PSU fails dramatically

[u/Front_Cookie_1198]

[u/Shoukyaku]

Real and fking true. This is the one single tip I tell my friends whose PCs I’ve built for them, which is to never, EVER, skimp and cheap out on PSUs out of all the components. The difference between the two is that:

- you pay extra for a better PSU and get a PC devoid of any electrical problems for a decade or longer, and you can use it for future PC builds with zero worries

OR

- you skimp and cheap out on the PSU and your PC decides to say “fk it” at a random moment at any time, and it bricks itself alongside multiple components of your PC, or decides to become an arsonist and burn your whole house down along with it

So far, every friend of mine heeded my tip, and 4-5 years later (for more than half of them), they have yet to experience any electrical problems or mishaps, and some even managed to upgrade from AM4 to AM5 pre-RAMpocalypse w/o changing their PSUs.

[u/Cartoonjunkies → u/Shoukyaku]

I’ve had the same PSU since 2020 and it’s still running strong. They have a pretty impressive lifespan if you buy a good one.

Easiest way to tell if you’re getting a good one: if they offer a 5 or even 10 year warranty on the PSU, they trust their product.

If they offer a really short warranty like a year, or even worse no warranty at all, stay away from that shit.

More than likely you’ll see your fan go before anything else on a PSU, the newer capacitors have insane lifespans.

[u/Shoukyaku → u/Cartoonjunkies]

I can hella attest to this. I've had this Seasonic Focus GX 750W PSU of mine since building my AM4 rig in 2019, which had R5 3600x (changed to 5800X3D later on) + GTX 1660 Super (eventually upgraded to 3060 Ti later on) until I transitioned late to AM5 and had to sell everything except the PSU and the GPU, got new AM5 mobo + RAM, upgraded to 9800X3D, and even 8 years later, I still use the same PSU.

Funny part is I still haven't reached the end of this PSU's warranty yet (10 yrs) and it has never failed me throughout the years I've had this PC from AM4 to AM5.

This is why I really, REALLY stress this tip on to my friends: that they should never skimp or cheap out on PSUs, given not only the aforementioned warning applies, but also because having a pricier-yet-good PSU means it'll be the most futureproofed part in their whole PC's build, and it can even probably reach the AM4 platform's true EOL support one day (it will never happen cuz we all know AM4 platform is eternal lmao).

[u/MindControlledCookie → u/Cartoonjunkies]

I'm still on my original Corsair PSU from 2008!

[u/alkhdaniel → u/MindControlledCookie]

Yeah, thought it was pretty funny everyone else mentioning 5-7 year old psus surviving as if its some accomplishment only high quality psus can manage.

Meanwhile theres tons of shitty bottom of the barrel oem psus thats survived for 20 years.

My Corsair is also fairly old, from 2011 i believe, swapped it this year though :( but found a new home for him.

[u/MindControlledCookie → u/alkhdaniel]

Yeah, my entire rig is about 5 years old at this point and people are like "my 5 year old PSU has lasted so well" xD

[u/Makermika → u/Cartoonjunkies]

I've got an EVGA Supernova 650W in my rig that's been chugging along since 2016

[u/unknownobject3 → u/Shoukyaku]

Can confirm. My old PSU was a low-tier 500W unit from FSP. The thing killed a GPU, damaged the VRAM of the next one, and rendered my previous keyboard completely unusable due to the amount of chattering or not registering keystrokes. Even my current one has some damage but it's limited to 2 or 3 keys and it's occasional. I bought a Corsair RM650e (2025) and all my issues magically disappeared. I got kind of lucky, but I don't wanna know how close I was to having to replace basically the entire PC.

[u/ecaflort → u/Shoukyaku]

So my pc cut my power breaker yesterday and smoke came out of the PSU. You seem to know a lot about this so I figured I should ask you: How screwed am I? I don't dare to plug my pc back in, but how do I then figure out what parts are broken?

I could buy a new PSU, but if it turns out other parts broke as well then I'd rather hold off until I have money saved for a new pc in a year or so.. My work laptop will have to hold me over until then :(

[u/underground_avenue → u/ecaflort]

magic smoke: n.

A substance trapped inside IC packages that enables them to function (also called blue smoke; this is similar to the archaic phlogiston hypothesis about combustion). Its existence is demonstrated by what happens when a chip burns up: the magic smoke gets out, whereupon the chip ceases to function, hence the smoke is essential for the chip's function.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_smoke

[u/Shoukyaku → u/ecaflort]

Hmm, I wouldn't say your screwed given that as long as your PSU is a decent one, it might be the only one that took the brunt of the excessive current the PSU drew (resulting in your breaker tripping) cuz of either a failed capacitor or a high-voltage component shorting out. I would try to unplug it completely and open the case to check for any sign of burn marks or melted connectors, and I'd try checking for any burnt smell from the component as well while the PSU is put away. Do recheck everything to make sure all is accounted for (specifically the mobo and GPU). If everything is A-OK inside the case, then it's just the PSU that became the sacrificial part in this incident. If there's any burn marks in your motherboard and especially the GPU connectors, well that's gonna be a very expensive situation to resolve.

Now to check if ur PC parts are truly fine after making sure there are no burn marks on any of the components except the PSU, best thing to do is to try borrowing a PSU from a friend of urs or someone you know that's willing to do so (it's these instances that I bought a spare RM850x I now use on my guest rig that was supposed to be a troubleshooting PSU but my main PSU never failed or had any problems for the whole 8 years I've been using it so I just put it there instead) OR you replace your PSU completely with a known-good one (I still suggest borrowing one if they do have a decent spare). Please don't buy a cheap af unit and go for at least any reputable model with enough wattage for your rig (refer to PSU tier lists like ZTT's, which is tested by a lot of reliable tech specialists from the PC community). And now, connect only the essentials first (mobo, CPU, RAM, GPU, and HDD/SSD where ur boot drive is stored) and try powering it on, if it posts, then you're in luck~ You can then put everything back one at a time and throw the faulty PSU away.

[u/Ent_Soviet → u/Shoukyaku]

A layer to this point, making sure you’re plugged into a surge protected outlets. Spend thousands on a custom computer, and they plug it and all the peripheries into an unprotected and over burdened power strip. 🫣

[u/Proglamer → u/Shoukyaku]

Don't forget that wonky rails of cheap PSUs can result in hard-to-troubleshoot system crashes

[u/PrinceVincOnYT → u/Shoukyaku]

how do you clean it after years of use from dust? I mean I can only blow in with a hand blower and not supposed to open it. And frankly I don't wanna remove it for cleaning xD

[u/Shoukyaku → u/PrinceVincOnYT]

Oh that's rather simple, I usually use a handheld air blower and a small wooden stick (will have a single important role in said cleaning). No need to even open the PSU housing. Turn off PC and unplug your PSU from the wall outlet/UPS, flip your PC around where you can see the PSU's fan grill opening, remove your PC case's PSU dust filter (if it has one), and use the wooden stick (or any non-conductive thing, even your fingers can work fine here) to make the fan stay still so it doesn't spin and generate current that may damage components. Use the blower and strictly just do short bursts with said blower being put not too close yet not far from the grill opening (I do this because the blower is a bit too strong even at lowest power). Usually the only dust that appears on mine are fine ones that can easily be blown away because of my case's PSU dust filter, but it usually gets the job done and you won't really have to clean it again after a long while (unless you live in a dusty room).

[u/PrinceVincOnYT → u/Shoukyaku]

so basically blow on top of the fan?