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That "universal" power supply I bought on eBay fried my old Dell
Last month I tried to save $40 by getting a no-name universal PSU for my Dell Optiplex 790. After 3 days the fan started making a weird noise, then the computer just shut off and never came back on. I lost the $25 for the power supply AND had to buy a used motherboard for another $45 off Craigslist. Has anyone else had a cheap PSU kill their system like this?
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west.alice21h ago
40 bucks isn't exactly chump change but that Optiplex 790 is like a decade old anyway. Honestly those Dells are tanks but any PSU that costs less than a pizza is probably gonna be a gamble. Fan noise is a pretty clear sign to shut it down immediately, not wait for it to die.
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cameron_chen6313h ago
West.alice is right about the fan noise being a dead giveaway. I had a very similar thing happen with a cheap PSU and a Dell, the smell tipped me off before it totally cooked the board. Check the capacitors on your old motherboard, sometimes they just bulge and can be swapped for a few bucks.
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