TIL my surge protector was the weak link, not my PSU

I spent 3 months blaming my power supply for random shutdowns. Swapped out a $90 unit, still happened. Finally checked the surge protector I'd been using since 2019. It was rated for 900 joules, and the lights on it were completely dead. Replaced it with a $35 one rated at 2000 joules. Not one crash in 6 weeks. Anyone else ever trace a weird problem back to the power strip instead of the actual hardware?

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spencerfisher21h ago

Man I had almost the exact same thing happen with my old setup, except it was even dumber. My PC would randomly lose USB devices for like a second then they'd come back. I replaced the motherboard, the drivers, everything. Turned out the power strip was so old that the internal breaker was tripping just enough to drop voltage but not cut power completely. Bought a new one with actual surge protection and the problem just vanished. The worst part is those 900 joule ones are basically worthless after a couple of years, they don't even tell you when they're done protecting. I've now got a rule where I replace any power strip every 2 years no matter what, it's way cheaper than chasing ghosts through your whole rig.