PSA: Don't buy a cheap PSU for your sleeper build just because nobody will see it

Spent $40 on a no-name 600w unit from Amazon for my retro beige tower build and it fried my motherboard after 2 weeks, lost $120 total on the board plus the PSU. Has anyone else lost hardware to a sketchy budget PSU they tried to hide in a sleeper case?

2 comments

2 Comments

anthony_fox904d ago

Gamers Nexus did a whole video on those cheap Amazon PSUs. They tested one that claimed 600 watts and it could barely do 250 before overheating. The scary part is those things don't even have proper protections, so when they fail they can take your whole rig down with them. I'd rather spend the extra $50 on a known brand like EVGA or Corsair than gamble on a fire hazard. That beige case doesn't care what's inside it anyway.

wrenwilson4d ago

I get that Gamers Nexus video gets shared a lot, but for a budget build with parts that barely draw 200 watts total that cheap PSU is probably fine, lots of people run them for years without issues.