Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W SFX in my Silverstone DS380 !!! DEAD !!!

Only one word. Crap.

Serves me right, testing the universe like I did the other day. What was it I said ...

"Well thats it. It's been about a year but I am finally happy with my Setup. The Project I set out to achieve is now officially delivered!!"

Idiot.

Well, I just turned off my Backup Server to change the Unassigned Devices Plugin (from current unstable version to previous stable version - thanks to dlandon) and the server didn't turn back on. The fans spun for all of 2 seconds on button press / connection of power and then nothing. Multiple button presses and still nothing. Just dead. After disconnecting the power cable and reconnecting the same thing would happen - fans would spin slightly but then nothing.

I decided to test. I unplugged the SATA board of the DS380 from the power (currently has 4 Seagate 8TB drives attached to it) and low and behold the server starts perfectly. Plug the SATA board back in, same result as previously.

As a bit of an isolation test I plugged my spare ANTEC 620W Neo Eco into the motherboard with everything connected and it started first time. 30 Tests later, still working. While the Antec is of a higher Wattage than the Silverstone (420W) I don’t believe the draw from the devices I am attaching should get CLOSE (90W PSU should even do it by my calculations) to the Silverstones 420W and it should be operating fine. Therefore I can only conclude something is wrong with the device. Conclusion - faulty PSU.

I have just sent Silverstone an email documenting the event and requesting an RMA number.

Shame. Considering going and getting another (perhaps higher powered SFF PSU tomorrow - but a bit weary of Silverstone now). At risk of jinxing it again, ill get there! LOL!

Oh man that sucks.

Was this the modular version? While 1 failure doesnt verify my thoughts, I went with the non-modular version since it was rated to operate a full load to 50C while the modular version was rated to operate at full load at 40C. This is usually an indication of higher quality internals (caps, etc.).

Who knew? Power supplies can and do fail at any time.

I've got one of Silverstone's 300W SFX units, and its been in a small form factor gaming rig, it ran my server for a while, and now it's in my HTPC. It's been fine.

After years of trying different brands and some no name dodgy ones, I stick with Seasonic now, they are a little more expensive then most but they last and have great warranties. Highly recommended.

After years of trying different brands and some no name dodgy ones, I stick with Seasonic now, they are a little more expensive then most but they last and have great warranties. Highly recommended.

Couldn't agree more. Corsair's are also nice (are they made by Seasonic??? You'd be surprised how many are).

Problem is, their (Seasonic) SFX power supplies are not single 12v rail design. There are a lot of Silverstone SFX unit's out there and this is the first failure I've seen reported on this board.

I've long been a fan of Seasonic as well; but for SFX units Silverstone is the "go to " brand.

ALL units can and DO fail => you were simply unlucky.  I agree the 450w unit should be just fine.    I've used the 300w, 450w, and 500w units, and they've all been great.    The only failure I've ever had was with one of the 300w units; and the replacement for that has been running 24/7 for well over a year now, so it's clearly more than adequate for the system it's powering.

Note that Silverstone now has a 600w modular SFX unit if you really want some serious "headroom" -- but candidly the 450w unit is plenty ... you've simply had the misfortune of a failure.

As you noted, the universe "listens" ... and as soon as you comment on how well something's working, it calls on Mr. Murphy to teach you a lesson  :)

Well, my supplier has come back with a warranty response from the distributor. Turns out it WAS faulty as they have replaced the unit. No indication of what was wrong with it, just "They have sent us a new one ..."

Will put it in the Backup Server tonight and see what happens. Hopefully all will be good and it is not the Backpane of the DS380 which is at fault.

FWIW I've used several of the Silverstone SFX units in various systems -- probably 4 or 5 of the 300w units and about twice as many 450w.    I had one of the 300w units fail, but (knock on wood) all of the others have been rock-solid 

Silverstone replaced the defective unit with no problem.

I am a happy bunny. Replacement PSU is working and Server is powering on and off as it should. Clearly just a defective PSU. Under warranty so it was replaced.

16 Days all up from handover to the supplier (who then sent back to the distributor) and then presumably a test and a new one back to me. Post might indicate longer but my SPAM filters caught the "Warranty Item Ready to Collect" email! 

16 Calendar days. Not bad at all really 

Smiles