>Yes, even as something as simple as a fluctuation in power can expose the difference between a more expensive workstation and a cheap PC.  I can recall many times when the power in the building has surged (eg during a storm), and all the cheap PCs have rebooted but all the Macs have stayed up - I'd suggest that the crappy power supply is the biggest liability in a budget PC rig

Cheap PSUs are the curse of crappy machines – even things that appear to be software issues – crashes under load, random reboots etc. sometimes are nothing but a bad PSU. Even in my cheapest box, the only part I never skimp on is a PSU. Always install something at least workstation quality. The most expensive part in my Hackintosh is the PSU.

And even if you have a Mac with an Apple PSU, if you start throwing in a massive GPU or two, it’s worth every penny to get a high end PSU. The best ones are both very quiet and handle brutal loads over extended time.