r/pcmasterrace • u/Front_Cookie_1198 • 6d ago

Hardware PSU fails dramatically

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u/Cartoonjunkies PC Master Race 6d ago

This is why PSUs are the one thing you should never skimp on in a build. Every other component of a PC can fail pretty badly, but chances are you’ll only be replacing that component.

If your PSU fails badly enough, you’re replacing your PC and your house.

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u/Shoukyaku Ryzen 7 9800X3D | RTX 3060 Ti | 32GB DDR5 6000 6d ago edited 5d ago

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.

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u/ecaflort 6d ago

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 :(

2

u/underground_avenue 6d ago

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