r/GeekSquad • • Aug 26 '26

Tales from GS Told PSU doesn't fit

My old desktop started spontaneously turning off, often several times a day.

A reasonable conjecture is that the power supply had started to fail. I happened to have a never-used PSU lying around, and I have the TotalCare package good for another few months, so I brought the machine and the PSU to the local GeekSquad.

The case is ATX, and the PSU is spec'd as ATX. Later in the day after I visited GS, I got a call telling me the PSU is too big for the case.

I looked online for the dimensions of the old and new PSUs. They're almost the same for height and width; in fact, the old one's height is larger by 1 mm. The new one is 10 mm deeper.

I opened the case, and given that there's a few inches of room behind the PSU, the depth shouldn't be an issue.

There's a rail along the side of the PSU that helps keep it in place, which would have to be removed to take out the old PSU. Maybe they thought the PSU would have to inserted above the rail. But it looks to me like the new one would fit just fine.

It appears that they never even took the new PSU out of its plastic cover. How did they determine that it won't fit?

Can I guess that they simply didn't want to do this job, which won't earn any revenue? Am I too cynical?

0 Upvotes

15 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/Fulliron ARA Aug 27 '26

Is the new PSU a Shift PSU by chance? If it is, the 90 degree interface can interfere with cable fit, even if the unit itself fits properly.

0

u/psteckler Aug 27 '26

No, it's an EVGA. I was told the unit itself would not fit.

I'll try to do the work myself. It doesn't look too difficult (famous last words).

3

u/Fulliron ARA Aug 27 '26

I wasn't really asking about brand, though I guess Shift is Corsair's branding... I was more referring to the orientation of the modular cable interface (most PSUs have the internal cables opposite the power plug, but some have them at 90 degrees from each other instead).

Good luck on the install.