I have a bench computer that was using an Antec TruePower 2.0 power supply.  Apparently these guys suck ass.  Their caps inside tend to explode and are not made of good quality.

I started to have issues when I connected external hard drives to my machine.  I noticed the drive would sound as though they were failing.  But I soon realized that they weren’t receiving enough juice.  I would plug them into my second bench and they would turn on without any problems.  The hard drives would be recognized right away.

I really thought my motherboard was going bad.  I thought to myself, what else could it be?  I went into the BIOS to check the voltages and sure enough, the 3.3 and the 5v voltages were way off.  However, checking through the BIOS is not the best way to do it but my problems were consistent with voltage/power issues.  Therefore, I figured it out that I needed a new power supply.

I went and bought another Antec.  You may be thinking, “Why did this guy buy another Antec?  His Antec TruePower 2 just died on him,” well that’s true but the Antec that I bought is made much better.

I purchased the Antec Earthwatts 500.  It’s a solidly built power supply and is supposedly a lot quieter than most although I have no problem with audible power supplies.

So far so good.  I’ve been using it with no problems.  No more power dips or issues.  Let’s cross our fingers that this is a permanent solution.