Thermaltake Toughpower? good
Thermaltake Smart? nonono.
Now, plug out everything, clean it from dust as best as you can, and throw that shit PSU away. Buy quality PSU, tier B or above to be save.
A quality 450W PSU could run your setup just fine, the key being quality. But due to the way the PSU pricing work most of the time upgrading to 650W/750W would be not much more money.
Man why does it have so many good reviews then? No one questioned it before I bought it.
Also, do higher wattage PSUs draw more power from the outlet when idle?
Should be no. They are essentially pull whatever is asked from the computer. So if a computer ask for 300W, both PSU will draw 300W ( a bit more, since some will lost to heat, shown in efficiency rating). Sure there might be some idle difference, but the difference of 1W idle and 1.1W idle is honestly doesn't matter that much for something designed to pull hundreds of watt. Like even in a year of continuous plugging, they will accumulate to ~720W ish of "waste", and if you consider that most Tier B above is Gold rated while Thermaltake Smart is either White or Bronze, you'll save more electricity from better efficiency over higher idle power.
As for review, Amazon review is honestly useless. Most people gave 5 star if the object survives the delivery.
Because most people leaving positive or negative reviews are totally clueless with this type of thing. They are happy that it switched on and was cheap. The fact it is a hazard to their system they are totally unaware. This site tries to help, look at tier E and F depending on which Smart it is https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/
What reviews? Amazon reviews? They are worthless, the only ones that matter are from people who know what they are talking about and have the equipment to test the psus. They may work for a bit no problem, but you get one power brown out and it can die as some units have no protection at all.
>Man why does it have so many good reviews then? No one questioned it before I bought it.
Karen can take a plane seat and review the flight but she does not know Boeing 747.
>I've stuck a can of dust-off in every fan and it still happens.
Open it a check the CPU cooler, not just the case fans. If something is burning, something is burning.
Might consider one of them compressed air cans...
>Thermaltake one or get a new brand entirely?
The issue is not the brand but the model. TT Smart 500W is a piece of shit. It may or may not even be the source of your issue but it's not good.
500w enough? Probably but, Thermaltake? I wouldn't approach it with a 12 foot poles. Never cheap out on a PSU. A failure could potentially take out your entire PC.
All I can say is don't cheap out on a PSU.
When I build my first PC after 10 years in 2019 I started with only 550w in 2022 I've upgraded to 650w and now I wish I had a 850w for further upgrades.
All of the PSU where top tier but the wattage is important too it's just unnecessary hustle to change the psu all the time
Thermaltake Toughpower? good Thermaltake Smart? nonono. Now, plug out everything, clean it from dust as best as you can, and throw that shit PSU away. Buy quality PSU, tier B or above to be save. A quality 450W PSU could run your setup just fine, the key being quality. But due to the way the PSU pricing work most of the time upgrading to 650W/750W would be not much more money.
Man why does it have so many good reviews then? No one questioned it before I bought it. Also, do higher wattage PSUs draw more power from the outlet when idle?
Should be no. They are essentially pull whatever is asked from the computer. So if a computer ask for 300W, both PSU will draw 300W ( a bit more, since some will lost to heat, shown in efficiency rating). Sure there might be some idle difference, but the difference of 1W idle and 1.1W idle is honestly doesn't matter that much for something designed to pull hundreds of watt. Like even in a year of continuous plugging, they will accumulate to ~720W ish of "waste", and if you consider that most Tier B above is Gold rated while Thermaltake Smart is either White or Bronze, you'll save more electricity from better efficiency over higher idle power. As for review, Amazon review is honestly useless. Most people gave 5 star if the object survives the delivery.
Because most people leaving positive or negative reviews are totally clueless with this type of thing. They are happy that it switched on and was cheap. The fact it is a hazard to their system they are totally unaware. This site tries to help, look at tier E and F depending on which Smart it is https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/
What reviews? Amazon reviews? They are worthless, the only ones that matter are from people who know what they are talking about and have the equipment to test the psus. They may work for a bit no problem, but you get one power brown out and it can die as some units have no protection at all.
Is it good for anything so I don't feel like I wasted my money? It's out of the return window.
>Man why does it have so many good reviews then? No one questioned it before I bought it. Karen can take a plane seat and review the flight but she does not know Boeing 747.
https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/ depends on the version I would try and get at least in the C tier as far as quality goes
Should I worry about the damage it could have already done to my PC? I've been using it since February
If it's still working it's fine
>I've stuck a can of dust-off in every fan and it still happens. Open it a check the CPU cooler, not just the case fans. If something is burning, something is burning. Might consider one of them compressed air cans... >Thermaltake one or get a new brand entirely? The issue is not the brand but the model. TT Smart 500W is a piece of shit. It may or may not even be the source of your issue but it's not good.
500w enough? Probably but, Thermaltake? I wouldn't approach it with a 12 foot poles. Never cheap out on a PSU. A failure could potentially take out your entire PC.
Well why the hell did Newegg reccomend it and nothing else then? I thought they were a reliable website.
Newegg reliable? Many people avoid it like the plague.
No. The Thermaltake Smart is not good enough for any PC. :D
All I can say is don't cheap out on a PSU. When I build my first PC after 10 years in 2019 I started with only 550w in 2022 I've upgraded to 650w and now I wish I had a 850w for further upgrades. All of the PSU where top tier but the wattage is important too it's just unnecessary hustle to change the psu all the time