A friend and housemate of mine has always lived on a small budget and, roughly a year and half ago purchased a new gaming computer using the cheapest components he could. One of these items was a roughly $25 unbranded PSU putting out 400W. Fastforward to a couple weeks ago, where he purchased a used GTX460 for a very low $30 from a friend. Tentatively, I helped him install the 460 and the adapters needed to supply power to the two six pin PCI-E power plugs. Everything worked even when stressed to make sure max load could be handled. Well, it worked but fastforward again to two nights ago and you've got a dead PSU. Either the stress of running at a higher load over those two weeks, or the stress of his newly installed Win7 just days prior with its aero theme and other stressors managed to push the little unbranded job past its limit. So, being a clever scrounger, he asks around and manages to source a "650W" PSU from a co-worker. Makes himself sound like quite the PC guy, but my heart sank a little when he started bragging about a 6670. Granted, some people are on smalled budgets, but normally those people accept that their card is nothing special. Things just got worse when he arrived with the PSU, turns out he misread the wattage since the label was upside down when installed. It's rated at the odd value of 480W. At this point I admittedly failed as a studious PC enthusiast and didn't notice that it only supplies 18A to the 12V rail, 2 less than the previous PSU which popped. A GTX460 is rated at 13.3A, for some reference. So I stood idly by as they installed it and got everything back up and running. The next night, another dead PSU, this time with smoke. In the span of two days two PSUs, each roughly $25, have died with the state of the other components currently unknown (and hopefully okay). All of this could have been avoided with a decent PSU such as this Corsair CX500 for just $35 after rebate.
It's funny - a few years ago I used to pride myself in buying "cheap unbranded" PSUs, and I was fine for years...but all it takes is one bad experience. Since then, I have ousted pride in favour of common sense. Irrespective of price, a good quality PSU is a must for any PC with expensive and power hungry components.
Internet and word doc machine, I wouldn't recommend it but it wouldn't be the end of the world if you used a cheapish PSU because of budget concerns However I personally wouldn't with any of my machines. Spent $10-$20 more and get something that will last. Or spend and extra $50 that can be used on machine after machine after machine...... you have to look at it as an investment. Like you guys said $30 PSU every year and praying it doesn't take out the rest of your system just isn't worth not buying a semi-decent PSU
There are plenty of good low-budget PSUs too...you just need to choose carefully and from a reputable manufacturer.
Ive been using quality psu in every pc i build or work on as i have seen to many instances of cheap no names frying and taking out other equipment with it. People want to save money but quality psus are not much more than others and that is a small price to pay for peace of mind.
For me I'm happy to skim elsewhere on a build, but for a PSU I always pay extra and esnure its a good PSU. Its the most important but often overlooked component of a new build. The first step to a good build is to ensure your PSU is a good one.
In my early days of system building I used to use cheaper stuff, but for the last few years I've always gone for decent stuff and I tend to go over the top on power so I'm never left short. I'll quite happily put a 750 watt PSU in where only 400w is required.
