westom

A properly designed PSU completely fails and never damages the load (ie motherboard). A standard for supplies even long before the IBM PC existed. Specs must state a supply can completely fail without causing other damage. Overvoltage and overcurrent protection were specifically defined. If a Corsair is that good, then where are its spec numbers? Now, I never said the Corsair is good or bad. Unfortunately some will assume otherwise for the same reasons some recommend only on hearsay. Topic is the OP's damage, what may also be damaged, and what might replace his PSU. Hearsay or who posted what is irrelevant. A minimally sufficient Corsair even claims overvoltage and overcurrent protection. And provides a long list of other important numbers.

First power supplies (even long before any of us existed) contained circuits so that any PSU failure would not damage the load (ie semiconductors). You should verify that the specs for your new supply also claim to have that required protection. Sometimes a cheap Asian supplier will sell PSUs that are missing essential and industry standard functions. Then many will blame mythical problems (ie a surge) rather than the naive human who bought that inferior supply. Second, the adjacent protector only claims to protect from surges already made irrelevant by protection inside the supply. Sometimes, an adjacent protector bypasses protection inside a PSU. Connects a surge destructively into electronics. Informed consumers, instead, install a completely different device (unfortunately also called a surge protector) so that a rare surge (maybe once every seven years) does not overwhelm existing and superior internal protection. The failed supply should claim in specification numbers to have overvoltage and overcurrent protection. If not, the supply (even from a manufacturers that many others recommend) is suspect. Most will recommend by brand name and not by what is important - the spec numbers.