Had a client in Phoenix insist on using a $20 power supply from Amazon for their gaming rig

Honestly, this was about three months ago. They brought in a custom build that kept shutting down under load. I opened it up and saw this tiny, no-name PSU. I told them it was a fire risk and would likely fry the motherboard. They argued it had good reviews and saved them $80. Ngl, I refused to work on it unless they swapped it out. Has anyone else had to draw a hard line on cheap parts to avoid a bigger disaster later?

3 comments

3 Comments

martinez.diana2mo ago

My cousin in Tucson tried that with a cheap PSU for his streaming setup. The thing actually popped and took his graphics card with it.

wesley1392mo ago

Learned that lesson the hard way with my first gaming PC build. Bought a no-name power supply to save fifty bucks. It fried my motherboard after two months of weird shutdowns. Now I only buy units with at least an 80 Plus Bronze rating from known brands. That extra cost is basically insurance for your whole system.

phoenix_campbell881mo ago

Look, I get where you're coming from, but cheap parts have their place if you know what you're doing. Not everyone needs a 1000 watt platinum rated brick for a basic office computer or a media server that barely draws any power. That $20 unit might be totally fine for a low power build that never sees a heavy gaming load. The real issue is people putting cheap PSUs in systems that demand way more wattage than they can handle, that's just asking for trouble. But blaming the PSU alone without looking at the total power draw is kind of missing the point, a cheap unit in the right setup can run for years without issues.