The only thing that you can really cheap out on is the case. With all the other components cheaper just means getting a lower spec component from an A-brand. Buy a cheap cpu/ GPU/ mobo from Wish or AliExpress and you are bound to get crap.
sirico@feddit.uk 9 months ago
Cheap out on a lot of things in a build, never the PSU
IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social 9 months ago
r00ty@kbin.life 9 months ago
I think the point is. If you buy a cheap GPU it'll either be a fake (lower spec with borked firmware) or lower spec branded. So the worst that happens is you have lower FPS, or it just doesn't work. Same with all other components. They're rarely off spec to the extent they will damage other components.
But a cheap switched mode PSU? Yeah the failure mode of switched mode supplies without proper protections is a high voltage on the rails feeding your components. They can take out your board, GPU, Drives and depending on what protections the mainboard has, the CPU and RAM too. Not to mention your precious RGB!
I remember back in the 90s/2000s we had a "server" where I worked at the time. I say "server", the company cheaped out and had a high street PC builder make them. They were essentially desktops in a bigger box with expensive CPUs and things like tape drives. But yes, they cheaped out on the PSU and it popped. It took out a £1k Tape drive, about the same value in hard disks, and pretty much everything else that was connected.
It was not cheap to get that back up and running, I can tell you.
TimeSquirrel@kbin.social 9 months ago
I'd argue don't cheap out at all, and acquire high quality components over a period of time where it's affordable. You can build yourself a PC to last the next fifteen years instead of 3. I'm on a first generation i7 still playing modern games at moderate settings, because I poured $1700 into it back in 2011. I am finally upgrading this year to AMD's newest socket AM-5 with a 12 core chip, which will hopefully be useful for another decade or more.
The old PC even survive a lightning strike, the power supply I selected took it like a champ and sacrificed a bunch of MOVs to save the PC.
boomzilla@programming.dev 9 months ago
6 years on a Ryzen 1600 with an Asus Mobo now. Intel before. Best buy I ever made in my PC-history, apart from my curved WQHD Monitor. Not playing very much but games like CS2, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, Far Cry 5, Yakuza 0, Ghostrunner, Witcher 3 run very well on moderately high settings (Most of them on Linux). If I’d invest in a good AMD graphics-card, I’m convinced I could play most modern games on high settings.
Congrats for going the AMD route. You will be so blown away by your 12-core monster.
HubertManne@kbin.social 9 months ago
Like the first thing I learned about building a pc.
Zozano@aussie.zone 9 months ago
I’ll also argue you shouldn’t skimp out on a motherboard.
I once owned an Asus Ranger VII. When I turned it on for the very first time, it lost its magic dust, and fried my RAM.
RMA found the MB was faulty, so they covered the RAM too.
This is from ASUS too, so I can only imagine how the chances of this sort of accident rises as you reduce the cost.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I don’t think I’ll ever buy an asus board again. I’ve had so many problems over the years with their boards. I used to think they were quality
glimse@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I gave up on Asus after a motherboard went up in (literal) flames when a cap blew a month into owning it. The RMAed it and the new one was DOA. They blamed my power supply and wouldn’t do a second return…
I bought an ASRock and it ran flawlessly for 5+ years. Yeah…it was definitely the power supply that was the problem, Asus…
TrickDacy@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Wow that’s pretty extreme. I found their RMA process to be pretty shitty and I didn’t quite have those terrible issues. I did have to send I think 3 different boards back to them. They were slow and required a lot of communication to get it done. It’s been years ago so I forget details but I remember each time, until the last time, thinking I just had bad luck.
phx@lemmy.ca 9 months ago
ASRock was an Asus spinoff but was later bought by Pegatron (which is part of the Asus holdings).
ABCDE@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Their laptops are equally shit.
aniki@lemm.ee 9 months ago
Fucking thank you! I feel like I am taking crazy pills when these kids start praising ASUS “quality” and my 20 years in IT and 30 years of being a lad has taught me that Asus and acer are some of the cheapest, most garbage crap you can buy.
JCreazy@midwest.social 9 months ago
I know it’s all antidotal but I’ve been running Asus boards in my PCs for years and I’ve never had a single problem.
voracitude@lemmy.world 9 months ago
*anecdotal
Also, when someone wants to say science is wrong because they’ve personally seen different, it’s “anecdata” (that’s not an official word but I like it 😂)
peopleproblems@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Man I thought so. It struggles to boot if I have kt keyboard and mouse plugged into the same USB set. So I can use one of USB2 and one on USB3, but not both on either
Reaper948@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I had an ASUS GPU do the same thing once, never had that happen before with any other brand.
UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I think Nexus and Jay found a lot of Asus products had problems.