Legit Reviews

There's no need to be a jerks about this. This thread should probably be closed before this gets ugly. Reality is simple. Either one reads hard and very unpopular reality. Or a scam, somehow attached to one's ego, results in emotional and illogical responses. This forum is for adults. That means no...

While I realize that surge protection doesn't start instantaneously APC actually explicitly advertizes surge protection and the model I use is regularly used in industry to protect thousands of dollars in equipment. My Corsair power supply is the standard for people who build their own systems. So ...

Just got news that Sapphire rejected my warranty claim. Since the end of my connectors were scorched in the pictures I sent they blamed it on a power surge and said since my card was physically damaged that my warranty was void. I have a Corsair TX850 which is hooked up to an APC1500 UPS/surge prot...

I don't know how to check/repair/replace capacitors anyway. You never tried to. Therefore you would not yet know how to do it. Doing is how so much gets learned - as demonstrated by the multimeter. A PIII is a best computer to fix because mistakes cost so little. Go to Radio Shack, Lowes, Tru-Value...

Visually the board doesn't have any bad capacitors. I looked at someone's computer last week that kept crashing. Three capacitors around the socket were bulging so I came to the conclusion that's where the instability was coming from. Capacitors around the CPU socket? CPU has its own power supplies...

The power switch isn't going to happen. I need a set of alligator clips or narrower diodes on the multimeter. As suggested, use a paper clip or a sewing needle. Moving on. Long hours of test is mostly futile. Use the hairdryer to 'aggravate' marginal semiconductors. The remaining suspects (that you...

why do you keep referencing incandescent light bulbs? Incandescent bulb reports far more useful facts than anything you have discussed. Anything a Kill-A-Watt might report was already made irrelevant by viewing an incandescent bulb. Simplest tools (ie a hairdryer) are powerful diagnostic tools. But...

So are you saying that no computer will peak more than 350 at the wall? Not exactly. But read spec numbers for computer designed by engineers. They don't waste money on 800 watt power supplies because a PC does not need that much power. Meanwhile, the topic is not power supplies or hearsay. The top...

I would still see how much AC wattage you are pulling, because often voltage can be fine but if you are pulling too much wattage it won't work right, period. Wow. That post even contradicts what is taught in high school physics. If something draws excessive power, then voltage drops significantly. ...

some states let you take out PIII KillAWatt meters from public libraries for energy efficiency programs (Maine does at least). plug the computer power cable into the meter and let us know what it pulls for wattage at the wall (homedepot/lowes also carry them for $29.99.. They are very handy devices...

After checking the PSU and it came back "ok" I checked the RAM again. I've run Memtest in the past error free for 3-4 hours then it starts showing errors. There is no relationship between memory and what turns off power. If memory is defective, then it creates a task error - the task is s...

Well... I don't think it's power any more. ... While surfing the internet the computer shut itself off, didn't restart, just shut off. OK. First, all measurements should have been on the Molex connector since making measurements from all those other locations were irrelevant (as your numbers demons...

Like what has been said before the 12V rail can vary and 11.7 is in the "allowable" range, doesnt mean the hardware likes it.- Again, an example of reading numbers while ignoring facts behind those numbers. A meter reading 11.7 means 12 volts is probably operating as low as 11.4 volts - o...

looking up schematics of the ATX plug the purple wire is +5Vdc VSB standby Voltage, explain to me what this does exactly. I'm heading over there in a bit and plan on measuring every red, yellow and orange line on the ATX plug. Do not measure *every* wire. Again, the sentence said what to measure. &...

Assuming those voltage readings are accurate, there's nothing wrong with the +3.3V and +12V rails. Iirc, the ATX spec allows for ±5% tolerance. Please learn how meters measure. Those 3.3 volts and 12 v numbers (if accurate) mean both voltages are defective. But those voltages are measured by a moni...

With drives plugged in I got the fan to jump then nothing. When I unplugged the drives it sparked during boot. What probably happened. All power supplies see the short, and cut off power. In your case, the combined load of disk drives and the short cause the power supply to cut off faster. Without ...

20$ surge protector with 200$ cables How does that 1.37 inches stop what three miles of sky could not? Take a $3 power strip. Add some $0.10 parts. Hype it as a $25 protector. Or sell the exact same circuit for $150 from Monster Cable. Same thing. What happens when that 1.37 inches absorbs a typica...