Am I being ripped off? Should I give up this PC

My desktop PC, which was built on my own three years ago, I am never a hardware specialist, it was my fault to choose to build my own PC, for the first time.

The power supply unit is Antec 400c which is supposed to be a decent one, which is connected to three hard drives, without connecting to any video card, since I don't play games.

The PC sometimes gives out VERY STRONG burning smell like burnt plastic but it goes away after some minutes, but the whole thing works and the windows works.

I couldn't bear it anymore so two weeks ago I took it to a small local computer hardware shop for test and repair.

The man told me that he couldn't find out any burning smell, he wanted more time to find out the problems. He now tells me that he is not sure but the problem is likely to be the PSU, he said he could see some burnt components inside. He said it was because of overload or aging of the PSU. I just wonder, It's a 400c Antec that only connected to three hard drives, without a display card, how come it could overload? He said yes I've connected to a lot of hard drives....
I really doubt my PSU is overloaded,

I had a Dell PC that was perfect for eight years without any smell and I connected to a lot of hard drives too. The PSU used in those PC should be worse than Antec,

Can the man be trusted?

He said a 400w Antec connected to three 3.5internal hard drives is an overload

He said it's completely normal for a decent PSU like Antec to fail in three years of time.

Can he be trusted.?.does he make sense

 

Smells are never good when you don't know where they're coming from. Fact of life right there.

400w is plenty of power based off what you told us and the assumed specs from a PC built three years ago with no GPU installed.

PSU's are pretty easy to test for failure and if he's seeing singed components it's probably likely if you consider that part of his story to be true. PSUs typically last quite a while but some of the less expensive ones will go out and three years or less isn't unheard of. Some of the higher end ones go for 10+ years unofficially. They're pretty cheap to get on Newegg and the like and sounds like you can handle the install yourself. If the problem persists then you know it wasn't the PSU and the guy is a quack.If it goes away, you have a machine that will last you a little while longer.

 

Three HDDs won't overload the PSU - that some 30-45W at most.
That said I would suspect the PSU as well and it should be easy enough to verify if there burnt components visible in it.
One more thing - nothing else would work at this point - any other component that would possibly emit such a smell would be long gone by now- only a PSU can still work while with one leg in the grave.

Also as mentioned above - PSUs are cheap and easy to replace so it's not like you're risking a lot of money here.

 

sorry, my English is not very good, do you mean that if the smell came from other pieces of hardware my whole PC shouldn't work anymore,while only if it's PSU it can still work with some failing components?

So now he is selling a couple of PSU of different brands.


Which one is of the best quality?

Antec? Silverstone? Coolermaster?

This Antec failed in less than three years? Should I risk trying another brand? Or if I should keep up with Antec? Which is supposed to make the best PSU

 

Every manufacturer has good and bad models, those three are no exception. If they have specific model numbers to choose from that would help us to advise you. There isn't anything forcing you to buy from him either. If you'd prefer researching and buying one elsewhere that's perfectly acceptable.

 

@kenny1999

You'll find this list useful - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

As pointed out by Derek above, each manufacturer has good and bad models - or to put it in marketing terms entry level ones and top tier ones.

 

Please help look at the model and price list of the power supply of that nearby computer shop, which model is the best to buy?

My PC spec: Intel i5 2th generation, Asus basic board, 8GB Kingston , will connect to three or four 7200rpm HDD, will never use a display card

Listed price x 0.13 = usd

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