Question about SS-400ET

[UserXP]

Hi, guys. I would like your opinions/supports/advices regarding this PSU. I have thrown away the generic 400W PSU which had a problem with the overheating resistor (from the earlier topic).

So, I found an used Seasonic SS-400ET PSU for about 20$ and bought it instead. I am sure you all know its composition (there is one shown here: SS-400ET review and that is an OEM one with not so much good caps used... however, I opened it before installing it, and all the caps looked OK (I think they were OSTs). I was unable to see al the smaller caps to see their ratings. The PSU works great and quiet, and is mounted in a bit old machine (it is my sister's computer with a Socket478 Intel 3.06GHz CPU, GF6200, 1Gb of RAM and a HDD) for really general purpose, no games or heavy loads, so I hope it will do her fine.

The PSU looked pretty clean inside, very little dust. It looks like it hasn't been in use too much (or was in a really clean place), so do you have any "words of wisdom" about what can I expect from it, mostly if it will endure the rather undemanding PC? I mean, it's a Seasonic one after all, so it has to be good or so.

[mariushm]

It's a good deal, worth the 20$.

It's a Seasonic, good build, capacitors aren't the greatest but still ok (was a design choice to save money, it's after all a more budget oriented model)

With such low load (100 watt-ish) , it won't get very hot so i doubt the capacitors will go bad soon.
I'd say keep it like this.

[UserXP]

My hoping exactly. It can't be worse than the previous one, that's for sure. We tested it, the computer was running non-stop for at least 6 hours, with occasional heavy loads, but it worked fine. During those hours, a slightly warm air could be sensed from the the PSU vent, but nothing hot - so my guess is that it doesn't strain itself to much to work.
Thanks for this input.

[UserXP]

This PSU has two 12V rail rated at 17A, but SeaSonic's manual says its combined 12V output is actually 30A (not 34A), which makes more sense since the total power of the 12V rail is rated at 360W. But, I should be enough, hopefuly.

[Behemot]

Got bad caps as was said.

I would personally prefer "adult" PSU like S12II, there is nothing you could point out on this PSU. Or some alternative liek OCZ ZS 550 W, it's now cheapest good PSU around.

[UserXP]

Well, we had to use the resources (mostly monetary ones) and the availability we had. It is not that easy to come by some nice/quality brands of PSUs here, so we siezed the opportunity. At least I hope it's better than a generic one. I never have come in contact with an OEM SeaSonic PSU before. That's why I asked for some opinions and impressions about it. Spending some more money on another brand/model of PSU is out of the question, at least for the moment.

[linuxguru]

* 9-year bump *

I got an SS-400ET which was functioning fine despite its ~2013 initial sale date. All rails were in spec, and no visible cap failures (mostly OST RLS and one Teapo on the secondary). Nevertheless, I decided to recap whatever caps for which I had spares handy.

Primary APFC boost 220uF/400V/85c NCC -> 220uF/450V/105c Yageo (not really necessary - if it survived a decade, it's probably not going to die now. However, I decided to add a margin of overvoltage safety as per Momaka's experiments with his Enermax. The Yageo 450V/1005c is slightly larger in diameter, but the PCB layout has fortunately been designed for this size - bean-counters probably downsized the cap to 400v/85c to save a few cents.).

Primary bootstrap 100uF/25V OST -> 100uF/50 Rubycon YXG

Secondary +5v inboard 2200uF/10V OST -> 1800uF/16V Panasonic FJ
Secondary +5v outboard 1000uF/10V OST -> 1000uF/10V NCC LXZ 8 mm
Secondary +3.3v inboard 2200uF/10V OST -> 1800uF/16V Panasonic FJ
Secondary +3.3v outboard 1000uF/10V OST -> 1000uF/10V NCC LXZ 8mm
Secondary +12v inboard 2200uF/16V OST -> 2200uF/16V NCC KZE
2x secondary +12v outboard 1000uF/16V OST -> 2x 1000uF/16V Panasonic FL 8mm
Secondary -12v 220uF/16V OST -> 220uF/25V NCC KY
+5Vsb 3300uF/16V/10mm Teapo unchanged for now (don't have that value in 10 mm)

Powered up, no bang or smoke and everything seems to be in spec - we'll see if the APFC boost holds up over time.

[Behemot]

your capacitor choice is awkward at the very best

[linuxguru]

I had to use whatever Japanese caps I had in hand that would fit in the space available (10mm and 8mm at most of the secondary locations). There's a 2200uF/16v/10mm Taicon HH that I have in stock, but was unsure of its reliability compared to Pansaonic FJ. The 3300uF/10mm Teapo on the +5Vsb is hard to find a replacement for unless I downsize the value to 2200uF.

[Behemot]

orly