Just how bad is a cheap power supply?

LukeSavenije · January 16, 2019

3 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Interesting that you bring that up, usually when I hear someone mention single rail over multi rail it's a good thing, but perhaps under different circumstances?

no, it's multi rail>single rail...

CharminUltraStrong · January 16, 2019

7 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Yeah I've seen that one, what it shows is that the power delivery is accurately labelled, but I have no clue as to the reliability and lifespan of that Walmart unit. The facts that they opted not to paint the outside coat even though it's so cheap seems very telling to me, but like I said, maybe it means really nothing.

Yeah ultimately, 80+ ratings become a marketing gimmick. Only reason you'd really need anything above a bronze or gold is if you're running that shit 24/7 with insane OC's. I say this yet I'm using an 80+ platinum power supply, oh well.

seon123 · January 16, 2019

8 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Interesting that you bring that up, usually when I hear someone mention single rail over multi rail it's a good thing, but perhaps under different circumstances?

Multi rail is a safety thing. Let's take the EVGA T2 1600W. It's EVGA's highest end PSU. For overclockers like Kingpin, it's fine.

But for a normal user, it becomes a safety issue. Let's say it's bought by someone powering a 9900K and a single Titan RTX. Under no circumstance will the CPU need to pull 1600W. If the CPU tries to pull 1600W, something has gone catastrophically wrong. A properly configured multi rail PSU (for example the AX1600i) will shut off, hopefully before too much damage has been caused. The T2 1600W will just continue to provide power, causing more damage, possibly melting the cable/connector and starting a fire.

Like this happened with this 1600W single rail PSU.

https://www.overclock.net/forum/31-power-supplies/944707-why-single-rail-not-better-than-multi-rail.html#/topics/944707

pstarlord · January 16, 2019

Here's the way I see it. The risk is pretty much always there, even a top tier PSU can be faulty and cause some damage. Is it very likely that a nicer PUS will cause damage? Probably not. Just as it's not guaranteed that a cheap PSU will cause damage. But the odds of a better experience is in the favor of a nicer PSU.

On top of that, PSU's are not expensive. When you're building a PC, you're in the process of spending a good chunk of money. Its reasonable to say that most gaming PC's are a minimum of a round $800 and up. If you're spending, let's say, $1500 on a build. What's an extra $30ish on your PSU? Nothing. IT's a drop in the hat. Skimp on something you can easily replace, or upgrade later if you have to. Get a 120 Gig SSD instead of a 250.

I've done two builds, I can't say that I've consulted the PSU List because...well, I didn't know it existed. haha. But, I did almost as much investigating into the PSU choice as I did the CPU.