Drawbacks to a lousy PSU?

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EmnicJr

EmnicJr

Honorable
Nov 18, 2013
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Just out of curiosity, what happens when the system's power demands outweigh the PSU's max wattage?
Furthermore, will getting a WAY more powerful PSU than necessary (like 1200W for a 400W system) be of any benefit/loss?
 
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markwp
Depends on the psu. A quality psu will have overload protection and will shut down and should not harm the psu or any other component. An el cheapo on the other hand may short out, throw power spikes down the componet lines taking your m/b, cpu, and gpu along for the ride. Worst case, it may flame and cost you your house.

A WAY more powerful psu is not needed, merely a quality psu that provides clean power. My rule of thumb is to buy a psu that provides 25% overhead. If my system needs 500w, I will buy a 650w psu.

Mark
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laviniuc

laviniuc

Judicious
Nov 29, 2013
5,505
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no. that big of an overpower can even be detrimental. psu's are build to be most efficient on the 50-80% range of their max wattage.

if it's on the upper limit the system will be unstable (lock up, restart for no apparent reasons) and it some very rare cases the mobo or psu can get fried.
 
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markwp

markwp

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Jan 22, 2013
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Depends on the psu. A quality psu will have overload protection and will shut down and should not harm the psu or any other component. An el cheapo on the other hand may short out, throw power spikes down the componet lines taking your m/b, cpu, and gpu along for the ride. Worst case, it may flame and cost you your house.

A WAY more powerful psu is not needed, merely a quality psu that provides clean power. My rule of thumb is to buy a psu that provides 25% overhead. If my system needs 500w, I will buy a 650w psu.

Mark
 
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