re: Build Ready

That applies to nearly every computer part. In reviews, what you want to look for are common themes in negative reviews -- for example, there is a motherboard on newegg with multiple reviewers claiming that a mosfet caught on fire. That would be a motherboard to avoid.

For PSUs, most negative reviews are going to say DOA. For the cheaper PSUs, like the ones that come with cheap cases under $50, reviews will range from "DOA" or "it failed in a month" to "it fried all my components" or "it started smoking," and a lot of reviews might say the PSU doesn't output its advertised continuous or peak power.

I have to remind myself, even with 4 out of 5-star products, that the reviews are not a representative sample of customer satisfaction. A pissed off customer is far more likely to write a review than a satisfied customer. And many times, once the pissed customer writes his review, he realizes that it's not that big of a thing to complain about, so he saves face by exaggerating a little.

Here's a good document by IBM about why PSUs fail. It really does come down to simple poor design and cheap components: LINK