Power Supply modules are made with components that can easily overheat, and although they may have met UL and CE requirements, construction variations can lead to failure. (Consider a stamped heatsink that is not flat, so the transistor cannot dissipate its heat well or a feedback circuit whose component variations leave it unstable and it "rings" as it switches.) Although power supplies have fewer percent failures than mainboards (last I heard) the are in the power line and failure can more easily cause overheating. As an analog/digital/power design engineer, I do not leave devices on that get hot (not just warm) to the touch, and since I do not trust cooling fans, my computers get turned off when I am not there. (Note that most new AT-X desktop power supplies go into sleep mode and are not using power after a while. Laptop "bricks" and plug-in power line modules are always on, so they may remain hot even under no-load conditions.)
The article mentioned is well written and informative. Based on the comments, many people comment on the substance based on the lead-in Slashdot posting. I say, before you comment on things like "Home version" or "biased", you should learn to read.
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Power Supply modules are made with components that can easily overheat, and although they may have met UL and CE requirements, construction variations can lead to failure. (Consider a stamped heatsink that is not flat, so the transistor cannot dissipate its heat well or a feedback circuit whose component variations leave it unstable and it "rings" as it switches.) Although power supplies have fewer percent failures than mainboards (last I heard) the are in the power line and failure can more easily cause overheating. As an analog/digital/power design engineer, I do not leave devices on that get hot (not just warm) to the touch, and since I do not trust cooling fans, my computers get turned off when I am not there. (Note that most new AT-X desktop power supplies go into sleep mode and are not using power after a while. Laptop "bricks" and plug-in power line modules are always on, so they may remain hot even under no-load conditions.)
The article mentioned is well written and informative. Based on the comments, many people comment on the substance based on the lead-in Slashdot posting. I say, before you comment on things like "Home version" or "biased", you should learn to read.