Can PSU damage MOBO?

[PingPonguin]

So after i bought a Corsair CX450M power supply for $23, I saw that many reviews complained about the power supply "popping" and malfunctioning after a short amount of time. I am wondering if when my power supply pops or malfunctions, will it damage other components of my PC?

[Jasun]

It probably will because if you think about it, even a little bit of static electricity can kill the whole computer.

[suchamoneypit]

Yes it can, and its why people always say never to buy a cheap power supply unless you mind killing your other parts because you tried to save money. A common thing is people spending $1500 on high end parts and then powering it with a crappy $35-40 general purpose PSU.

[Cereal5]

Well that's probably because those people are putting those power supplies to work in systems that draw near or more than 450W, so that's a danger to your PSU no matter what brand

[Prokart2000]

3 minutes ago, PingPonguin said:

So after i bought a Corsair CX450M power supply for $23, I saw that many reviews complained about the power supply "popping" and malfunctioning after a short amount of time. I am wondering if when my power supply pops or malfunctions, will it damage other components of my PC?

lower quality power supplys give inconsistent voltage and current which could spike and kill your system. Dont cheap out on the psu 

[DrM]

im assuming your talking about the one with the grey label

Spoiler

that one is a very good budget choice. the reviews are likely talking about the green labeled psus. their quality is quite a bit worse

[PingPonguin]

6 minutes ago, Cereal5 said:

Well that's probably because those people are putting those power supplies to work in systems that draw near or more than 450W, so that's a danger to your PSU no matter what brand

So according to PSU calculators, my system only draws around 120W at load. Even if I cheaped out on the power supply and bought the CX450M, will it still malfunction at such a load?

[Cereal5]

1 minute ago, PingPonguin said:

So according to PSU calculators, my system only draws around 120W at load. Even if I cheaped out on the power supply and bought the CX450M, will it still malfunction at such a load?

If it does then you have a bad PSU

[Railgun]

At 120W you should be fine. Just keep in mind that the Corsair CX series PSUs are just about the worst thing you can buy for high workload computers. If you ever upgrade any other parts make sure you upgrade your PSU as well. There is a PSU tier list somewhere on this forum, check it out some time.

[Starelementpoke]

19 minutes ago, PingPonguin said:

So according to PSU calculators, my system only draws around 120W at load. Even if I cheaped out on the power supply and bought the CX450M, will it still malfunction at such a load?

Is it the Grey Unit CX or Green unit?

[PingPonguin]

Just now, Starelementpoke said:

Is it the Grey Unit CX or Green unit?

Its the one with the gray/grey sticker

[PingPonguin]

Its also considered as a tier 3 power supply. is that safe for my motherboard? im just really worried that it will zap my MOBO

[manikyath]

a power supply can fail in a number of ways:

- it can fail quietly (diagnose: computer does nothing, as if it wasnt plugged in)

- it can fail explosively but with great luck (diagnose: flames belching out the back of the power supply, but the rest of your hardware is fine)

- it can fail explosively but with bad luck (diagnose: your computer, or your entire house, is on fire.)

- it can fail in the unlucky way (diagnose: no fire, just everything is dead.)

 

the better quality power supply you get, the less chance you have something goes wrong, and the more chance you have that if something goes wrong it is contained withing the power supply. but no matter what you get, theres always that *tiny* chance...

[Starelementpoke]

3 hours ago, PingPonguin said:

Its the one with the gray/grey sticker

You should be fine then. It's the Green one you need to worry about.