Sparkle gone bad?

[AmigoThree]

After reading how your guys rave about these power supplies for a rather inexpensive alternative to something like an antec or PC Power and cooling I recommended the 350 watt to my friend for the computer I was going to build for him. After a while he was having some problems with his PC rebooting so I checked the rails and they all looked right on but the 3.3v which was 2.66! No I wasnt reading the voltage going to the memory (isnt that 2.6 usually?) but yes he was getting 2.66.

The computer was running a epox 8rda, 2500+ barton, 512mb ram (1 stick), 120 gig hard drive, 9500 pro, 2 optical drives, 5 fans, and a LAN card. That was it.


Anyway he already ordered a Antec Truepower 430 watt, and I am probably going to buy this from him and see what I can do because I know it can probalby be fixed somehow, plus I need a new project to work on in electronics class.


But what is the deal? I thought these things were supposed to be pretty good quality.

[irish80122]

Originally posted by AmigoThree
After reading how your guys rave about these power supplies for a rather inexpensive alternative to something like an antec or PC Power and cooling I recommended the 350 watt to my friend for the computer I was going to build for him. After a while he was having some problems with his PC rebooting so I checked the rails and they all looked right on but the 3.3v which was 2.66! No I wasnt reading the voltage going to the memory (isnt that 2.6 usually?) but yes he was getting 2.66.

The computer was running a epox 8rda, 2500+ barton, 512mb ram (1 stick), 120 gig hard drive, 9500 pro, 2 optical drives, 5 fans, and a LAN card. That was it.


Anyway he already ordered a Antec Truepower 430 watt, and I am probably going to buy this from him and see what I can do because I know it can probalby be fixed somehow, plus I need a new project to work on in electronics class.


But what is the deal? I thought these things were supposed to be pretty good quality.

They are, but you probably just got a bad PSU. Email Sparkle and they will most likely offer you an RMA (I can't imagine not). Then, go ahead and do that and since you already bought a new PSU, when you get it back just sell it in classifieds or on Ebay or something like that. That is what I would do to get some of your money back, or use it as a backup. They are good PSU's though

[juliendogg]

excellent psu's even, as a matter of fact, i believe this may be one of if not the first post i've read about someone having a problem with them. Heck i had a sparkle 235 that ran my current rig and even allowed for a decent overclock, i upgraded to a 400w sparkle and I simply luv it. :D. i'm sorry to hear about your misfortunate experience. i'm sure if you email sparkle, or the retailer the psu was purchased from it will be made right.

good luck,

J.

[irish80122]

Originally posted by juliendogg
excellent psu's even, as a matter of fact, i believe this may be one of if not the first post i've read about someone having a problem with them. Heck i had a sparkle 235 that ran my current rig and even allowed for a decent overclock, i upgraded to a 400w sparkle and I simply luv it. :D. i'm sorry to hear about your misfortunate experience. i'm sure if you email sparkle, or the retailer the psu was purchased from it will be made right.

good luck,

J.

One thing I should ask you about is is your 12V bar a bit low? Mine always has been, which I have read in reviews happens quite a bit with this PS (350w version) but I don't know if it should worry me. I keep thinking about getting a different one and putting this in a new system that I build for someone that won't be OC'd, but maybe they all just register a bit low?

[kamz]

get a new 400 watt it has that extra juice

[irish80122]

True, I don't think it isn't getting enough juice because of the power supply, and I don't think it is having problems due to that lower bar however now that I have done some problem solving. I am 99% sure it is my motherboard which is holding it back because it can only go up to a voltage of 1.80 vcore. The PS overall seems very stable, and I like it, that bar just scares me. I have seen that problem listed before in reviews of this power supply, but no one has ever had a problem, so I probably should just chill.

[juliendogg]

my 12v rail shows low in bios and in mbm5 as well. 11.8-9.
hook a multimeter to it and it shows 12.4 solid.

be careful what you trust!


J.

[irish80122]

I had a feeling that may be the case, thanks for the post, I feel better!

[Tismedt]

I had a 350 sparkle that I had to rma to newegg. The 12v rail was reading 10.8/9 with a multi so I adjusted the pots figuring I could get it within range. After adjusting the 5v was over 6 so I turned it down and sent it back. Every now and then you will see a bad psu and that goes for every manufacturer. Its just the way things are. Try tweaking the pots abit before you ask for a rma. You 3v worries may go away.

[livingelf]

if you checked the voltage with a VM then ok, but if you used a motherboard program, couldn't it be possible the motherboard is defective? just a thought. since your'e in electronics im assuming you used the VM.

[Supertrucker]

heh, im pretty sure alot of epox boards show mem voltage as the 3.3 rail.. so in fact you may have been looking at the mem voltage and not known it. but yeah, there are bad apples in every product

[Intrepid]

I too have seen the light of the sparkle 400w PSUs. my only thing is is even with the quiet fan that came stock with my version of it, it is noisy, so modding might be in order. :D

I have never had probs with power on that machine and doubt i ever will.

[AmigoThree]

Yes supertrucker I did find that out later. So this PSU may have not been bad, it probalby just wasnt providing enough watts. I havent had a chance to test it with a VOM so it may be working fine.

[katka]

Hmm while we're on the subject of Sparkle PSUs I was wondering, would the 300W Sparkle be enough to give me a good overclock? I would of got a 400W but I couldn't afford it.

[diggingforgold]

Wouldn't hurt to give it a try. Juliendogg said he had a 235W and it gave him no problems.

[dustybyrd]

Hmm while we're on the subject of Sparkle PSUs I was wondering, would the 300W Sparkle be enough to give me a good overclock? I would of got a 400W but I couldn't afford it.


the 300 watt sparkle puts out 390 watts...so that's not too bad...

[katka]

It puts out 390 watts! I'd say thats a good deal for just $22 dollars.