage regulation of each 12v 5v and 3.3v. Also they measure ripple.

One of my favorite manufacturers (Seasonic) OEM's for many different PSU manufacturers with higher priced PSU's.
Many of the Corsair line is Seasonic I believe.
Seasonic makes some of the most stable / quality PSU's in the 400-800watt range.
There are a couple of other really good OEM's out there, but my experience is mostly w/ Seasonic.

Superflower is also making a comeback. Releasing extremely high quality PSU's under several different brands.

Either way, stay away from your 40$ 600watt PSU's they are utter garbage and most likely will destroy your PC. For a nice 600watt PSU plan on spending a good 70-90$+

2 sites I love for quality, unbiased reviews:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Review_Cat&recatnum=13

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/page/power

+ Seasonic. Great PSU. Excellent customer service!